The Choice: The Pocket Watch Chronicles

by Ceci Giltenan

  Ben cradled her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly.

  Samuel congratulated them giving them both a hug.

  “Thank you for taking care of the rings, Mr. Talbot,” said Sara.

  “Sara, you’re my daughter-in-law now, please call me Samuel, or even dad if you’re comfortable with that.”

  As they left the wedding room, people called good wishes to them. They made their way out of the courthouse and into the brilliant August sunshine.

  “It is a spectacular day,” said Samuel. “Not too hot, low humidity. Perfect.”

  “Yes, it is,” agreed Ben.

  “It’s supposed to be a great weekend, too. Do the two of you have honeymoon plans?” There was a twinkle in Samuel’s eye that made Sara wonder what he was up to.

  “No, sir,” answered Sara. “I was going to make dinner for Ben and we were just planning to spend a quiet weekend at home.”

  “Hmm. Well, that won’t do at all. Ben and I had a chat earlier in the week and I think we’ve come up with a much better plan.

  Sara cast a questioning look to Ben.

  He smiled and shrugged. “It’s a secret.”

  “Yes, but I think you’ll both enjoy it. So, go home, pack a bag for the weekend, and I’ll send a car for you at three.”

  ~ * ~

  Samuel and Ben’s surprise turned out to be a weekend alone on Samuel’s yacht in the Chesapeake. Well, alone wasn’t precisely accurate. In addition to the two of them there was a crew of six, including the captain, three mates, a steward, and a gourmet chef.

  They couldn’t have been served a finer wedding dinner in the finest restaurant in Baltimore. Afterward, they retired to their cabin to celebrate their wedding night in the best possible way—making love and sleeping in each other’s arms.

  The weekend was delightful. It was the perfect cruise to nowhere. They relaxed in the sun, ate stellar meals, and had mind blowing sex.

  As Sara lay in Ben’s arms back in her apartment on Sunday night, she said, “Thank you for arranging that mini honeymoon, Ben.”

  “Much of the thanks goes to Samuel. I wanted to do something, but I knew you have a deadline this week, so it would have to be short and low-key. He suggested the yacht.”

  “Well, it was exactly what a honeymoon should be.”

  “Except that it only lasted two days.”

  She chuckled. “I’m not going to lie, I could get used to having you to myself again surrounded by sun and water.”

  “I’m glad to hear that, because as soon as you make this deadline, I’d like to disappear somewhere else with you for a few days.”

  “You don’t have to twist my arm.”

  “Good. We’ll get settled in the condo next week, and then pick someplace to go for an extra-long weekend in September.”

  “That’s a plan,” she agreed, sleepily. “Maybe South Carolina. The beaches there are great in the fall.”

  Chapter 16 – What if I Fall in Love?

  On Monday morning, Sara had to jump back into her writing with both feet in order to finish the final edit on her next book. Normally as a deadline neared, she worked at least several hours a day on the weekends. But getting married and having hot sex with her new husband had interfered slightly with that. Of course, her thoughts drifting back to their flash honeymoon didn’t help her focus on her writing.

  She ended up working through her usual afternoon break and not just on Monday, but Tuesday and Wednesday, too. She’d never missed a deadline, but she was coming perilously close to this one.

  Finally on Thursday, Sara looked up from her manuscript when the clock struck eleven. She only had an hour or two of work left before she’d be finished with it. She certainly had time to follow her usual routine today and go swimming. She just had to submit the manuscript by five that evening.

  The little angel on one shoulder whispered, “You really should stop and go to the gym for your swim.”

  The little devil on the other shoulder whispered, “But if you don’t, you’ll be done by one and completely free for the rest of the day.”

  The little angel countered, “You haven’t had a workout in two days.”

  The little devil smiled slyly, “Oh, yes she has. We like to call it sexercise and it can burn up to three hundred calories in thirty minutes.”

  The little angel frowned. “But…well…yeah, I got nothing. Get back to work.”

  So Sara grabbed a yogurt and granola bar and settled in to finish. At half past twelve, five hours before her deadline, Sara hit send.

  With the manuscript submitted to her editor, Sara was blissfully free. She was also tired. She yawned and stretched. A nap would be a decadent luxury. She never took a nap, unless she was sick—or suffering a severe writers’ block—but today she’d earned it. Not even stopping by the kitchen for a more substantial lunch, she went straight to bed for a quick rest.

  She tried to relax and give in to her weariness. But the instant her eyes were closed, her brain went into hyper drive, tallying the list of things she had to do before moving out in the next week.

  After about five minutes, she quit trying. With so much to do, she supposed she should begin packing her apartment, but the devil on her should whispered, “But you have until the end of the month to vacate the apartment and there isn’t all that much to do. Go do something fun.”

  Truly, she didn’t have much to pack. She’d take all of her clothes and things with sentimental value, but Ben’s condo was fully furnished and had been decorated by an interior designer. Sara didn’t like the decor. There was a sterile coldness to it that would have perfectly suited Benjamin but it didn’t feel like a home. They would be redecorating, still, most of her stuff was second hand and it would be horribly out of place there. She didn’t even need her kitchen stuff because the condo was equipped with the finest of everything.

  The little devil whispered again, “Do it. Go shopping.”

  The little angel shrugged. “Sure, why not.”

  She grinned and picked up the phone to call Ben.

  “Hello sweetheart,” came his deep rich voice through the phone. Oh, the things that voice did to her.

  “Hi, hon.”

  “How’s the book coming?”

  “Great. I skipped my swim again today, but I just finished it and sent it to my editor.”

  “Excellent. You should relax this afternoon. You’ve been pushing yourself pretty hard over the last few days.”

  She chuckled. “I thought the same thing, but I’m too keyed up to rest. I think I’ll go shopping for a while.”

  “Sounds good. How about I take you out for dinner tonight to celebrate?”

  “That would be perfect. I probably won’t spend more than a few hours at the mall. I should be no later than five.”

  “I’ll see you then. Have fun.”

  “Thanks. I love you.”

  “I love you too. See you later.”

  With that, she dropped her phone in her purse and practically skipped down to her car. She drove to Hanover Mills, a huge mall not too far away that not only had her favorite department store, it had a great lingerie store, a shoe store she loved, and more importantly a Mrs. Cinnamon’s. She didn’t indulge often, but if typing “the end” and hitting send wasn’t reason enough to celebrate with a sinfully rich cinnamon bun, she didn’t know what was.

  Since she’d skipped lunch, she intended to go to Mrs. Cinnamon’s first. However, with a nod to the fact that she hadn’t been swimming in three days, she parked at the other end of the shopping center. She thought this walk through the mall was a good idea, until she heard someone calling her name and turned around to see Daphne hurrying towards her. Damn it all. If I’d just parked closer, she might not have seen me.

  “Sara, darling, I haven’t seen you since the cruise.”

  “Really, Daphne? That’s what you’re going with?”

  “Sara, can’t we just let bygones be bygones?”

  Not until the image of you on your
knees with my former boyfriend thrusting into your mouth ceases to be burned in my memory, seemed like a good answer, but Sara couldn’t bring herself to say it. Plus, she couldn’t deny that if she hadn’t found out about Mark and Daphne, she wouldn’t have Ben in her life now. Besides, both she and Ben had made peace with Mark, she’d be polite to Daphne. “That’s fine. I hope you and Mark are very happy.”

  Daphne grabbed her by the elbow and started walking. “Oh, Mark is history. He’s a dog. I should’ve known that. Once a cheat, always a cheat.”

  Well, that was fast. Sara stopped and pulled her arm away. “Look, Daphne, I have things to do.”

  Daphne flashed a brilliant smile. “Well, I don’t. How about I just shop with you for a while.”

  “Actually, I was going to get something to eat.”

  “Excellent, I’m starving. What do you feel like?”

  Daphne was one of those girls who’d liked everyone to believe she existed on lettuce and black coffee. And to make matters worse, she was exceedingly judgmental towards anyone, at least any woman, who ate like a regular person. Sara smiled broadly, knowing exactly how to get rid of her. “I have a fierce craving for a big gooey cinnamon bun and an iced mocha from Mrs. Cinnamon’s.”

  “Oooh, sounds sinful. I’m in.”

  Sara frowned. “Were you abducted by aliens or something?”

  Daphne laughed merrily. “No, darling, I’ve decided I need to live a little.”

  Damn it. Why had Daphne picked this moment to be normal? Well, there was no getting out of it now. Although Sara said, “Great,” she couldn’t force any enthusiasm into her response.

  They walked together to the food court with Daphne chatting away the entire time.

  Sara placed her order at the counter but before she could pay, Daphne stepped in. “No, let me get this.”

  “That isn’t necessary.”

  “Please, Sara, I know it isn’t necessary, but I want to.”

  Sara shrugged. She wasn’t completely sure what to make of all this. “Okay. Thank you.”

  Daphne smiled at the young man working the register and said, “I’ll have the same thing, only make my mocha with soy milk and no whipped cream.”

  Well, there was a glimpse of the old Daphne.

  After Daphne paid, they were given their pastries, but they had to wait for the coffees to be made.

  “Go on, find us a table. I’ll bring them over when they’re ready,” offered Daphne.

  Will wonders never cease? “Sure.”

  When Daphne joined her at the table, she sat Sara’s cup in front of her.

  Sara frowned. “Is this one yours? It doesn’t have whipped cream.”

  Daphne’s brows drew together and she looked at her cup. “Oh, no, this one doesn’t either and it’s the one marked soy.” She held up the cup for Sara to see the word “soy” scrawled across it. “He must have thought I meant no whipped cream on both.” She sat down her own cup. “Here, I’ll take it back and ask him to add the cream.”

  “Nah, it’s okay. Thanks though.”

  “No problem.” Daphne sat across from her at the table and took a sip from her cup. “Oh, wow, this is delicious.”

  “You’ve never had an iced mocha before?”

  “No. Honestly, Sara, I really do have to watch what I eat. I wish I could be like you.”

  “You are way thinner than I am.” Sara took a drink of her own mocha.

  “Of course, I am, but only because I don’t eat anything fun. You can afford to indulge yourself because you go to the gym every day. I hate working out. I force myself to go two or three times a week, but I despise every minute of it. I absolutely can’t stand to sweat.”

  Sara laughed. “I can’t stand to sweat either. That’s why I started swimming when I was in high school.”

  “I’ve never thought of that, but I don’t really swim all that well.”

  “Then you might like water aerobics.”

  At that suggestion, the look on Daphne’s face—like she’d smelled some horrible stench—was much more consistent with the woman Sara was familiar with.

  “Eww. No. Old ladies do that.”

  “I wouldn’t say that’s true but you do you.”

  The conversation moved on, back into the inane topics that Daphne excelled in, mostly gossip about celebrities. Sara simply nodded a lot as she enjoyed her snack. Eventually, her mind began to wander. After all, she really didn’t care that Paris Hilton had released an album or that Jennifer Aniston was dating Vince Vaughn.

  As Daphne droned on and on, Sara washed down the last of her cinnamon bun with what remained of her mocha and glanced at her watch. It was after two. Daphne had been chattering on for over thirty minutes, but had barely touched her own snack. “Look, Daphne, this has been nice, but I did want to do a little shopping. You enjoy the rest of your food and I’ll see you later.”

  “Oh, please don’t leave yet. I wanted to go shopping with you. I’ll just have another couple bites and then go ask for a box so I can take the rest to go.”

  Sara sighed. She was not going to be able to get rid of Daphne, so the best thing to do would be to stroll through a store or two then make an excuse to leave. Maybe she’d go home and have that nap anyway.

  Finally, after a few more minutes of conversation during which time Daphne took a single bite of her cinnamon bun, she said, “I’m stuffed. I can’t eat another bite,” and she went back to the counter for a box.

  Sara rolled her eyes. Four bites at the most and she’s stuffed.

  Daphne came back to the table with her boxed leftovers in a bag. “Do you want to take this? I probably won’t eat anymore and you seem to really like them. There isn’t a crumb left of yours. I can’t imagine how many laps you’d have to swim to burn off all those calories.”

  Zing, and she’s back. There was no way Sara could stand shopping with Daphne for long so when Daphne asked her where she wanted to shop, her answer was easy. “Lindstrom’s.” The department store near which she’d parked her car.

  “Great. But do you mind if we just pop into Vitale’s for one quick second since we’re right here? I’ve had my eye on a bag in their fall line.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s okay.” Vitale’s was a high-end designer of shoes and bags. Sara didn’t much care for their designs, but they were hot at the moment.

  So they headed in that direction, but hadn’t gone more than fifty yards when Sara stumbled. She was much more tired than she’d realized and it gave her the perfect out.

  Daphne put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’ve just been working really hard to finish a book and I’m a little tired today. I thought doing something fun this afternoon might perk me up, but I think maybe it’s better if I go home and rest. I’m just going to head back to my car.”

  “Oh, sure, I understand. No problem. I’ll get the bag another day.”

  “Go ahead and get it now. Don’t let me…um…ruin your…um…plans.” God, she was tired.

  “I don’t mind. I’ll go with you.”

  “Suit yourshelf…I mean…whatever.” She scrubbed her face with her hands. Her head was spinning.

  “Sara, you don’t look so good.”

  “I’m feeling really odd.”

  “Look, Lindstrom’s is all the way at the other end of the mall. My car is parked just outside this exit. How about I drive you to your car.”

  “Yeah, that’s…yeah.”

  Daphne took her elbow, supporting her as they walked towards the exit. Sara could barely put one foot in front of the other. Something was happening to her, but she couldn’t concentrate long enough to figure it out. When they reached Daphne’s car, Sara slumped against it. “I don’t know what’s wrong. I feel terrible.”

  “Maybe instead of taking you to your car, I should just drive you home. I’ve heard drowsy driving is as bad as drunk driving.”

  “Yeah…I can’t drive.”

  “Here, get in the backseat. You can lay
down until I get you home.”

  “Good idea.” Sara crawled into the sweltering back seat put her purse under her head as a pillow. Her cellphone started ringing, but she was just too tired to fish it out.

  Chapter 17 – What if I Fall in Love?

  For Ben, today had been a rude awaking to some of the uglier aspects of the twenty-first century. At three o’clock, shortly before he would normally leave the office to be driven to Sara’s, Talbot & Company had been thrown into a panic. Someone had called to say bombs had been place throughout the building and were set to automatically detonate.

  Ben didn’t leave as he normally would have, electing to stay at his father’s side. He called Sara’s phone but she didn’t answer so he sent a text, smiling to himself at how acclimated he had become to modern forms of communication.

  Hope you are having fun. I may be later than usual.

  He decided not to worry her with the details of why. Within minutes she responded back.

  No worries. I’m having fun. I’ll be late too.

  The building was evacuated and searched by the police bomb squad. Two unmarked suspicious packages were found on the initial sweep, one in the parking garage and one in the ladies’ room on the ground floor. Eventually, they were found to be decoys. But rather than calming fears, that made the police more suspicious that a real bomb might be better hidden.

  “We can’t take the risk that whomever did this wanted to give us a false sense of security that the entire threat was a hoax only to have the real bomb explode after people returned to their offices.”

  The entire incident had Samuel on edge, fearing that the bomb threat may have been intended to get them out into the open for some other nefarious purpose. He sent his employees home. “If your car is parked in the garage, leave it there. Take a cab or public transportation home and expense the cost tomorrow.”

  But he didn’t want Ben to go to Sara’s just yet. “Come home with me or go to your condo. But it’s important to increase our security until this has all been sorted out. In fact, I’ll just send a driver to pick her up. I’d feel better knowing she’s safe too.”