by the time he slid out from under the limo and stood up to face his visitor. ‘You took your bloody time, didn’t you?’ he snarled. ‘My girl’s been in a right state over you.’
‘I’m sorry about that, Joe. To be honest, I was in a right state myself when she turned me down. Took me a day or two to see sense after she left, but then I got to thinking more rationally and I realised she was right. We wouldn’t have been happy living in New York. But it took some time to fix things so that we would be happy.’
‘What kind of things?’
‘I would prefer to discuss that with Jess first. Let me just say that I think she’ll accept my proposal after I tell her what I’ve done. But I guess there’s no harm in you knowing that I’ve come home to Australia to live. Permanently.’
Joe was both stunned and relieved. ‘That’s good news, Ben. Really good news. Ruth will be especially thrilled. So you’re going to ask my girl to marry you again, is that it?’
‘That’s the plan. But I want to do it right, Joe, so I’m asking you first for your daughter’s hand in marriage. I know that your approval would mean a lot to her.’
Joe could not have been more pleased. Or more proud.
‘You have my full approval, Ben. But I sure hope you haven’t bought the ring yet.’
Ben’s heart plummeted at this statement. ‘You think she might still say no?’
‘Hell, no. But she’ll want to pick the thing herself, if I know my Jess. That’s one strong-minded girl.’
‘Tell me about it.’ Ben laughed. ‘Now, I’d better get going.’
‘Good luck,’ Joe shouted as Ben made his way back to the car. ‘You’re going to need it!’ he chuckled to himself.
NAUSEA SWIRLED IN Ben’s stomach as he headed for Westfield’s and the movie theatre. A lack of confidence was not something he was familiar with. Admittedly, his ego had been brutally crushed by Jess’s refusal to marry him back in New York. He had, in fact, lost a day or two indulging his sorry self in a serious drinking binge, which was most unlike him. But once he’d sobered up, and realised a future without Jess was unthinkable, he’d attacked all the changes necessary to his lifestyle in a very positive state of mind. Not once had he entertained the thought that he would not succeed in winning Jess over.
But now, suddenly, he wasn’t so sure.
Maybe, during these last few weeks of silence, Jess had decided that she didn’t love him after all. Maybe it was a case of out of sight, out of mind, rather than absence making the heart grow fonder. Her being ‘in a right state’, as her father had described, could have been her realising that it wasn’t love she’d been suffering from but lust. Maybe she even regretted letting him do the things he’d done to her. Though, damn it, he was sure she’d enjoyed everything at the time. She wasn’t like Amber, just doing what he wanted in the bedroom with an eye on his money. Hell, Jess was nothing like Amber at all. He really had to stop thinking all these negative thoughts. Negativity never achieved anything!
By the time Ben pulled into the large car park, he’d regained some of his confidence and composure. Once parked, he quickly checked Jess’s mobile; it was still turned off. Climbing out from behind the steering wheel, he locked the car, then hurried into the shopping centre, heading through the food court and stopping at a spot where Jess would have to pass by as she exited the cinema complex.
* * *
Jess stood up as soon as the credits started coming up. The movie had been quite funny in parts. She’d managed to laugh once or twice. But the moment she exited the cinema her depression returned. What on earth was she going to do? Sit and have a coffee, she supposed wearily. No way was she going home yet. It was only just three.
She wandered slowly along the carpeted hallway which separated the numerous theatres, her blank eyes not registering the few people who passed her. Monday afternoon—especially on a warm spring day—was not rush hour at the movies. She did not bother to look at the advertisement posters on the walls like she usually did, not caring what blockbuster movies were about to hit the screens. Her mind was filled with nothing but one subject. She’d almost reached the food court just outside the cinema when someone called her name.
Her eyes cleared and there he was, standing right in front of her.
‘Oh, my God,’ was all she could say. ‘Ben.’
When he smiled at her, she almost burst into tears. But she caught herself in time.
‘What are you doing here?’ she said, her sharp tone a cover for her confusion. She wanted to believe that he’d come for her, but it seemed too good to be true. And yet here he was, looking as handsome as ever.
‘Your mother said you were at the movies. So I came and waited for you to come out.’
‘You rang my mother?’
‘I tried your mobile first, but it was turned off, so I rang Murphy’s Hire Car and your mum answered.’
‘Oh…’
‘Is that all you’ve got to say?’
‘Yes. No. What do you expect me to say? I’m in shock. I mean, you haven’t rung or texted me at all. I thought you were finished with me.’
‘It was you who finished with me, Jess.’
Her grimace carried true pain. ‘I did what I thought was right. For both of us. So why have you come, Ben? Please don’t ask me to go back to New York with you and marry you. That would just be cruel. I gave you my reasons for saying no and they haven’t changed.’
‘But you’re wrong there, Jess. Lots of things have changed.’
‘Not really. You’re probably richer than ever now.’ Hadn’t she read somewhere that billionaires earned thousands of dollars a day from their many and varied investments? Or was it thousands every minute?
‘What say we go have a coffee somewhere a little more private and I’ll explain further?’
‘There is nowhere here more private,’ Jess said, waving at the open-plan and rather busy food court. People might not be flocking to the movies on a Monday but, since October had tipped into November, Christmas shopping had begun.
‘I seem to recall there was a small coffee shop down that way on the right,’ Ben said. ‘Come on, let’s go there.’
Jess didn’t say a word as he led her away. She was still trying to work out what could possibly have changed.
The café he was referring to was half-empty with tables and booths to choose from. Ben steered her to the furthest booth where a sign on the back wall said you had to order at the counter.
‘Would you like something to eat with your coffee?’ he asked.
‘No thanks.’
‘Fine. What would you like?
