She stopped at the address of the lawyer's office and looked at the large building she was going to. She got out of her car and tried not to giggle like a school girl, over the place she might work at.
Claire stepped inside and walked over to a desk where a lady sat, talking on a handless phone. She smiled at Claire and held up a finger to motion, one minute. Claire nodded and stood patiently. A minute later, the woman put down the phone and looked up at Claire.
"Hello, my name is Rosie, how may I help you?" she said kindly with a smile.
"My name is Claire and I called earlier about the secretarial job they are hiring for. Someone named Tom told me to come in and see him." she informed.
Rosie nodded and hit a button in front of her, "Mr. Blakeman? There is a young lady out here to see you about the secretarial job." Rose said into the intercom.
"Send her in please." he said.
Rosie switched off the button and winked at Claire, "Good Luck."
Claire smiled, "Thank you." she said before walking around the corner to the glass doors entering into Tom Blakeman's office.
He stood up and walked over to her, "Hi, it's nice to meet you. My name is Tom Blakeman, I run this place. So please, please, have a seat." he urged.
She smiled and sat down. He sat behind his desk and took out a piece of paper and a pen before looking up at her and smiling again.
"So your name is...?" he asked.
"Claire Bennet." she said properly.
"Have you ever done anything like this before?" he asked.
"Yes, last year I worked for a real estate office and I filed, answered phones and made appointments among many other things." she said trying to calm down.
He nodded, "And why do you want this job?"
"Well, not only do I want the responsibility of a job like this, but I also want to put myself through college. My parents offered to pay for it, but I think it would be more rewarding to pay myself." she smiled at him.
He scribbled something down and looked up at her smiling, "And lastly, can I have your phone number?"
"Yes, it's 555-2197." she said precisely.
"Okay Miss Bennet, it was nice talking to you and I will call you later to tell you if you got the position or not." he informed her.
She thanked him again before getting up and leaving his office. Claire waved goodbye to Rosie and drove back to her apartment. She opened her door and her cat, Madeline jumped on her.
"Hey baby, I know you must think I forgot about you!" Claire cooed as she patted her and put her down.
She put her keys and bag down, then walked into the kitchen, opening a can of cat food. She fed Madeline and got her fresh water. Madeline purred and rubbed up against her leg before returning to the food.
Claire sighed and walked over to answering machine which displayed she had 3 messages. She pressed the button as she walked around tidying up.
Message one said, "Hello Claire, this is Mom. I was just calling to see how you were. How's Angie, is she good too? Also, are you seeing Nick still? I hope so, he was a nice guy. Pretty good looking too. Alright hunny, call me back. Love you."
Claire laughed at her mother's message before message two beeped on.
"Claire, it's Nick. I was just calling because we have a break from the filming. Well I was just calling to talk, but I will call you later. I miss you."
The message beeped showing the end, then message three came on.
"Hello Miss Bennet, this is Rosie calling for the Attorney Office of Tom Blakeman. I was just calling to congratulate you, because once you left, Tom said he would have no other secretary other than you. So he would like you to call him back to see when you can start working. Welcome to the office."
Claire jumped up and down with excitement and let of a holler of joy. Madeline ran out of the kitchen, into the bedroom out of fright. Claire ran to the portable phone and picked it up, dialing Nick's cell phone.
"Hello?" answered someone.
"Hi, is Nick there?" she asked.
"Claire? Hey it's Brian." he said loudly because of the voices in the background.
"Oh, hey! I'm not interrupting anything am I?" she asked worried she called at a bad time.
"Unless you consider Nick sitting here, sleeping and mumbling your name, important ... then no, you called at a fine time." he laughed.
Claire giggled and blushed lightly, "Can I talk to my man?"
Brian shook Nick roughly until he fell off the couch. Nick slammed open his eyes and looked around him. When he saw Brian's smirk he pushed him back and yelled at him.
"Hey, don't flip out at me, I was just trying to tell you, you have a phone call." Brian said defending himself.
Nick grabbed the phone and put it to his ear, "What?" he said in a mean tone.
"Nick, it's just me, but maybe I should call back at a better time." she said quickly.
"Hey baby, I'm sorry, I was just rudely awaken. What's up?" he said.
"I just wanted to tell you about what I just found out. I am going to be working at a law office, it's so great." she beamed.
"Congratulations, that is great." he said.
Claire could feel his smile through the phone which put a smile on her face, "I am so proud of you!" he yelled into the phone over the background voices.
"Thank you. So," she said clearing her voice, "What were you dreaming about Mr. Carter?"
Nick started laughing, "Nothing. Nothing at all." he lied.
"Yeah I bet." Claire laughed.
"Listen, they are calling me back to the shoot. I will call you later." he said.
"Okay bye bye." she said before loudly making a kissing noise into the phone.
She heard Nick laughing, then he hung up. Claire called her work and set it to start working tomorrow at 8am. Then she got up and got into the shower. She stayed in the shower for a half an hour before getting out and changing into a comfy pair of pj pants and an oversized shirt. Claire brushed out her hair and put it into a messy bun before crawling into her bed with a new book she bought. On her travels during the day, she had bought a new book, ' Welcome to Temptation ' by Jennifer Crussie. She began reading before she drifted peacefully off to sleep.
RiNG .... RiNG ... RiNG
Claire fumbled with her lamp to turn on the light. She turned it on and grabbed the phone near her bed while glimpsing at the clock ... 2:30am. She sighed and answered the phone.
"Hello?" she yawned.
"Hi I am really sorry I woke you up. I just wanted to hear your voice." he whispered into the phone.
She bit her lip and smiled, "Nick, where are you? Why are you whispering?"
"We are in the van to go back to the hotel, I really miss you." he said sadly.
"Nick, you've only been gone for two days. But I miss you too." she said, "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"
"Sing to me." he said simply.
"What?! Nick your crazy, I can't sing, I am horrible." she laughed.
"I love your voice. Please?" he asked.
She sighed, "Fine."
She cleared her voice and thought of a song to sing. She thought of one that suited Nick perfectly and she began to sing.
"From this moment, life has begun. From this moment, you are the one. Right beside you, is where I belong. From this moment on. From this moment I have been blessed ... I live only for your happiness and for your love I'd give my last breath, from this moment on. I give my hand to you with all my heart, can't wait to live my life with you, can't wait to start. You and I will never be apart ... my dreams came true because of you. From this moment as long as I Iive I will love you, I promise you this. There is nothing I wouldn't give from this moment on."
Claire licked her lips and worried Nick would think she sounded horrible. She took a deep breath and kept singing.
"You're the reason I believe in love and you're the answer to my prayers from up above. All we need is just the two of us ... my dreams came true because of you. From this moment as long as I live I will love you, I promise you this. There is nothing I wouldn't give from this moment ... I will love you as long as I live from this moment on..."
She took a deep breath when the song was finished and waited for Nick to say something.
"Claire that was beautiful." he said in a light voice.
"Thanks Nick, and I have always loved that song..." she began.
"There is something I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to say it over the phone." he said in the same soft, quiet voice.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Claire, I love you." he said softly.
Her heart stopped for a second and she held her breath. She did love Nick and she knew it ... but would she have the courage to say it back? Everytime she said it back, was when the worst of her old boyfriends began to show through. Once she opened herself up to them. A million thoughts went through Claire's head.
"You too Nick." she said in a quiet voice.
He paused a minute, but didn't ask why she hadn't said it back, he just sighed.
"Nick ... are you still there?" Claire asked.
"Yeah I'm here. I should probably let you get to bed. Thank you for the song. I love you." he said again.
"You too. Goodnight Nick."
Claire shakily hung up the phone and took a deep breath. He told her he loved her ... and she didn't say it back ...
