SILENT DESIRES

Savannah sighed.

Okay, she thought. So he wasn’t going to make this easy for her. She knew she deserved it… Kinda. She had practically yelled at him when he had offered her the job and then she had asked him to leave with his job and his check.

She hated that she had to come back to ask for the job but she had no choice and he was the only one willing to offer her one.

“I know that I should have called,” she said. “I was just scared that if I did this on the phone, you would turn me away or worse, you might even refuse to talk to me”

He leaned closer, resting his elbows on his desk. “You were scared that I would turn you away if you did what exactly?” he asked.

Savannah took a deep breath. “The job” she said. “The one you offered a week ago. I know I said that I didn’t want it but I do now. And I’m sorry that I turned it down before. I know that’s it’s really crazy to just walk in here and ask for it back, but I just thought that…” She stopped talking and stared at him. He stared right back at her and Savannah wished the ground would just open and swallow her up. This was just too humiliating.

“What exactly did you think?” Matt asked. “You thought I would just leave the position open for you? Because?”

“I wasn’t expecting you to do that” Savannah said, almost losing her cool, but trying really hard to control herself.

“Then why are you here? This is a place of work. You can’t just expect the job to be sitting there waiting for you”

She knew that she needed the job, she needed him to help her, but she wasn’t going to sit there and watch him gloat. “I came because I wanted to know if I could still get the job. I came because this was the only chance I had. But I get the message, Matt. I’m sorry I disturbed you. I’m sorry I came here and bothered you in the first place” she said.

She got up from her chair, intending to leave his office. “Thank you for your time, Matt,” she said. What exactly was she thinking coming here and thinking he would just help her? She thought. The same man who had hurt her so much. Vicky was right and she should have listened to her. This was clearly a bad idea and for some reasons, she was just really good at making bad decisions.

Matt was at her side before she even got to the door. He grabbed her arm gently. “I’m sorry, Savvie” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. That wasn’t such a nice thing to say. I’m just a little surprised that you came, that’s all. Please come sit down”

Savannah stared at him for a moment, then she let him lead her back to her seat. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just that I haven’t been able to get another job and I was just hoping that you could still offer me one. I just want to know, am I too late? Can I still have the job?” she asked.

Matt shook his head. “Kinda,” he said.

Savannah gave him a look. “I don’t understand what that means,” she said. “You never even told me what the job was”

“I was offering for you to be my secretary”

Savannah frowned. “But you already have one.” she said. “The lady I talked to when I was waiting for you… Isn’t she your secretary?”

“Yeah,” Matt replied. “She is. It’s just there’s a lot of work to be done around here and I thought that it was becoming much for Caroline. So I thought I could just hire someone else so you guys could split up the work”

“Oh” Savannah said. “Oh alright.”

Matt grinned at her. “So, do you still want the job?” he asked.

Savannah said nothing for a while. Being his secretary meant being around him a lot, and when she had decided to come ask for the job back, she had been hoping that she wouldn’t have to work so close to him.

“Savannah?”

She heard Matt call her and she snapped back to reality.

“Are you going to take the job?” he asked.

Savannah nodded slowly, a lot of things going on in her head. “Yes,” she said finally. If she rejected this again, she wasn’t sure she would get another opportunity. Things would just have to work themselves out… Somehow.

“There’s a teeny tiny thing that I should probably mention too,” Matt said.

Savannah lifted an eyebrow. She knew Matt Bradford enough to know that she wasn’t going to like the next words that would leave his mouth just from the expression on his face.

“I will be leaving town in a week or so. It’s a business trip actually. Although the business part of the trip is going to last for only a few days, I want to stay for two weeks… Three tops. I feel like I need a vacation… Some get away time” he said.

“And?” Savannah asked, wondering how this information was supposed to be any of her business.

“I want you to come with me,” Matt replied.

Savannah stared at him like he was out of his mind for saying such a thing, and he probably was.

“No,” she said, “I can’t come with you. You know that”

“Why not?” Matt asked.

Savannah stood up and clutched her bag. “How can you ask me that?” she said. “It’s bad enough that we are going to be working together and now this. We have a history, Matt. And it didn’t end well, in case you have forgotten.”

Matt stood up and began to walk towards her. Savannah took a few steps backwards and then she stopped. Determined not to let him see how much he affected her. He stopped right in front of her.

“No, I haven’t forgotten,” he said. “And that is the reason why I want you to come with me”