12 Days to Find a Husband

Chapter 1 - Provisions

Anna-lea lifted the already soaked tissue back up to her face. She usually didn't use the same tissue to wipe her nose and her eyes but she'd gone through all of the tissues bar this one. She still couldn't believe it; her great aunt Hilda had passed away so suddenly. One minute her great aunt had been Skyping her just before going off the grid and travelling to Machu Picchu and the next she'd been getting a phone call from Hilda's lawyer, Mr Gregory Benton, saying that she had passed away and her body was being flown home.

On top of that, Mr Benton told Anna-lea that she needed to see him directly after her great aunt Hilda's funeral. So, here she was, in his office. Mr Benton was momentarily out of the room arranging a drink of water for Anna-lea.

She took the few seconds she knew she had left before he came back to try to locate more tissues. Anna-lea found an almost full box sitting on the far side of Mr Benton's desk. She reached over a glass photo frame and some pencils, in what looked to be a homemade pencil holder, and grabbed the tissue box just as Mr Benton walked back into the room.

He startled Anna-lea and she dropped the tissues, which knocked the photo frame off the desk. It smashed as it hit the floor.

"What have you done?" Mr Benton asked angrily, putting Anna-lea's glass of water down on his desk hurriedly and rushing over to collect the photo of a beautiful blonde woman and angelic looking little girl from the smashed photo frame.

"I'm so sorry," Anna-lea replied, tears still running down her face from the lack of a tissue.

After examining the photo for damage, Mr Benton tucked it safely into his breast pocket and looked up at Anna-lea. He realized how upset she was but was angry at her clumsiness and wouldn't excuse her behaviour.

"I should hope so. This photo is one of a kind and it's very precious to me. Now, please, take a seat. Would you like a tissue?" he asked abruptly holding out the tissue box to her, dismissing Anna-lea's obvious distress over the photo frame.

Anna-lea already felt bad enough. The shock of losing her great aunt Hilda was upsetting, to say the least, but the tone of this man's voice, after what was obviously an accident, was too much to take. She wasn't sure if the offer of a tissue was an olive branch or a gesture just to get her to do what he wanted and shut her up in the process.

"No, that's really not necessary. I can find my own tissues. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think we should re-schedule this meeting for another day. Goodbye Mr Benton," Anna-lea replied, all the while trying to keep her voice calm and her tears at bay.

Silence momentarily filled the room as Anna-lea turned and headed toward the door.

"No!" Mr Benton barked.

The tone of his voice was enough to stop Anna-lea in her tracks. She didn't know what to do. Was this man so heartless that he expected her to go on with the meeting after what had happened and the way he had spoken to her?

Anna-lea slowly turned to face him.

"Excuse me?" she asked, her tone registering her annoyance.

"I said no," Mr Benton repeated. "I will not excuse you. We are in the middle of a meeting and I have other clients due. It was your great aunt Hilda's specific instruction to have this meeting directly after her funeral and I am going to have to insist we continue," he went on.

Once again silence filled the room. Anna-lea looked down at the soaked, crumpled tissue in her hand. She wasn't sure whether to turn back around and walk out, as she was still in obvious need of a tissue and she was damn sure she was not going to take one of the lawyer's ones now, but she wasn't aware, until now, that this meeting's timing was at her great aunt Hilda's request. She knew Hilda wouldn't have made such a request unless she had a perfectly good reason to do so.