The Job Offer

Anne walked out of Concourse B into the Central Terminal of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and looked out the giant curved wall of windows at the late morning sky. The sun was shining brightly that Sunday morning, which was a rarity for Seattle in other times of the year, but was much more common in the summer months. The sky was a brilliant azure blue clear of clouds except for a few wispy strips of white that streaked up high in the atmosphere. Anne, who was not prone to superstitions, took the nice weather as a good sign. It wouldn’t hurt to believe in good luck at a time like this.

  She had made arrangements with Ms. Iverson several days ago to fly in on the ninth instead of the tenth and to stay for two weeks visiting friends and family in case she received a call back interview with Mr. Stanford. This way, she could combine the interview with a short vacation.

  The plan for today was that she would meet Carla for lunch on the waterfront before they went shopping, and she would spend the night in Carla and Gary’s guest room. This way, Anne would not be rushed tomorrow morning before her interview and could drive at her own pace from Carla’s Bellevue home to Redmond where the headquarters for Stanford Enterprises was located. Anne had already made arrangements to rent a car so that she could drive to the Seattle waterfront district to meet Carla for lunch. Carla and Anne decided to meet at the restaurant instead of at Carla’s house because Carla was working that morning at her downtown location to clean up and sort through paperwork from a wedding she catered the night before. Because she was feeling thirsty after her long flight, Anne stopped for a latte at the Starbuck’s kiosk in the Central Terminal then went to pick up her luggage before heading out to the shuttle.

  The air outside was warm. The salty, fish smell of Puget Sound combined with automobile exhaust and reached her as she walked to the airport shuttle that would take her the few miles to the rental car lot where a white Toyota Camry was already waiting for her. After a few minutes spent checking in at the counter and handing over her credit card and driver’s license, Anne stored her luggage in the trunk and drove out onto Interstate 5 before heading north to Seattle. She got off at the Spring Street exit then crossed over the freeway and headed over to Alaskan Way, the street that ran along the waterfront. Instead of looking for a spot in one of the several full parking lots close by, she decided to park in the hotel’s parking ramp before going in search of Carla. They had decided to meet at the waterfront bistro located inside of the hotel for lunch because of the great food and its location to shopping instead of eating at one of the several restaurants located close by.

  As she drove through the downtown lunchtime traffic on her way in, Anne remembered smiling in enjoyment. Her spirit had lifted upon seeing the familiar skyline. This was home. She and Carla used to hang out around the waterfront district during their undergraduate days because Carla worked at the bistro and Anne worked as a front desk hostess for the hotel to earn the money for school. When she walked into the bistro's street side entrance, Anne saw Carla already sitting at a booth in the corner that overlooked the street and Puget Sound.

  The hostess was busy seating several groups, and Anne bypassed her, easily. Carla, who was checking her smart phone, did not see Anne until she was almost next to the table. After she looked up, Carla quickly shut down her phone and grinned sheepishly. She was up to something. Anne wondered what her look was about this time. Carla had something planned for today. She always did.

  "You look great, Anne! I can’t believe that it has been two years," Carla said as she jumped up to give Anne a hug before ushering her into the booth. Two years ago, Anne had made a special trip in September to return to Orcas Island. She had been Carla’s maid of honor for her wedding to Gary. "I ordered you a Long Island ice tea while I waited," Carla said as she retook her seat opposite Anne. Carla was wearing a frothy turquoise and white sundress that complimented her petite frame, pixie cut blonde hair, and blue eyes. She always reminded Anne of a fairy tale princess, and the way she was dressed today reinforced the image.

  "Perfect! I could use one of these." Anne took a sip and smiled at the flavors of gin and rum. The burn of the different liqueurs combined with the iced cold cola and felt good going down. It helped quench a thirst the latte failed to satisfy. "Marriage and pregnancy agree with you, Carla. You look great, too."

  Carla took the compliment in her stride and gave Anne a beaming smile. "I’ll take that now since I’m not showing yet. God, Anne. It’s hard to believe that it has actually been two years. I still feel like a newlywed. But, we will get to me in a minute. I want to talk about you. So, how was the flight? Are you nervous about tomorrow?" Carla took a sip from her water glass while she waited for Anne's answer.

  "The flight was fine but long. I forgot how long the flight actually was. I had a really annoying man sit next to me."

  "Naturally."

  "Am I nervous? You bet I am, but I think it will go well. I hope so." Anne gave a wry smile and raised her eyebrows. She did not want to get her hopes up too much. She had been through the final interview stages before only to lose out to other more experienced scientists or to find out that the company had made the decision to hold off on hiring. She told Carla about her two Skype interviews and what her impressions were of the company based on the facts she had managed to gather from the Internet.

  Although she had read several news articles about the company and the business profile of the current CEO, she had never seen a photo of him. There were several old photographs of the founder but none of the son in the company website. But, since it didn’t really matter what the current CEO looked like, Anne didn’t bother to search for information on him specifically and concentrated on learning about the company’s record in research, instead. At one point, she realized that she was boring Carla with facts about the company and the technical aspects of research and stopped talking.

  "I hear it's a good company. Gary's brother really likes being there and is happy that he made the move to them last year. I think you'll get the job," Carla said positively. "My Spidey sense is tingling, and it’s telling me you'll get it. Oh, I can't wait to have you back here. I’ve missed you. I also need you here to help me decorate the nursery. You know that I love Gary to the ends of the earth, but I swear that man will drive me crazy with his total lack of design sense. Do you know what he told me when I started talking about redecorating the third bedroom for the nursery? He told me that the current colors would look fine for a baby's room."

  Anne remembered the peanut butter brown color with baby blue sponge paint that was on the walls when they bought the house two years ago and wondered if Carla had repainted yet. Upon seeing the look on Anne's face, Carla exclaimed, "I know! Can you believe it? It's the same ugly color it was when we moved in. I never got around to repainting it with all the other changes we made to the house and me going out on my own."

  "He's a dentist, Carla. Need I say more?"

  "How in the world I ever fell in love with such a nerd, I'll never know. But he is crazy about me and over the moon about the baby coming."

  That led into a conversation about Carla and the baby. Carla was feeling great without any morning sickness, and she glowed with happiness. With babies on her mind, Carla even talked about experimenting with new baby food recipes. From there the afternoon was spent in companionable conversation catching up and laughing over memories from their college days when they worked on the waterfront. After they finished their lunch, they decided to walk to Edmonds Central Plaza, located a few blocks away, to begin their search for new maternity clothing for Carla. It would be months before Carla started showing, but stores always stocked new clothes a few months in advance of the season, and Carla wanted to get a jump on the new fashions.

  While browsing through the clothing stores, Carla spotted several summer dresses and a pair of sandals for Anne to try on. The clothing was sexy and lacy and not at all what Anne was used to wearing out east, and Anne couldn’t remember e
ver wearing such flimsy sandals. But Carla kept insisting that Anne try everything on because she said that Anne "seriously needed a summer makeover."

  "So this was what 'the look' was about."

  "What look?" Carla tried her best to appear innocent but failed miserably.

  "I'm talking about the one from lunch. It's the one you get every time you plan something for me without telling me."

  "Come on, Anne. I know how you hate shopping for yourself, so I decided that you needed to lose the beatnik slash scientist look." Anne looked down at her blue jeans and button down white blouse and frowned when she looked back up at Carla. "Not that you don't rock that look, sweetie. But when was the last time you bought something sexy for yourself or had your nails done? Probably not since the last time I took you shopping, so you are long overdue for a makeover. I love your hair, though, and if I had your body, I'd flaunt it."

  "Ok. I don't want anything too sexy, though. I don't want to look slutty. I still want to look like me."

  "You will look like you, only sexier. Trust me, Anne. You know that I've never steered you wrong in the past."

  Anne took the dresses and the shoes reluctantly and walked to the changing room while Carla waited out in the store. She had to admit that dresses and sandals did make her look and feel feminine and sexy. After changing back into her regular clothing, she suffered through Carla’s smug expression and took out her credit card. But new dresses required new underwear too, Carla said, so Anne bought some of that as well.

  As Carla talked about how she soon would be wearing maternity clothes because short people always showed faster than tall people and that last week she saw some cute clothes in another store, Anne mentally tallied up the small fortune she had just spent. If she didn’t eat out much or go to the movies for several months, she could afford it. The maternity clothes came next, and Anne helped Carla decide on several fall fashions that would compliment her petite frame. Then with their purchases in hand, Carla led them to a shop for manicures and pedicures because, she reasoned playfully, there was no point in having sexy clothes and sandals without them.

  "Maybe you’ll get lucky while up at the inn? With all those hot males, Anne, it pays to look good," said Carla as their toes were being colored. Anne laughed at the comment because she was just not the "getting lucky" type of woman men went for. They went for women like Carla.

  Once their hands and feet were done, they worked their way along the waterfront past several busy stores and crowds of people who flocked to the waterfront on that Sunday afternoon. Eventually, they found a place to sit in a little coffee shop that faced the harbor. As they split a piece of fudge cake a la mode and drank their beverages, they discussed where to head next. They had a few more hours before they needed to be at Carla’s house in Bellevue, so they decided to head in that direction and drive down to the Bellevue Square mall to look for furniture.

  At six, they finished their shopping and headed to the house where Carla and Gary lived. Their house was located in a nice quiet neighborhood along a tree-lined street that was only two blocks from a large park and nature preserve. As Anne drove behind Carla up the street, she saw families outside in their yards either working on their lawns and flower gardens or tossing around balls and Frisbees. Several people waved at Anne’s car as she drove by, and she waved back. At the top of the hill, they turned their cars into the driveway. Carla and Gary had a Craftsman style house with a wide front porch, and the large lot had several mature trees. A two stall detached garage was tucked away behind the house. Carla parked in the garage while Anne parked behind her on the concrete driveway. Then they brought their purchases and Anne’s suitcase inside through the back door. Gary wasn’t home and they decided to wait for Gary on the back patio and enjoy the early evening.

  Gary returned about twenty minutes later from a walk with their dog, Bob, a golden Labrador retriever who was happy to see them and had to be held back from jumping onto their laps. The last time Anne had seen Bob, he was just a puppy, but he had since grown into his paws to become quite a large dog. The two-year separation didn’t stop Bob from showing his acceptance of Anne, though, and he surprised her with a slobbering wet tennis ball dropped at her feet. Gary quickly shooed Bob away and went into the house to clean up before he joined them again on the patio to start up the grill.

  Gary had not changed too much physically in the past few years, Anne noticed. He was about Anne’s height and had a wiry build that today was covered in a pair of old jeans and a tee shirt with the Superman logo on the front. He still sported his slightly shy expression behind his wire-rimmed glasses, but his hazel eyes were warm with welcome. Anne noticed that he was getting a slight paunch around the middle, and his blond hair was receding. There was nothing really exceptional, physically, about him. But Gary had a keen mind and a wicked, offbeat sense of humor that complimented Carla to a T. Perhaps the thing that struck Anne the most about Gary was that he had a loving expression whenever he looked at his wife. For that reason alone, Anne had always liked him.

  While Gary took care of grilling steaks, Carla and Anne worked together in the kitchen pulling together a salad and broiling vegetables. They decided to eat outside at the table and enjoy the warm evening, and Carla set the table to get ready to eat. Anne watched the easy manner between Carla and Gary as they worked together and later while they enjoyed the evening air, and she thought about how nice it would be to be married to your best friend. Her mother and Jim had that same ease between them. Anne smiled happily at Carla and Gary who, at times, seemed to be oblivious to anyone other than each other. Then looking out at the back yard and the late sun, Anne thought that a sunny day and great friends were the perfect way to welcome her back to the Seattle area. Getting the new job would make her trip complete.

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