Her Best Match: A Romantic Comedy (The Best Girls Book 1)

by Tamie Dearen

  “Oh no—you don’t get to put us on your bucket list. That’s strictly for things you can do.”

  “I guess that means you don’t want to go hang gliding with me, then.”

  “Heck, yeah. I’m going with you.”

  “Well, either you’re in the bucket with me or you’re not.”

  “Fine, I’ll promise to get married and have kids one day in the far, far future, if you’ll take me with you when you go hang gliding.”

  “Deal.”

  Gherring spoke from across the room. “Emily doesn’t want in on this?”

  “Not hang gliding. Not Em,” said Charlie.

  Anne said, “Unless maybe I bribed her with a first edition of Little Women or Pride and Prejudice.”

  “I used to be able to talk her into anything, but she’s gotten really stubborn lately,” complained Charlie.

  Gherring said, “I think she gets that from her mother.”

  “Absolutely,” Charlie agreed.

  “Hey, wait a minute. No ganging up. Him, I can’t control.” Anne nodded toward Gherring. “But you’re still partially on the payroll.”

  “Just kidding, Mom. No need to play the money card. But even Grandpa says you’ve always been stubborn. He says you got it from Grandma.”

  “Luckily for you, Jared is back. So I’m going back to work. Otherwise we’d be having a little talk.”

  “Oh great. I’d love to give you ‘The Talk.’ Do you really think you’re ready for ‘The Talk’?”

  Anne blushed crimson, and mumbled in a low voice, “Charlie, stop it. They might hear you.” She picked up the laptop and started for the second bedroom.

  “Too late! We already heard!” Jared was chuckling along with Gherring. “So this is what happens when your sweet baby girl grows up... She turns on you.”

  Two hours later, Anne was making a few final changes on the slides. Gherring had Jared practice his presentation, which took about an hour without questions or discussion. The bulk of the PowerPoint slides were devoted to the portion that had been Jeff’s responsibility. Gherring said, “Jared’s part is first, of course. Then we’ll have a short break. Anne, you’ll start at the beginning of part two with the introduction and just keep going for a while. Probably to about slide fifteen. When they ask a question you can’t answer, I’ll step in as if we planned to switch at that point.”

  “What about introductions and opening the meeting?” asked Jared.

  “I’ll do all the prep work and introduce the two of you. Jared, you’ve met about a third of these people, but Anne won’t know anyone. I’ll know all but a few.”

  “And they’re all going to speak English?” asked Anne.

  “Yes,” said Gherring. “French will be their primary language, but all of them will understand English. Most will be pretty fluent, and I’m pretty fluent in French as well. Most of these people speak at least three languages.”

  “I didn’t know you could speak French,” Anne said.

  “Oh yeah, he speaks French, German, and Spanish, too.” He looked at Gherring. “You speak anything else?”

  “I’m passable in Italian and Portuguese. I know some Mandarin Chinese, but I’d never try to conduct business in it.”

  Anne wondered what else she didn’t know about Steven Gherring.

  “I guess I should try to practice.” Her hands were already shaking. Having always had an irrational fear of public speaking, she’d managed to avoid taking speech class in high school and college as well.

  She started the presentation, reading from her slide notes in a tentative voice.

  “Look up,” said Jared. “You wrote that stuff. I know you mostly know it.”

  Anne tried to look up, but Gherring’s stare made her incredibly nervous. Her mouth was dry, and she couldn’t process her thoughts properly.

  Gherring said, “I don’t think that’s right. Are you sure your notes are correct? Maybe you were a little careless copying from Jeff’s notes. We may have to start over and double-check everything.”

  Her temper flared. “No, my figures are correct. Look here on the next slide, you can see how the numbers changed from year to year. That’s exactly what I said. And on slide five, you can see the totals averaged over five years. I didn’t make any mistakes.” She fumed with indignation. She’d poured her heart and soul into that presentation, and she knew there weren’t any errors.

  “We’re going to need to make her a little angry. She’s quite fearless when she’s ticked off…” Gherring grinned at Jared.

  Jared’s eyes were wide. “Yeah, I noticed.”

  Anne began to chuckle and felt the tension leave her body. “Okay, I can do this. You don’t have to provoke me on purpose.” After that, she kept going through the first hour of the presentation.

  Gherring held up his hand. “Okay, that’s enough for tonight. I’ll probably take over long before we get to that point. There’ll be a lot of questions on this part.” He stretched. “Eight o’clock—not bad. I say we go out to eat instead of ordering in. We’ll go someplace casual. Let me call the concierge, and we can meet downstairs in, say, fifteen minutes?”

  Less than a ten minute drive brought them to Restaurant Meridiano. Anne was happy to let Gherring order for her, as long as it was “something good I can't get in the United States.” She had a four-course meal with a matching wine for each course. She started with Vietnamese spring rolls, followed by redfish and then Simmentaler veal with a basil mash. Dessert was a chocolate bombe filled with ice cream, Grand Marnier, crunchy crisps and cream. She was absolutely stuffed, but refused to leave a morsel of the delicious dessert on her plate, no matter how miserable she felt. Both men ordered a tasting menu with twelve different entrees, and appeared equally sated and wretched.

  On the way back, Jared asked, “Did you ever see that really old Alka-Seltzer commercial? I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”

  “I’m just glad I didn’t try to actually finish all that wine. Y’all would be carrying me to my room,” said Anne.

  “I always eat too much at that restaurant. Every time I tell myself next time, I’ll be more judicious. But it’s too good to resist,” said Gherring.

  “Well there won’t ever be a next time for me. I’ve got to eat everything I can on this trip,” Anne said.

  “You don’t know you won’t ever be back. You didn’t even know you were coming here until two days ago,” said Gherring.

  Anne smiled. “You have a point. My life has changed so much in the past six weeks, I guess I really can’t predict my future.”

  “I hear you might be living in Paris someday,” teased Jared.

  “Where did you hear that? That’s not true,” said Anne, grateful for the darkness to hide her crimson face.

  “It’s all the talk in the break room. All those women have evidently been after Henri DuBois for a long time. They’d only heard rumors until someone saw you talking to him the other day when they were getting coffee. It’s true isn’t it?”

  “We’ve become friends, that’s all.” Anne glanced at Gherring as he scowled out the window. She could see him flexing his jaw muscles.

  “Whatever you say…” Jared smirked. “That’s not what I heard. I heard—”

  “Could we change the subject, please?” Gherring interrupted. “We need to plan tomorrow morning. We’ll meet in the suite at eight o’clock. I’ll have a light continental breakfast there. The meeting starts at nine.” He spoke with an edge of sarcasm to Anne. “Do you think you’ll have trouble waking up?”

  “No sir. I’ll be fine. No need to worry.”

  Oblivious to the tension between the other two, Jared said, “I’m gonna sleep like a baby. No, not like a baby, because they wake up all night. I’m gonna sleep like the parent of a baby.”

  He chuckled to himself, while Gherring and Anne stared silently ahead, refusing to make eye contact.

  “But don’t worry, Mr. Gherring,” Jared said. “I’ll set my alarm and wake up in plenty of time.
”

  Anne was terrified as she sat in the meeting room, waiting for the group to arrive. She’d been unable to eat any breakfast, instead pushing a crescent roll around on her plate, tearing it into pieces. Jared seemed unaware of her anxious demeanor. He chatted happily and showed her a picture of his baby his wife had emailed the night before. She tried to act interested in the photo, but her heart was pounding so hard she thought she might have a stroke. She kept her hands clenched in her lap to hide their shaking, but Gherring was not fooled. She knew he was counting on her, and she couldn’t let him down. Unfortunately, this thought made her even more nervous. Why hadn’t she simply refused when he told her she needed to speak? She was going to make a fool of herself and Gherring as well.

  When the group arrived, trickling in, she fought the urge to run to the bathroom and throw up. She’d decided that was exactly what was going to happen, when Gherring pulled her aside and spoke in an urgent tone. “I’m worried about Jared.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “It’s just that once before, during a previous meeting, he said something inappropriate. You know how he is. He speaks without thinking. And then he panicked and blanked out. He couldn’t even finish.”

  “Oh no! Why did you even bring him? You should have left both of us at home.”

  “I just had to give him another chance. You know, with a new baby and everything.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Just stick with him while we’re mingling and make sure he doesn’t stick his foot in his mouth. Then be prepared to bail him out if he blanks during his presentation.”

  Anne nodded and hurried to guard Jared, who appeared totally at ease. Perhaps he was too much at ease. She listened carefully as he talked. Whenever he seemed to be getting a little too casual in his conversation or seemed to be ready to tell a story, Anne jumped in and asked questions, steering the talk back toward business. Several of the female board members came to join the group, asking Anne about herself. She bypassed the questions about her work experience, but talked readily about her children. The other women were older and had grown children as well, and soon they were sharing pictures of children and in some cases grandchildren. She tried to listen in on Jared’s conversation as well, but so far he seemed to be pretty tame. She wondered just what Gherring meant by inappropriate. She breathed a sigh of relief when the time came for the presentation to start.

  Gherring stood up and addressed the group in fluent French. Anne caught a few words, but mostly just laughed when everyone else laughed, as did Jared. She’d never seen Steven Gherring speak to a group before. Even though she couldn’t understand what he was saying, she was drawn to him. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. His blue eyes were so clear. It was like looking at the sky. His voice was powerful, his presence magnetic. Everyone in the room was hanging on his words. It was an amazing thing to experience and observe. Finally, Gherring began introducing Jared and Anne. He switched to English for their benefit.

  “So you will hear first from Mr. Jared Hanson, and later from Ms. Anne Best. As I said, this is informal. Please feel free to ask questions at any time. If your particular question will be answered further along in the presentation, we can let you know. But otherwise, we want to answer your questions as they occur.” He turned the podium over to Jared.

  Jared began his presentation. Although he was only thirty years old, he was smart, confident, and well spoken. Was he overconfident? Perhaps that’s what got him into trouble. Anne listened carefully, ready to jump in at the first sign of trouble. She was so concerned with Jared she forgot about her own upcoming presentation. She’d worry about that later. There were a number of questions Jared fielded easily. He hadn’t shown any sign of going blank up to this point. Then someone asked a question Anne knew was answered on an upcoming slide.

  “I believe that’s on slide forty or forty-one. Am I right Jared?”

  Jared looked ahead on the presentation. “Yes, you’re right as usual, Anne. That answer is coming up three slides from now.” He sent her a grateful smile, but he didn’t look particularly stressed. She wondered what it took to make him forget everything. Or perhaps he’d already figured out how to prevent that from happening again. She had to make sure he did well. He needed this job to support his family, especially since his wife had chosen to stay home with baby Emery.

  Finally, Jared got to the end of his section and answered all the questions, with Gherring fielding a few and putting off some questions until after the next presentation. Gherring declared a fifteen-minute break and refreshments were served in the back of the room. Since Anne no longer felt the need to worry about Jared, she began to get nervous about her presentation again. She felt the blood drain from her face and her tongue felt as if it were sticking to the roof of her mouth. Gherring approached her with glass of water. She took it with trembling hands, and he watched her take a sip.

  “Thanks for helping. He did quite well this time. Much better than before.”

  Anne nodded her head, but her mind was racing along with her heart. She was starting to feel a bit faint again, when Gherring suddenly grabbed her hand. Startled, she turned to look at him and noticed his face looked pained.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know.” He let out a slow breath. “I have a pain in my abdomen. But don’t let anyone know.”

  “What if it’s appendicitis?”

  He gave her a strained smile. “It’s going to have to wait. I’m going to sit down right over there next to you.” He took another deep breath and grimaced. “Walk with me, okay?”

  She followed and watched him sit down gingerly. “How are you going to be able to finish the presentation? You’re in pain. This is ridiculous. We should cancel—”

  “No, this is important to me. Please… I’ll be fine. Just go as long as you can with the presentation. Maybe if I rest a bit, the pain will ease up.” He bit his lip and breathed slowly. “It’s time. You’ve got to do this… for me.”

  “Let me tell Jared to call a doctor…”

  “No,” he hissed. “Don’t say anything.” He frowned at her, but she returned the glare.

  “Okay, but I’m watching you. I’ll put a stop to this whole thing if I think I need to.”

  “It’s easing up a bit. It may just be that twelve-course meal from last night.”

  She could see the pain etched on his face, even though he said it was getting better. He was probably lying to keep her from calling off the meeting. She needed to hurry this thing along and get him some medical treatment.

  “Excuse me. Excusez-moi! If we can gather again, please. Feel free to bring your refreshments with you.”

  The board members obediently returned to the table. Anne glanced at Gherring, who was studying his handout. At least he wasn’t clutching his abdomen. She forced herself to focus on the presentation. Gone were the nerves that had plagued her earlier. She pulled up the first slide and started speaking, while keeping Gherring in her side vision. Anne proceeded through ten slides before the first question came up. She glanced at Gherring, but he averted his eyes downward. He must be feeling worse. She fielded the question and continued on.

  She was so preoccupied with concern for Gherring she went through the presentation on auto drive. She’d spent so many hours on the preparation and study to understand the concepts she didn’t really need to think about what she was saying. She noticed Gherring moved slightly and sat back in his chair. From the corner of her eye he almost appeared to be relaxed and smiling. But when she glanced his direction the smile dissolved into a grimace and his right hand was pressed to his side. Anne tried to recall which side the appendix was on. Wasn’t it the right side?

  Someone directed a question at Gherring, but Anne rushed to protect him. “I believe the answer to that question is coming up here on the next slide.”

  She proceeded far past the point she’d originally aimed for. When the door opened, she noticed with relief it was one o’cl
ock. Time for lunch. She could check on Steven and get him to a hospital if need be.

  To Anne’s surprise, when Gherring stood, he appeared to be pain-free.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, it seems lunch is served next door. We’ll take up where we left off after we eat. This door will be locked so you can leave your things at the conference table.”

  As all the board members filed out the door, Anne grabbed his arm and forced him into his chair.

  “You shouldn’t be standing. Should I call the doctor now?”

  “Oh, no. I feel quite fine now.” He grinned.

  “I don’t believe you could suddenly feel fine. You were in pain the entire time. You can’t risk your health for a meeting, no matter how important you think it is.”

  He gave a hearty laugh. “I assure you, I have no pain whatsoever. It must have been indigestion.”

  But Anne was trembling now. “I know you’re covering something up. No one recovers like that. You were holding your side five minutes ago—your right side. Isn’t that where your appendix is?”

  Gherring stood up and grabbed her shaking shoulders and forced her into the chair. “I’m sorry. I lied to you—”

  “I knew it—” Anne tried to jump up, but he kept pressure on her shaking shoulders to keep her seated.

  “No, I lied to you when I told you I was hurting.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “Well… You were just so nervous. I had to appeal to that selfless nature of yours and get you worried about someone else. I knew you’d be great if you weren’t thinking about it.”

  “But… But I saw you… I watched you the whole time.”

  Gherring immediately demonstrated a pained look and pressed his hand to his side. Then he changed back again to his smiling, smug demeanor.

  “I can’t believe you! I can’t believe you’d let me worry about you for two hours!” Now Anne was trembling from anger rather than fear. “You let me go twice as far as I was supposed to go—I was worried sick about you!”

  “But can’t you see I did it for your own good? Look what a great job you did. You weren’t nervous at all, right?”