by Tamie Dearen
“I have a heated swimming pool. We can both enjoy the scenery.” He grinned back at her.
“Anne!” called a voice behind her. “Mr. Gherring is coming!”
“Henri, I’ve got to go. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye.”
“But—”
Anne closed the connection, just as Gherring came through the door.
“There you are. Why are you in here?”
“I was looking for a quiet place to work.”
“What’s wrong with your desk?”
“You’re right. I’ll just go back to my desk.”
She picked up her computer and headed back down the hall with Gherring in tow.
“What did Henri have to say today?”
Anne stopped in midstride.
“I know that’s your computer, not the office computer. And I’ve learned you talk to him in the afternoon.”
“I… I’m…”
“It’s not like I can stop you. Obviously, I’ve tried to warn you, and you won’t listen.” He started walking ahead of her. “You don’t have to lie to me. If you like him that much, I’ll leave you alone.” He tried to go into his office and shut the door, but Anne shoved her way in behind him.
“You don’t want me to lie to you? Here’s the truth! I don’t know how much I like Henri—I haven’t gotten to spend enough time with him to know. But the little time I have spent with him, he made me feel special and he treated me with respect. I don’t understand why you care so much whether I talk to Henri. You know, you aren’t my father! Or my big brother!”
“I don’t want to be your father or your big brother either!”
“What you want is to control me. And you can. You can be my boss about everything but my personal life!” She pivoted on one foot and stalked from the room, shutting the door behind her.
The rest of the afternoon passed with Gherring secluded in his office and Anne hard at work on the presentation. Jared emailed the bulk of his presentation information to her by three o’clock, but Jeff arrived at her desk with a file in hand at four fifty-five.
“Hey, there’s a lot of stuff I need to go over with you. What say we talk about it over dinner?”
Anne cringed inwardly, but managed to keep a civil voice. “I’m really too busy with work to do dinner. And anyway, aren’t you dating someone?”
“We’ve gone out a few times, but we aren’t exclusive.”
“I’m sort of dating someone.”
“You mean that French guy, Henri? The one you went to the gala with?”
Anne nodded.
“He’s in France, isn’t he? Surely you’re not exclusive with him when he’s across the Atlantic Ocean!”
“I really don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“I say, when the cat’s away… I can just scratch that itch for you. It doesn’t have to be anything serious.”
With a leer on his face, he leaned in close. “You know, you’re so hot—I bet you’re a real tiger in the sack.”
Anne’s mouth fell open and she struggled to breathe. She leaned back as far as possible, but he invaded her space. “I have a really good friend in my pocket who’d just love to meet you.”
“I… You…” Anne’s eyes filled with tears. She was mortified. How had she let him get this close? She didn’t even know what to say.
“Jeff,” said Gherring’s voice from his office door.
He quickly straightened up and threw Mr. Gherring a professional smile. “Mr. Gherring, Anne and I were just working out some details about the presentation.”
Gherring walked over to stand between Jeff and Anne’s desk. Though Jeff was over six feet tall, Gherring still looked downward at him. “I heard you ‘working out details.’”
His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I’m sorry… She’s been giving me signals—”
Anne sprang up from her desk. “I have not been giving you signals! Except for maybe a great big stop sign! And I’d like to say if your ‘friend’ ever comes out of your pocket when I’m around, I’ll cut his head off with a meat cleaver!”
Jeff’s face was as white as a sheet. “Look, I didn’t mean anything. I just misread you, okay?”
Anne started to retort, but Gherring held up his hand.
“Jeff, we’ve already had a previous sexual harassment complaint. I’m afraid you’re out.”
“That was a trumped-up charge! She was asking for it and got jealous when she saw me with someone else.”
“We have a no tolerance sexual harassment policy at Gherring Inc. You signed a form when you became employed here, indicating you were aware of that policy. One confirmed incident is all we need to terminate you, and this incident was confirmed by me.”
“You can’t fire me! Especially not before the big Switzerland presentation. There’s no one else who can do my part. And I already have the connections with the execs over there.”
“On the contrary, I can fire you, and I did. Ms. Best, please call security and have them escort Mr. Murphy out of the building.”
He turned back to Jeff. “Your things will be boxed up for you to retrieve on Monday at the security office.”
Jeff started to speak, his face red and puffed up with fury, veins standing out on his neck, but Gherring silenced him with a glare.
“You’ll wait right over there.” He indicated the reception area across the room. “And I don’t want to hear you speak.”
Anne called security with shaking fingers as adrenaline coursed through her body. Gherring watched her carefully.
“Ms. Best, you should sit down. You look a little pale.”
A few minutes later, after two security guards had taken Jeff down the elevator, Anne felt tears rising to her eyes. “I’m s-sorry. I’ve m-messed up Switzerland for you.”
“How can you possibly believe that was your fault?” Gherring asked, shaking his head.
“I should have handled it. He’s been coming on to me, and I didn’t know how to put him off. If I wasn’t so naïve—”
“The man is a lecherous jerk, and I’m glad to be rid of him.”
“But what will you do about Bern? He’s right, there’s no one to take his place. He’s got all the connections.”
Gherring sighed as he looked toward the ceiling. “Jeff thinks way too much of himself. I have far more connections than he does. And ‘Jeff the Jerk’ has offended a good number of people along the way, both male and female. Jared and I can take up the slack—we can work late every night and some on the weekend.”
Anne felt her stomach churning. Things were getting worse, and it was her fault. “But Jared and his wife have a new baby at home, and he’s already leaving them alone for four days.”
Gherring grunted. “Fine, I’ll do the work myself.”
“I’ll help! It’s the least I can do.” She bit her lips, tears shining in her eyes. “You were my white knight today… And last night too.”
“It’s not often I get the opportunity to rescue a fair maiden twice in twenty-four hours.”
She laughed, choking a bit, but then her hand flew to her mouth. “I forgot—there’s one little problem.”
“What’s that?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I’ll work late tonight and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday night, but my girls are coming in tomorrow, and I want to spend the whole weekend with them. I know I shouldn’t be making demands, but—”
“Of course you don’t want to miss any time with your daughters. If I had any children I would feel the same.” A forlorn look passed through his eyes so quickly, Anne wondered if she imagined it.
“Would you like to meet them?”
To her amazement, his face actually lit up. “I’d love that, but… but I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“It wouldn’t be an intrusion. The girls would like to meet you too. They’ve heard so much…” Her voice trailed off.
He lifted one eyebrow. “Really? What have they heard?”
“You know, they’ve seen s
tuff in newspapers and magazines.”
“Ah.” He sounded almost disappointed. “So you weren’t talking about me.”
“Of course not—that would be unprofessional. We’re going climbing again on Saturday morning at nine thirty. Want to come?”
“Nine thirty in the morning? You’re starting early.”
“I’ve got a busy day planned. We have breakfast before that, and lunch after, and then we’re going to MOMA and trying for tickets to a play Saturday night. Sunday we’re going to visit as many sites as possible. You know, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, whatever we can fit into the schedule. And Sunday night we’re eating with Gram.”
“What play are you going to see?”
“Whatever we can get three cheap tickets for at the discount place. We’d love to see one of the popular ones, but we’ll take anything we can get. As long as it isn’t raunchy.” Without warning, Anne’s stomach made a huge gurgling noise.
“Sounds like you need dinner.” Gherring sighed. “Was that a genuine offer to help with Jeff’s work? I’ll have to pull most of it off his computer, and first I’ll have to find it. I’m sure he wouldn’t be cooperative and helpful if I called him to ask about it.”
“Yes, it was a real offer, and the good news is I’ve got a lot of the info right here,” she pointed to the file folder on her desk.
“Then I guess we should order something to eat and get to it.”
At nine forty-five, Anne was sifting through the papers spread out among half-empty Chinese take-out boxes, when Gherring let out a moan.
“Ughh! That’s enough for tonight. Let’s go home and tackle this in the morning.”
Anne pushed her disheveled mane out of her face. “Sounds like a good idea. My eyes are starting to cross.”
Gherring called for his car as Anne started organizing the mess. “Why don’t you leave that? We’ll be back here in the morning.”
“No, I need to sort these things into organized stacks. Otherwise we won’t be able to find anything tomorrow, and we’ll waste a lot of time.”
By the time they made it to the lobby, the limousine was waiting.
“I noticed this time you didn’t argue about riding home with me.”
“I’m too tired to argue,” she moaned. “And afraid to use the subway alone at night.”
“I’m glad you weren’t stubborn about it. This time I would’ve had to put my foot down.”
“Well,” she said in an exaggerated country drawl, “I’dduh been fine, if’n I’dduh had muh shotgun wit’ me!”
Gherring laughed. “I would’ve liked seeing Jeff’s face this afternoon if you’d pulled out a shotgun.” He chuckled some more. “Did you see his expression when you told him about using a meat cleaver on him?” He laughed again.
Anne chuckled at the memory, but abruptly sobered. “Mr. Gherring…” she saw the irritation on his face at the salutation, but ignored it. “Tell me the truth. Do you think I was leading Jeff on? It’s so hard to know what to say to guys. I didn’t want to be rude. But he always made me feel uncomfortable. Maybe I just need a little thicker skin. I don’t know.”
“Stop right there.” Gherring’s expression turned dark. “You’re always making excuses for people’s behaviors because you want to believe the best about them. You’ve got to realize not everyone deserves that trust you dole out so blindly.”
“I know you’re probably right, but I think it’ll be a sad day when everyone I meet has to earn my trust, instead of a few earning my distrust.”
Gherring’s gaze was intense. “I never thought of it that way, but you’re right. I’d hate for you to lose that. But it means you need someone to watch out for you, to keep you safe.”
She contemplated his words. “Maybe. But after fifteen years of getting by on my own, I’m not sure I could ever let someone do that.”
“I know what you mean. Try fifty years…”
Yikes! She hadn’t meant to discourage him about the prospect of having a serious relationship. But maybe it meant he recognized he’d been alone too long. He might be ready for a change. Maybe tomorrow night when he went to the benefit with Sharon Landry, he would realize how empty he felt. Anne wondered at the knot that formed in her throat when she thought about Gherring and Sharon together. Probably fatigue from such a long day.
The car let them off at the apartment building, and they dragged themselves inside and over to the elevator.
“So promise you won’t fall asleep outside anymore. I don’t want to have to go up on the roof every night to make sure it’s empty.”
Anne blushed. “Never again. I promise. I don’t want you to have to check on me all the time. You have enough to worry about without me adding to things.”
“That’s not what I meant. Don’t go putting words in my mouth.”
“I know you didn’t mean that, but I do. I’m sorry I’ve been a burden to you. And now because of me, you had to fire Jeff and—”
“And get rid of a liability before I had a lawsuit on my hands. It was only a matter of time, you know.”
Gherring seemed almost relieved to be rid of the man, but she couldn’t shake feeling responsible for the current crisis. “Still, I’m going to make it up to you.”
“You know what would make me really happy?”
“What? I’ll do anything.”
“Anything?” His eyebrows arched. “In that case, let me reconsider…”
She covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know why I bother to wear shoes around you. I keep my foot in my mouth most of the time.”
He pulled her hands down and leaned down to eye level. “Seriously, if you really want to make me happy, tell me Jeff didn’t traumatize you. I’m the one responsible here—don’t you see that? One of my employees assaulted another employee at work.”
“It certainly wasn’t your fault. And I’m perfectly fine.”
“I’m not so sure. I think you should talk to a counselor.”
She couldn’t tell him about her secret fear of talking to any type of counselor. Anne was fairly certain her brain didn’t work like other people’s, and more than one person had questioned her sanity.
“I swear I’m okay. I won’t worry about Jeff anymore. Okay? And you don’t have to worry about me, either. Furthermore, I promise to sleep in my bed from now on.” With a teasing smile she added, “Alone.”
His dimples winked into view. “Finally—you’ve put my mind at ease.” The elevator opened on Anne’s floor, but he stopped her before she departed. “How about a lift tomorrow morning? Downstairs at six forty-five?”
It sounded really early, especially since fatigue was leaking out of her bones. But she owed him all the help she could give, so she put a bright expression on her face. “Awesome.”
Emily had left several messages on her cell phone, so Anne returned the call.
“Hey sweetie. What’s up?”
“Just checking in. What’s this I hear about us going climbing with some guys?” Her voice sounded skeptical.
“No big deal, you don’t even have to climb if you don’t want to. But I think you’d like it if you tried.”
“You know I don’t like doing dangerous things. Charlie got all the adventurous genes.”
“It’s not dangerous at all. And it’s only for an hour, with two cute guys. By the way, Mr. Gherring is going also.”
“Steven Gherring is going climbing with us? Wow! Have you told Charlie?”
“Nope, I just found out tonight.”
“Great. Don’t bother to call her. I’ll tell her all about it and save you the trouble.”
“Thanks a lot,” Anne said sarcastically. “I think this conversation sounds vaguely familiar.”
“I know you said he’s obnoxious and snobby, but I’m really excited to meet him.”
“I didn’t say he was obnoxious and snobby, did I?”
“Hmmm, no… I actually think you called him self-absorbed, selfish and conceited.”
“
I said that?” She couldn’t remember having that opinion about Gherring.
“I’m pretty sure.”
“I may have been wrong about him.”
“I take it you’ve changed your mind? Do you like Mr. Gherring now?”
“Of course I like him. But I don’t like-like him. You know…”
“I thought you liked Henri—”
“I do like Henri, and I’ve kissed him too. That counts for something I think.”
“And Mr. Gherring—have you kissed him?”
“No—of course not! He would never kiss me. We’re not like that. I’m just saying he can be pretty sweet when he wants to be.” Anne’s mouth felt like the Sahara Desert.
“Whatever. You seem a little defensive, though.”
“Maybe I’m uncomfortable talking with my daughter about kissing men.”
“You brought up the kissing, not me.”
“How about, let’s change the subject.”
“Okay. How was your day?”
Anne thought back to her morning—waking up on the roof with Steven Gherring, the phone call with Henri that was cut short, the scene with Jeff, and the evening working with Gherring. Emotionally, it was too much to process.
“It was fine.” Now she understood why that was always the answer you heard from a teenager.
“We can’t wait to see you. We should be at your apartment before you get home from work tomorrow, unless our flight’s delayed.”
“Rayna knows to expect you, and I left a key so you can wait inside. I’m sooooo excited!”
“Love you, Mom.”
“You too.”
Anne’s alarm shrilled in her ear. She reached for it and knocked it off the table. She hadn’t slept well, even though she was exhausted. She was afraid to take a Benadryl, even one, since her last experience with antihistamines had resulted in one of her most embarrassing moments. Bleary-eyed, she crawled out of bed and headed for the shower. She’d give herself a blast of cold water at the end to wake herself up.
She made it downstairs right on time, and found Gherring reading the paper with a cup of coffee. “I brought one for you if you want it.” He held out an insulated cup with a lid.
