Lightning Bay (Love's Battlefield): Episode 4

Am Unexpected Challenge

“Why are you here?” Cam growls, the black flecks in his blue eyes glowing as he stands in front of me.

At six-two, Cam has always been much taller than me, but I’ve never felt the height difference between us the way I feel it right now. Then again, I’ve never had to worry about Cam snapping and giving in to the rage he feels towards me. For years, Cam was my protector and bodyguard. From the moment he saved me from Nathan Kilkenny bullying on my very first day of high school. After that, I believed Cam would always look after me. But with him standing over me, glowering, I feel small and vulnerable.

It doesn’t help that he’s been running his hand through his hair, making it stick up, giving him the appearance of being taller than he actually is. Lips that I’ve always considered full and kissable are pressed together in an unhappy line, and the muscle ticking in his jaw tells me just how much he hates the fact I’m here.

“What are you doing here?” Jo asks. “We were told the manager was interviewing someone.”

“Yeah, me,” he replies, glaring at Jo.

“But you’re supposed to be working over in P.C.,” I say, clutching the resume in my hands even tighter. He can’t interview here. I need this job. He already has one.

“I want a job closer to home.”

Working with Brooklyn and Emily will be hard enough. But working with Cam?

Cam’s eyes fall on the resume in my hands. Snatching it out of my hands before I can stop him, he says, “Tell me you’re not here for a job.”

Damn it, as much as I want to prove Riley I’m a fighter, I don’t know how I can work with Brooklyn and Cam.

“Not anymore, I guess.”

His eyes meet mine, and it’s the first time he’s looked at me after the accident with anything remotely resembling approval in his gaze. I don’t want to back down. I don’t want to walk away from this job, especially after everything that Riley said, but I just can’t work with Cam. I can’t.

“It was too much to hope you might decide to leave again then, I suppose,” Cam mutters.

I lift my chin. I’m determined to stay and do what I need to do to help my family. Even if I don’t apply for the job.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Cameron, but I need to be here for my family. Despite what you think, your family isn’t the only one struggling with the aftermath of our parent’s affair.”

“Well that didn’t keep you here before, did it?”

It’s a low blow, but one that I rightly deserve. “You’re right. It didn’t keep me here before.”

Because I was so in love with you, I couldn’t see through the pain of hurting you and losing you.

This time, however, things will be different. They have to be. I don’t know how long it will take me to fall out of love with my best friend – rather, my former best friend – but it’s something that will be near impossible if I end up working with him and seeing him every day. The feelings I’ve carried for him for so long – the romantic dreams and hopes that have swirled around inside of me for years – haven’t dissipated despite the fact Cam wants nothing to do with me.

While overseas, my heart remained faithful to a guy who hated me. I never wanted anyone the way I wanted Cam. Secretly, I’m terrified I will never want anyone the way I want him. But I don’t have a chance with him now. Not in this lifetime, anyway.

That, perhaps, is what I need to keep telling myself. If I remind myself of that at every opportunity, I might be able to slowly sever the strings that he never intentionally wove around my heart.

Cam pulls his gaze away from mine and looks back down at my resume in his hands. I watch as he reads the first page and turns to the next one, scanning through my work history. Just like that, he’s all caught up on where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing for the past two years, while knowledge of what he’s been doing in that time will probably forever elude me.

“I think the Bay View Tavern is looking to hire a waitress,” he says, handing my resume back to me.

His warm hand brushes mine, sending my heart rate skyrocketing and my temperature soaring.

“Thanks for the tip,” I say, doing my best not to let him know how affected I am by the simple accidental touch.

“Well, I don’t want you working here.”

“Of course,” I mutter.

Cam isn’t helping me; he’s helping himself by making sure there’s no chance we’ll have to see each other. He doesn’t want me applying for a job here and that’s the only reason he’s even taken the time to browse through my work history. His words and his coldness twist my already mangled heart. Will I ever be able to look at Cam and feel the same cool reserve he feels when he looks at me?

“Thanks anyway,” I say before turning to Jo. “Let’s go.”

“Are you sure?” she asks, glancing at the closed manager’s door.

“She’s sure,” Cam answers for me.

I’m just about to agree and take my aching heart elsewhere when the door opens.

“Cameron, you’re still here?”

The man standing in the doorway of the office isn’t exactly the person I imagined when I pictured the manager. The tall, powerfully built good looking man might be wearing an expensive-looking navy pinstriped suit, but he can’t be much older than Cam, Jo and I. I would even question whether he is the manager if Cam didn’t look so caught out.

“I was just catching up with an old friend.” Cam’s eyes silently command me to go along with him. “We were just leaving, weren’t we, Saskia?”

Jeremy’s dark green eyes slide over me. His eyes are full of approval as he takes in my business attire. “You’re not here for an interview?”

“Ah, I don’t think so.”

He frowns as he started walking towards me. “You don’t think so?”

Cam’s glare snaps me out of my stupidity.

“I mean no. I’m not here for an interview.”

“Even though that looks like a resume you’re holding in your hand?”

Great, now I look stupid and scatter-brained. Just as well I’m not going to be applying for a job here, because I wouldn’t have a hope in hell of being taken seriously by this man after my vague answers.

Instead of looking at me as though I’m crazy, however, Jeremy merely smiles. “That’s too bad. Outside of Cam, we’re short on quality candidates and I had high hopes when I saw you standing here.”

His green eyes are so warm and his expression so friendly, I find myself offering him information. “I’m actually on my way over to the Bay View Tavern to hand in my resume there.”

He frowns. “But they filled the position for a waitress yesterday.”

Cam’s irritation is written all over his face when my gaze snaps back to his. “I didn’t know,” he bites out.

“Now that that’s sorted,” Jeremy says, “why don’t you let me look at your resume? Seems like you need a job and I need a waitress. We can help each other out.”

Cam’s anger radiates off him in waves as Jeremy takes my resume and looks through it, and my hands grow clammy with nerves once more as I stand between the two guys, one desperately wanting me to stay while the other desperately wants me to leave.

Jeremy’s grin is wide as he closes my resume and hands it back to me.

“You’re exactly what I’ve been looking for. You’ve got the kind of experience I want, and I’m impressed you’re so well-travelled.” He leans in and whispers conspiratorially, “I did some travelling of my own after I finished school. Best time of my life.”

I have to bite my tongue so I that don’t ask exactly how long ago that was. He doesn’t look old enough to have travelled and worked his way up to manager.

“Which country did you enjoy the most?” he asks

He’s so friendly, I can’t help but smile and answer his question. “Definitely Italy.”

“The pasta, right?”

“Yes, but also the beaches. They reminded me of home.” I feel my smile slip a little as Cam glares at me.

“Any more plans to travel?” Jeremy asks.

“I wish,” Cam mutters.

The smile on my face is so forced, my face feels as though it’s in danger of cracking. “No, I came home to start university this year. I doubt I’ll get away anytime soon.”

“That’s too bad, but I understand. When I found out I was going to have a daughter, I knew it was time to settle down and ignore my itchy feet. One day though...”

“Aww, how old is your daughter?” Jo asks.

“Three months today. She’s just started to roll. Gees. Listen to me. Next, you’ll have me whipping out the baby photos.”

I shake my head. “You’re a proud Dad. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

He raises his eyebrows. “There is when I’m attempting to informally interview you.”

“Oh.”

He points at his office. “So I’m just going to come right out and ask you to come in for an interview.”

“Now?” I ask. “But…don’t you have something else to attend to? Like another interview?”

He looks at his watch. “I don’t have anything on my schedule for another half an hour. Plenty of time for us to chat about the job.”

“Saskia has somewhere else to be,” Cam says firmly.

“Actually, she doesn’t,” Jo says. “Those plans changed the moment she found out there was no job going at the Bay View Tavern.”

Cam has made it clear he doesn’t want me to work here, and I don’t know how I can possibly work with him, but what if this is the first and only job offer I receive?

Jo has already put her hand on my back and is gently trying to push me in the direction of Jeremy’s office, all the while glaring at Cam. I need to make a decision about what I’m doing, but I’m not sure there is a good decision in this case. Either I agree to the interview and risk landing a job where I’ll have to work with the guy I’m trying to fall out of love with – the guy who hates me – or I walk away from this job and risk unemployment for who knows how long.

“Why don’t you just come in and talk to me for twenty minutes?” Jeremy offers. “You don’t have to take the job if you decide not to. From my understanding, there’s not a whole lot of work available in town at the moment, though.”

“Okay,” I say, throwing caution to the wind and agreeing to something I know will enrage my ex-best-friend more than my presence in Lightning Bay already has.

My heart speeds up as Cam puts his hand out and touches my arm.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Saskia?” His voice is soft. Silky. Yet there’s an undeniable threat interlaced with his words and it sends a shiver up my spine.

I’m terrified of how Cam might treat me if I actually take the job, but I haven’t taken it yet.

“I’m sure.”

Jeremy, who has watched the whole exchange between Cam and me with obvious interest, nods when I look at him.

“After you,” he says, motioning for me to precede him into his office.

“I’ll wait for you here,” Jo says.

That’s fine. That’s good. I just hope that Cam isn’t also waiting when I step out of Jeremy’s office in twenty minutes.

---

“Well, as I said before, you’re perfect for the job, Kia.”

Jeremy started calling me Kia about five minutes after we sat down in his office. I asked him to since that’s what everyone calls me. Well, everyone but Cam now. Besides, it doesn’t feel right to have him call me something so formal when this impromptu interview feels so relaxed. Sure, I now know all about the job and he knows all about me, but talking to Jeremy is more like having a conversation with a friend instead of a potential boss.

“Thank you, Jeremy.”

“You have a position here if you want it. I need to know by Monday of next week, though, because we start training on Wednesday. Technically, I should have finished interviewing days ago, but I was short on applicants and I was happy to take the time for Anderson. And now you.”

“So if I say yes, I’ll start this Wednesday?”

He nods. “And you’ll be paid for your training.”

“That sounds great. It all sounds great. I’ll get back to you by Monday.”

From everything Jeremy has said, I’m keen to say yes. Only one thing – or rather one person – stops me.

In the silence, Jeremy studies me carefully. “Kia, can we be frank with each other?”

Immediately worried about what he has to say, I smile. “Have we been anything but frank with each other?”

“What’s the deal between you and Anderson? Is he the reason you won’t say yes today?”

I look down at my hands, turning them over as I try to work out what to say before finally raising my eyes to meet Jeremy’s. “Cam and I…well, he called me an old friend, but the truth is that he was my best friend before…before the accident.”

The last thing I want to talk about is that night two years ago. How is it possible that less than half an hour after meeting me, this stranger has asked about the event I’m most ashamed of?

Why? Why did Cam have to be the person being interviewed when I turned up? Why hadn’t he applied and interviewed earlier? According to Jeremy, Cam’s application had come in late. With how serious things seem to be between Cam and Brooklyn, I assume Cam wants to work here because of her. So why didn’t he interview for a job downstairs with his girlfriend?

My insides burn with the thought of them working together, of how much Cam probably wants this job because of her, but I ignore the fire and try to concentrate on the man in front of me.

“The accident?” Jeremy questions.

I swallow. “The car crash that killed his mother and sister.”

Jeremy looks shocked. “How long ago was that?”

“Two and a bit years ago.”

“And he blames you for their deaths?”

“Yes. Needless to say, he isn’t happy I’m back in Lightning Bay. He warned me to stay away from him and yet here I am, thinking about working with him. He’ll make my life miserable.”

I hadn’t meant for all that to come out, there’s just something so friendly and open about Jeremy that I feel like I can tell him…well, everything. 

“I have to ask. What happened? Why does Anderson blame you?”

He’s so forward. So blunt. His question knocks the breath out of my lungs.

I look him in the eye, determined to tell the truth, no matter how difficult it is. After all, if this man is going to offer me a job – and it seems he really wants to – he needs to know about my history with Cam. Our history won’t just affect Cam and me, if Cam brings the drama, it’ll also touch the people we work with.

“I wasn’t in the car, and I wasn’t driving, but I’m the one who gave my Dad the keys to my car and told him to take it. I suspected he’d been drinking and I asked straight out whether he had. I shouldn’t have listened when he told me he was sober. Anyway, I did believe him and…he drove away from Lightning Bay, taking Cam’s mum and sister. Now Cam blames me for their deaths. His sister and father blame me. The whole town lays the blame for their deaths at my feet. And they’re right to feel that way. I was just so afraid at the time – afraid of what would happen if I didn’t give my dad the keys. I let that fear push me into doing something I wouldn’t have otherwise done.”

Jeremy’s expression softens. “You did what you thought was right at the time. You made a decision and two people lost their lives, but you weren’t directly responsible. If you wear the guilt of their deaths around your neck the way you have been it’s going to strangle the life out of you.”

“I know.” I’m afraid it’s already doing that. “But I don’t know how to stop. And I’m sure you can now understand why Cam doesn’t want to work with me. I never would have even thought about applying here if I’d known Cam wanted a job here.”

He frowns. “So, you weren’t actually on your way to the Bay View Tavern when you bumped into Anderson? You actually were here to apply for a job?”

Embarrassment heats my face. “Originally, yes. This morning my brother told me about this cinema and the Diamond section. When he suggested I apply, I thought I’d be safe to because Cam worked at the cinema in Patterson’s Cross. But-”

“I offered him a position in the Diamond section at the end of his interview.”

I nod, looking down at my hands in my lap, ashamed that a near-perfect stranger is witnessing all the feelings I regularly struggle with.

Jeremy sits back in his seat, his smile sympathetic. “You’re going to be competing with a lot of people for the jobs that are on the market. The unemployment rate is pretty high at the moment.”

I sigh. “I had no idea how bad it was before I came home. I’ve been looking for work everywhere, in and out of Lightning Bay, but…”

“You haven’t had any luck.”

“No. You know, I thought that with my experience it would be easy. I’ve lost track of all the jobs I’ve applied for.”

He nods. “Often, companies have to advertise, but most people are promoted from within or someone knows someone who is perfect for the job.”

“It’s not what you know but who you know,” I say, feeling defeated.

“Can you afford to keep looking for work for an unknown period of time?”

I shrug. “I’d rather not, but I might have to. I’ve already let my mother and brother carry the financial responsibility our father left us with for too long. I can’t afford to move out or help in any way without a job.”

My mum would understand if I turned the job down, but Riley? I don’t think he would. And I certainly wouldn’t feel great about it.

“Kia, I understand the dilemma you face working with Anderson, but the job is yours if you want it. And remember, you don’t have to be here forever. This could be a short-term job for you if you find something else quickly. I’ll require two weeks’ notice, but you could manage that, couldn’t you?”

“Yes.”

He’s right. It isn’t like I’ll be locked into a contract that has forever on it.

Looking at his watch, Jeremy grunts a sound of irritation. “We need to finish up, unfortunately, but I’d like to add that this is the perfect job for someone at university. It pays well and there’s lots of night work, so you’ll be able to go to school during the day and come to work at night.”

“Wow, you’d make an excellent salesman,” I inform him.

Perhaps Dillon ought to sign him up for ask-dillon-dot-com.

He grins. “I might have been told that once or twice. I’ll admit I dabbled in sales from time to time a few years ago.”

Again, I want to ask him how old he is and how he ended up here. I swear he can’t be more than twenty-four or twenty-five. He’s warm, enthusiastic and very nice to look at with his lively green eyes, symmetrical good looks and dark blond hair styled immaculately. Most importantly, he put me at ease and generally seemed passionate about the job he’s doing here.

“The question is,” he continues, “have I sold myself enough? Do I have you believing I’ll be a great boss to work for?”

I can’t help but laugh at his teasing because yes, he really, really would be a fantastic boss. Is he this easy-going and friendly with all of his staff?

“Yes, you have.”

“Well, maybe that balances out things with Cam.”

A smile still tilts the corner of my lips up. “Maybe.”

He stands up. “Think about it, Kia. Get back to me as soon as you can.”

I stand up too and we shake hands before he walks to the door and opens it for me. “Can you give me an answer by Monday?”

“I can and I will. Goodbye, and thank you for your time.”

He touches my shoulder on the way out. “Remember, don’t let that guilt keep choking you.”

I nod. It’s good advice, but it’s also a lot easier said than done.