14. Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Jenna
I sat and started the email on my screen, not believing what I was reading. I had waited for this moment for so long. Yet, for some reason I felt a twinge of disappointment.
I read the message one more time, just to make sure it wasn’t imagining things.
Dear Miss Nichols,
I want to thank you again for the amazing article that you submitted. I have also spoken with the book publisher and he told me that you are going to be going ahead with the book. I’m very excited for you, and I know that this is going to be great things for you and your career as a writer.
IWith all of that in mind, it is my pleasure to offer you a full-time position as a reporter for our paper. We appreciate your style and what you have done for us, and we are confident that you will help take our publication to the next level.
I am happy to offer you a competitive salary, as well as a full benefit package. I would like to have you start three weeks from the date of this letter. Please take time to consider our offer, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Derek Michaelson
Editor-in-Chief
Coastal Times
As I felt my eyes well up with tears, I knew that any regret that I had felt was fleeting. I was being offered full-time job as a writer. This, in addition to the book I was working on, was a dream come true. I knew that working for the paper would still allow me to have the schedule that I needed to see Tyler’s games, but would almost double my monthly income.
I looked around my office, and I knew that the only thing that I was really going to miss was being able to work with Ryan. I wasn’t going to lie to myself and pretend that I was going to miss working with anyone else. I liked my coworkers and got along with them, but we were not close.
The opportunity at the newspaper was incredible and there was nothing else I wanted to do, but I knew that I was going to miss seeing Ryan every day.
Although the newspaper editor gave me some time to think about it his offer, I didn’t need the time. I knew I was going to take the job. I figured that I should tell Ryan right away so that he could begin to look for my replacement.
I took a deep breath, stood up, and headed out towards Ryan’s office. As I got ready to knock on his door, I felt a surge of excitement as I thought about the fact that if I didn’t work at the real estate agency anymore, then Ryan wouldn’t be my boss. If he was interested in me, as I thought he might possibly be, there would be nothing stopping him from asking me out.
I shook my head and rolled my eyes, feeling like a teenager. I pushed the thought out of my head and waited for Ryan to tell me to come in.
Once I heard his voice I walked in, and he smiled at me.
“Good morning!” he said, brightly. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” I answered, settling into the chair across from his desk. “Although there is something I have to talk to you about.”
“What’s going on?” he asked, a concerned expression on his face.
“I just found out today I have been offered a position as a full-time reporter for the newspaper.” My heart was pounding, and I knew it was partly excitement over the new job, but also partly nervousness as to how Ryan would respond.
“Are you serious?” he said, standing up to come and hug me. “I am so happy for you!”
“Thank you,” I said. I could tell that he was genuinely excited for me, and I was touched.
“Will you be able to have the hours you need there?”
“Yes,” I answered, smiling. I liked the fact that he knew how important that was to me.
“Well, that's just wonderful,” he said. “I mean,don’t get me wrong. We are going to miss you alot here. You are really good at what you do, and you make the company much stronger. But there is no way I would want you to not do what you’re most passionate about.”
“Thank you for being so supportive,” I said.
“Of course,” he answered. “Why wouldn’t I be supportive?”
I shrugged my shoulders, knowing he was right. He responded exactly the way that I knew he would. He was a good man.
“What does this mean for you here?” he asked. “How much longer do we have you? When do they want you to start?”
“The editor said he would like for me to start in three weeks,” I answered.
“Are you going to stay here for the entire three weeks? Or will you take a week for yourself?”
Although I liked the idea of having a week for myself before starting the new job, I didn’t want to inconvenience Ryan.
“If we can get someone in here and trained in two weeks then I would like to take the extra week off,” I said. “But I will stay that final week if you need me.”
“Okay,” he answered. “Thank you. Let’s get an ad posted and hopefully we can get someone in here soon and you can start training them. Will you post the ad? I know we have a generic ad we use at our other offices, but you know best what the actual job entails.”
“Sure,” I said. “I can write it up and get it posted today.”
I started to stand up, but I could see that Ryan looked like he had something he wanted to say.
“Is there something more on your mind?” I asked.
Ryan stared at me for a minute, and then finally spoke.
“There is something else on my mind, but I feel strange telling you about it,” he said. “This is such a great day for you and I don’t want to take away from your excitement or your news at all. But there is something pretty great that has been happening for me, and I wanted to share it with you.”
I laughed. “Don’t be silly,” I said. “You’re not going to take away from my day. Hearing good news about you would only add to my great day.”
Ryan smiled. “You really are something, you know that?”
I shrugged my shoulders, not quite knowing what to say.
“Okay. Well, my news is that I have started helping coach baseball at the high school.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” I said.
I could tell by the smile on his face that he was really happy. The night he had helped coach Tyler's game I had seen that he loved it, and I was hoping he would find a way to be around the game more.
“When did this happen?” I asked.
“The day after I coached Tyler,” he said. “I called the school, went to meet the players and coaches, and I have been helping out ever since!”
“Oh, that’s awesome,” I said. “So you get to do what you love!”
“And now so do you,” he said.
“Right,” I answered, nodding. “Speaking of baseball, Tyler has a game tonight. Will you be there? My parents are going to be there and I’d love to introduce you.”
“Ooh, meeting the parents?” he said, with a twinkle in his eye that made me blush.
I chuckled, “Something like that.”
“As much as I would like to do that, I can’t make it tonight. Unfortunately I have a meeting I have to go to. I’ll be at the next game, though, if that’s alright. And if your parents are at that game I would love to meet them.”
“They’ll be there,” I said, standing up. “Okay, I am going to go and get the ad ready. I will keep you posted as soon as we start getting applicants.”
“Thank you,” he said. “Congratulations, again.”
“Thank you.”
As I got to the door he softly called my name.
“Jenna?”
I turned around, my heart pounding at the tone of his voice.
“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, and I hope you understand what I am about to say,” he said, his voice still low.
“Yes?”
“I am really glad you are not going to work for me anymore.”
I smiled, feeling my face growing hot. I looked him in the eye and said, just as softly, “Me too.”
He blushed, and I walked out the door.