Love at your service

Chapter 9

When Jess arrived home, she couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe she shouldn’t have poured her heart out to Todd. After all, he was a friend of Ben’s. But she truly missed her friend Rita at times like these. They could always talk about anything and everything! And hadn’t Rita warned her about this happening, her getting in over her head? Yeah, well, it wasn’t like Jess was in love with Ben or anything, he was just really cute and handsome and he could kiss like no other man she had ever kissed and the sex, well, mind-blowing to say the least...

She walked over to her kitchen to get herself a bottle of water from the fridge. That was nice and cool. Wow, she could really do with something to eat. When was the last time she ate, anyhow? Hmm, what would she make herself for dinner. Some pasta with grilled chicken sounded nice and she was sure she had all the ingredients so she wouldn’t have to go shopping. Right at that moment her phone rang and she quickly walked over to the living-room to get it.

“Hello?”

“Jess, honey, it’s so good to hear you!, Rita’s voice squealed through the receiver.

“I cannot believe this, I was just thinking about you, Rita, do you have ESP going or something, haha”.

Within an instant Jess felt her mood improve.

“Just my direct line with Psychic Friends, babe, so what’s up? I haven’t heard from you in ages?”

Rita’s voice sounded a tad accusing and Jess felt a pang of guilt, she had been so wrapped up in her new job that she had failed to keep up with Rita. Friendship was a two-way street and she couldn’t expect to have Rita always be there for her, if she couldn’t even keep up the courtesy of calling on a regular basis.

“I am sorry, you are so right, I should have called you more often. It’s just that I have been so wrapped up in work lately. I mean it is all positive, because I love it all. The hotel is great, Todd’s the best boss I could hope for her and my staff are just wonderful. When I wake up I can’t wait to get to work and it’s the first time ever I have been this focused. I really want this to work out and I know that if I do the best I can I could make a career within Carter Hotels. That doesn’t excuse me from not calling you though, Rita, I am truly sorry. Forgive me?” Jess pleaded, pouting her lips in an invisibly plea to Rita.

“Well, how can I say no to that!” Rita’s laugh sounded genuine over the phone.

“Rita?”

“Jessss, what’s up, everything okay, you sound strange?”

“God, I so wish you were here. You won’t believe what happened today! I, I, oh man, I saw Ben today!” Jess managed to spurt out before she lost her nerve.

“You what? Wow Jess, that is awesome. Where did you see him, what was it like, do you still like him, are you going to see him again, was it awkward, what did he say, he did remember you did he?”

The questions were fired at Jess at a rapid pace, leaving Jess no other option than to hear them out. She couldn’t help but smile at Rita’s ranting while she was letting herself get carried away with the whole idea.

“Are you done Rita? Geez, I couldn’t get a word in edgewise! Now let me see if I can recall all of your questions: At the hotel, it was unexpected, I still think he’s cute, I am so not going to see him again and it was extremely awkward because it turns out he’s Ben Carter, my one and only boss! I am sorry, but I forgot the rest of your questions”.

The other end of the phone went absolutely quiet, dead quiet.

“Your boss? Dang girl! What is it with you and your bosses!” As soon as Rita had spoken the words, she knew she should have kept her big mouth shut.

‘I didn’t mean for it to come out like that honey, Jess?”

“Wow, you don’t make it easy for me do you? Don’t worry about it Rita, I know you don’t mean it like that, it’s a joke right?”

“Yeah and a bad one too, George is always saying I talk too much and that I should think before I do so! Guess he’s right, huh?” Rita sighed.

“Haha, well I guess he knows you too well! But Rita?”

“Humm?”

“The meeting didn’t go well. We had a staff meeting and I was running late because of some stuff happening at reception and then I finally make it to the meeting to meet the big boss and it’s Ben! You should have seen the look he gave me. He was NOT happy seeing me again, especially not there at his hotel and working for him. If looks could kill, I would have been incinerated right then and there!”

Rita’s tone was completely indignant when she countered: “Well it was HIS stupid idea to keep the personal info on a non-existent level, wasn’t it! If he would have just told you his name from the start he wouldn’t have had to be surprised like that. And then MAYBE he could have decided to keep his pants on around you if slumming with the staff is not done in his world! I am sorry to tell you this, Jess, but he sounds like a major A-hole”.

Allthough the exact same thoughts had run through her mind as well, Jess couldn’t help but feel slightly hurt and almost felt inclined to defend Ben to her friend. But she decided that is was probably best not to go down that route with Rita so upset.

“Funny thing though, Rita?”.

“What’s that, honey?”

“He kissed me again...”

Jess let the words hang in the vacant air of the phone line.

“He What?!”

“Uhuh, I kinda left the meeting in a rush ‘cause he was being a bit standoffish with me and I wanted to get away from him and he followed me out. He came after me in the hallway and started accusing me of trying to sleep my way into a good career and all, and well, I was fuming by that time, so, uhh, I, I...” Jess was almost to embarrassed to continue, even to Rita.

“Jess, don’t keep me hanging!” Rita’s excited voice pushed Jess on.

“Well, I slapped him, across the face”, Jess managed to croak out.

Again the voice on the other end remained quiet until a genuine laughter filled Jess’ ears.
“My god, Jess, you are too funny, you slapped him! You go girl!”

Jess had to smile at Rita’s obvious approval of her actions.

“But wait, you said he kissed you?”

“Yeah, right áfter I slapped him. He grabbed me and kissed me”.

“Soooo, was it good?”

“Rita! I slapped him, he kissed me!”

“Yeah, so what’s your point? Jess, 4 months ago you seemed to be head over heels for this guy, claiming he didn’t mean anything to you. But I KNOW you, Jess. You don’t do affairs. You didn’t even want to sleep with that louse Jason until after you were sure you were in love with him. Or at least thought you were. You know you feel something for this guy, hun!”

Jess held her breath as she listened to Rita’s words. She hated to admit it, but she had hoped against all that indeed Ben had just been a one-night stand. That she would have been able to keep it at that. But ever since that night, she couldn’t deny that she held some feelings for him. She had no idea if it was love. She didn’t know him well enough for that, did she?

“Jess, are you still there?” Rita’s voice sounded unsure.

“I am not going anywhere Rita, I really don’t know what to say to you. Honestly, I haven’t a clue as to what I feel. All I know is that when he kisses me I don’t want to let him go...”

Jess felt vulnerable talking about her yet to be identified feelings for Ben. Rita seemed to notice, because she didn’t press any further.

“Ok, well, what happened after the kiss?”

“After, well he left me standing in the hallway and stormed off!”

“Hmm, it sounds like you don’t seem to leave him unaffected either, honey. First of all, he kissed you where he had no reason to do so and then secondly he storms off in a rage? If you didn’t matter to him, why would he do that? Why kiss you in the first place? Why was he so angry with you anyway. It’s not like you used him or anything”.

Jess didn’t dare to hope that Ben held feelings for her as well. She had been hurt in the past, and she didn’t think that she was ready to enter into any kind of relationship at the moment. But then again, Ben, wasn’t looking for that either, Todd’s story this afternoon had made that abundantly clear.

“He’s been burned as well, Rita. I am not the only one. Apparently his fiancée, who also happened to work for him, cheated on him with her GM. Suffice it to say that he’s not an avid fan of relationships between staff members. I can hardly blame him for that”.

“Ouch, yeah that must have hurt. He should really know what a great catch you are though. You are honest and genuine Jess, you would never do such a thing”.

“Thanks for the support, Rita, don’t be disappointed if I will not divulge that information to him, though. I think it is best for both of us if I just steer clear of him. Enough about my lousy lovelife now, how’s yours?”

When she heard the chuckles start at the other end of the phone, she joined in, the both of them laughing like schoolgirls.

“Well, I have twins to show for it, Jess, what do you think, haha!”

“How are the boys, Rita, I miss them. They must have grown so much since I last saw them”.

“Yeah, they have, they are wonderful. You should see Luke, he’s walking already and Jake is doing this comic routine of pulling himself up at the table and then bouncing down on his bum, again and again. It’s hilarious! Thank heavens for diapers though, otherwise his cute little behind would be bright purple by now”.

Jess laughed at the obvious pride in Rita’s mouth. God, she did miss the little monkeys, it was always fun babysitting them.

“I promise Rita, on my next weekend off, I am flying to Denver, so I can see for myself!”

“That’s a promise honey, I gotta go now. The boys are going to go ballistic on me if I don’t feed them soon. Bye, Jess, love you and don’t be a stranger!’

“Bye Rita, love you too!”

And with that Jess ended the connection. She was extremely happy having been able to talk to Rita about what happened with Ben today. With a smile on her face she went to the kitchen to prepare herself some dinner. Her stomach was practically growling!