by Tamie Dearen
“Did you want to say something else, Ms. Best?”
Anne’s heart fluttered in response, and she jerked her hand away as if it’d been burned. “No… just… thank you. You won’t regret it!”
His chuckle followed her as she fled the room. She barely registered his last words.
“I hope you’re right.”
Chapter Two - Weatherford
“Gandalf!” yelled a delighted voice amid the noise of a slamming door, falling backpack, loud barks, and strangled giggles. “Hey, boy!” gasped the girl, who tussled on the floor with a huge, grey wolfhound. “Hey, did you miss me? I missed you, too.”
“What about me? Did you miss me?” Anne asked the girl who was still hugging the dog enthusiastically.
“Of course I missed you, Mom,” she laughed from the floor, “but you were too slow. Gandalf got to me first.”
“No fair,” exclaimed Anne. “He’s got better hearing than I do. And somehow, I think he knew you were coming. He’s been excited all day.” She gave the girl a hand up and pulled her into a bear hug. “Oh Charlotte, I’ve missed you so much. And I’ve got so much to tell you.”
“It’s ‘Charlie’, Mom. You know everyone calls me Charlie.” Charlotte had changed her name to the more masculine form during high school. Now at twenty-two years of age, she still preferred Charlie as her moniker.
“Sorry, sorry—it’s just so hard for me to remember. Although you look more like a ‘Charlie’ than a ‘Charlotte’ with your curls stuffed up into that baseball cap.” Anne snatched the cap from her head and playfully held it up over her head, while Charlie pushed back the loose brown curls that fell past her shoulders.
“That won’t work, Mom,” giggled Charlie as she quickly retrieved her cap, while her mother struggled to keep it out of her reach. “You know I’m taller than you are, now.” She wound her hair back up and tucked it in her cap with practiced ease.
“Are you sure?” Anne pouted. “I’m five foot eight! I know your sister is five foot nine, but I thought you were still a little shorter than me…”
“No Mom.” Charlie smiled indulgently. “I’m five eight and a half, and you’re definitely the shortest one in the family! But don’t worry—you’re still a little taller than Gandalf.”
Charlie swung an arm over her mother’s shoulder to emphasize her “smaller stature” as they walked together into the den and collapsed onto the soft couch. Gandalf followed closely and lay down on the plush rug next to the couch, resting his head on Charlie’s legs to command her attention. She absently rubbed his ears while she gave a tired sigh.
“How was the flight from Denver? I thought Emily was picking you up from the airport on her way here an hour from now,” Anne queried.
“That was the original plan, but I caught a ride with Ellie and her boyfriend. She decided to book a ticket to see him when she found out I was coming. She was having withdrawal—she hadn’t seen him for a whole three months, except for Skyping,” Charlie quipped sarcastically. “I don’t know how any self-respecting girl could be so dependent on a boy. I guarantee that’ll never happen to me. Anyway… I decided to surprise you by showing up early. Plus, I get you to myself for a few hours before Emily comes home.”
“I bought you some Cheetos.”
“Oh—the puffy kind?” exclaimed Charlie as she ran to the kitchen to retrieve her prize.
“Of course I bought the puffy kind,” Anne said indignantly. “What other kind is there?”
“Yummmm!” Charlie popped a Cheeto in her mouth and licked her already orange fingers as she fell back onto the couch. “Okay, Mom… What’s the big news you wouldn’t tell me on the phone?”
“Well, I was planning to tell you and Emily at the same time so I wouldn’t have to repeat the story.”
“Yes. But you could tell me now, and then I’ll tell Emily for you. That way you still only have to tell the story once.” Charlie’s huge gold eyes flashed with devilment.
“Your sister would have a fit if I told you first,” admonished Anne.
“No, she wouldn’t…”
“Yes, I would!” exclaimed a voice from the doorway.
Chaos broke out as Gandalf ran to greet the newcomer. He jumped up and put his front feet on her chest, knocking her against the wall, her bags crashing to the floor. She stood pinned against the wall in a joyful embrace, her stylish glasses knocked askew and a few stray hairs escaping from her long, neat braid of glossy, dark brown hair. The twenty-three year old Emily was neat and tidy, always organized and in control. Only when she was with her family did she let down her guard.
“Get down, Gandalf!” yelled Anne as she ran to the rescue.
“Sister!” shouted Charlie in greeting from the couch with a mouth full of Cheetos.
Emily laughed as she freed herself from Gandalf and rubbed his ears while kissing his nose. She turned to embrace her mom, but sneered at her sister.
“I’m not speaking to you—traitor. Trying to worm the story out of Mom before I got here. It’s a good thing I got off work early so I caught you red-handed.”
“Orange-handed,” corrected Charlie, wiggling her Cheetos-covered fingers at her sister.
“Oh, you started eating treats without me, too,” huffed Emily.
“That’s because I’m the favorite,” claimed Charlie.
“I know I’m the favorite,” corrected Emily, “because I brought Mom a new book to read—the latest of the Kate and Curran series.” She pulled a book out of her bag and waved it in the air.
“Oh great.” Anne snatched the book from her hand, hugging it to her chest. “I’ve been waiting forever.”
Emily laughed. “You could buy your own copy, Mom.”
“Yeah Mom,” Charlie agreed. “I bought it last month on Kindle.”
“Oh I know. But I never can keep up with what’s coming out when. I just wait until y’all give me a book or tell me what to buy. It’s so much easier, and that’s what daughters are for.”
“So I am the favorite?” Emily questioned her mom, with a wry smile at her sister. “What did you bring to Mom?” she asked her sister.
“I brought the best gift of all—something you can never bring—me.”
Emily rolled her blue, almond-shaped eyes and opened her mouth to respond.
“Stop,” laughed Anne as the girls began the familiar argument. “You know that both of you are my favorites… except for Gandalf who’s always number one.” She smiled with contentment to see her girls at home together, but her breath caught in her throat as she realized this might be one of the last opportunities for them to be together in the home where the girls had grown up.
“So, I may be selling the house. Well, that is, I might sell it in three months. But only if I decide to stay… Or if he decides I can stay… If I stay in New York.”
“What?” shouted both girls simultaneously. Charlie appeared gleeful, while Emily looked shocked.
“Tell us, Mom, tell us.” Charlie danced in circles, prompting Gandalf to join the frolicking with excited barks.
“Yes,” said Emily with a stern frown and crossed arms. “Tell us what on earth you’re talking about.”
“Wait.” Charlie pushed her mother back to the comfy couch. “Come sit down and tell us the whole story—don’t leave anything out.” Grinning, she grabbed her sister’s hand and pulled her along. “I’ll share my Cheetos.”
Anne sat down and looked at her daughters, sitting on either side of her with intent expressions. Suddenly, she felt nervous about explaining her wild plan to them. She’d never thought it would actually happen, so she never worried about having to explain the decision to leave their home in Texas and move across the country to New York City where she didn’t know a single soul. Tears sprang to her eyes, and both girls exclaimed and cried in sympathy, giving her hugs and begging her not to cry.
“You know we always cry if you cry,” sniffed Emily.
“Yeah, Mom, no fair.” Charlie snuffled in agreement.
“I’m sorry,” Anne said, breathing deeply and blinking her eyes dry. “It’s just very emotional, now that it’s actually happening. When I first talked to the recruiter—”
“You called a recruiter?” interrupted Emily.
“Let her finish a sentence,” Charlie scolded.
“No, actually, this recruiter called me. I didn’t even know what a recruiter was, and I thought it was some kind of scam,” Anne admitted wryly. “I guess she got my name from Alice—you know, my old college roommate. She’s been encouraging me to get a new job and move into Fort Worth. So I put together a resume and sent it to her. She must have given my resume to that recruiter.”
She looked at Emily. “I thought it would be fun to be closer to you, and I thought it would be a nice change to live in the city, maybe get an apartment or one of those cute little Victorian houses they’ve restored.”
Charlie scowled. “What about me? Don’t you want to live closer to me?”
“Well, even though you’ve lived in Colorado for a whole year now, I’m not totally convinced you’ll be staying there for long. You do have a record of changing your mind frequently.”
“But New York?” interrupted Emily. “Now you won’t be close to either one of us. How did you end up interviewing in New York?”
“Well, it’s funny, really…” Anne said thoughtfully. “When the recruiter called, she said it was unusual, but they’d offered to pay all expenses for the interview trip. I thought she said someone named Margaret made all the arrangements. But it was actually Katie who set up the interviews. And when I got there, the room was filled with job applicants, all for this same position, and everyone else was in their twenties.”
“That’s so weird,” Charlie mused. “I wonder why they contacted you, if all the others were so young?”
“That’s what I asked Katie after the interview.”
“Who’s Katie? Is that your new boss?” queried Emily.
“No. Katie’s the current personal executive assistant for my new boss. She’s been working there for four years, but she’s getting married and moving in a few months. She said this was the third round of interviews she’d been through with her boss, and he wouldn’t consider any of them, even though there were lots of qualified applicants. She didn’t explain why I was in the interview group. She was just so relieved he’d finally hired someone. She said her boss kept muttering about how she couldn’t just desert him and run off to get married, even though she got engaged almost a year ago. She warned me he could be a little demanding.”
“So, anyway, you got the job? For sure?” asked Charlie.
“Yeah, you said something about ‘if you decide or he decides’ or something.” Emily looked at her mom closely.
“Well, I got the job on a three-month trial. Who knows? I might decide I hate it and quit just to save him the trouble of firing me.”
“Mom,” Emily said shaking her head. “You can’t just go live in New York for three months. It’s very expensive, and they’ll make you sign a yearlong lease. This just isn’t practical. I don’t think you’ve thought this through.”
“Emily, you’re such a wet rag,” Charlie fussed at her sister. “She can figure something out. I think you should go for it. It’s so exciting.”
“No, actually Emily’s right. I’d never be able to find a place I could afford to stay for three months.” Emily stuck out her tongue at her sister, who stuck out hers in return. “But this company evidently owns an apartment building or two in New York, and Katie said part of the package would include my apartment during the trial period. If I keep the job, Katie said the company would sign some kind of guarantee that’s needed to rent an apartment in New York. It’s evidently a big deal to find a place to lease there. You’ve got to get a real estate agent and fill out all kinds of papers and jump through a bunch of hoops.”
“Wait, Mom,” Emily said earnestly. “Did you say the company owns an apartment building or two in New York? What kind of company is this? Who is it? Have we ever heard of them?”
“I don’t think so,” Anne said. “I’d never heard of them before. Some sort of international investment company—Gherring Inc.”
“Gherring Inc.!” shouted the two girls with disbelief.
“Mom,” Charlie said. “Surely even you have heard of Gherring Inc. Don’t you ever watch the news or get on the Internet? They’re huge!”
“Wow, Mom, that’s really impressive—Gherring Inc. So what does your boss do? What’ll your job be? Will you have an opportunity to move up? Will you get to travel?” Emily asked, now expressing real excitement.
“Well, Emily, if I’d known that’s what it took to win you over, I’d have mentioned the name of the company first,” laughed Anne. “My boss is actually… Steven Gherring. I think he kind of runs the company or owns it or something…” Anne trailed off at the stunned expressions on her daughters’ faces. Both seemed to have momentarily lost the ability to speak. “He seemed okay, a little full of himself and not very polite to Katie.” Anne caught herself nervously adjusting her hair in its clip, and put her hands in her lap and began to study her nails.
After a few moments of astonished silence, Charlie clarified, “You actually met Steven Gherring? You had an interview with Steven Gherring? The Steven Gherring? And you didn’t even know who he was?”
“Well, to be honest, the recruiter sent me an email with a link where I could read all about the company, but I never got past the name and address. I thought it was just a secretary job for some low-level guy. Plus,” she paused, struggling with her embarrassment, “I think I didn’t want to really try hard because I thought I was going to fail. I figured I’d have an excuse for why I didn’t get the job.”
“So you interviewed with Steven Gherring, and you were totally clueless? I can’t wait to hear this story,” Emily grimaced.
“Well, there really isn’t much story to tell. I just told him why I was qualified for the position, and he offered me the job—on a trial basis.” Anne’s fingernails were suddenly even more interesting. She couldn’t tell them Steven Gherring had made her lose control. She didn’t even understand what it was about him that got her so flustered.
“That’s it? That’s the whole story?” Charlie asked doubtfully.
“Well… it’s possible I lost my temper when he was so incredibly rude, and then I stormed out of his office. Well actually, I didn’t quite make it out the door, but I was going to leave before he apologized. Hmmm, now that I think about it, he never actually apologized. He sort of took control and led me back into the room.”
“And then the rest of the interview went really well?” Emily inquired.
“Uhmm, well it was okay, I guess.”
“Well you must have really impressed him with your qualifications, since you got the job. What did you say?”
Anne studied her nails again and stammered a bit. “Uhmm, well… I don’t exactly remember, but he was definitely impressed, alright.”
“What’re you hiding?” demanded Charlie. “You’re always good at recounting details. Why’re you suddenly so forgetful?”
Emily broke in. “Mom, you’re blushing. Ohmygosh! You’re actually really red. What did you say? What did you do?”
“Did you flirt with him?” asked Charlie. “I’ve seen his picture. He’s pretty hot for an old guy. Come on—fess up.”
“No, no, no. That’s not it at all. I didn’t flirt with him. I promise. And I really didn’t notice if he was good-looking, because he was so arrogant. I swear, I don’t even like the guy.” Anne fidgeted with her hair again and tried not to look directly at her daughters. She was a terrible liar. She couldn’t let them know how attracted she felt to her new boss, especially in light of how rude and narcissistic he was.
“Then why’re you even interested in working for him if he was so awful and rude?” Charlie smirked.
“Because of the chance to experience New York, of course.” Anne stated reasonably. “I figure I can stand an
ything or anyone for three months. But it’s the chance of a lifetime to actually live in New York City, even for three months. And the company pays for all the moving costs, too. Meanwhile, maybe I can find another job up there. Or I guess I can always come back to Weatherford after he fires me.”
Emily studied her mother doubtfully. “Something tells me you’re not being entirely truthful. You still haven’t told us about the rest of the interview—after you almost stormed out of the office. Did you apologize for losing your temper? I mean, not that you aren’t efficient and smart. And not that you’re not the best candidate for the job. But I know that because I know you. What did you say to convince him to hire you when he’d passed on all those others?”
Charlie added, “Yeah, Mom. I don’t actually believe you flirted with him, even if he was on the Most Eligible Bachelor List five years in a row.” Her eyes flashed with merriment.
Anne thought back to the fateful interview as she had so many times for the past three days. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she recalled his piercing gaze. Unconsciously, she rubbed the back of her hand, remembering his searing touch. Determined to control his physical effect on her, she forced herself to consider his egotistical attitude.
“He was just so self-absorbed and conceited and full of himself. I really didn’t notice his looks. And I may have lost my temper again—just a little.”
“Then why on earth did he hire you, Mom?” Charlie asked.
“To tell you the truth… I really don’t know.”
Chapter Three - New York, New York
Anne wrestled with her bags as she shuffled through the airport with her cell phone propped on her shoulder. “Yes, I’m safely here and all my luggage made it. Y’all sent me with way too many clothes.”
“You’re upset Charlie and I lent you some clothes? We couldn’t let you go to New York with your old wardrobe, and you refused to let us take you shopping.”
