by Tamie Dearen
Steven Gherring didn’t arrive until almost ten o’clock. And when he came, he came with a vengeance.
“Ms. Best,” he said as he breezed by her desk. “In my office please.”
She meekly followed him inside and he shut the door. “I’ve gotten caught up a little. I’ve already returned the phone calls from last week. We’ve had a few schedule changes, but nothing major—”
“Ms. Best, what are your plans for the Thanksgiving holidays?”
Anne swallowed hard. He wanted her to work during the holidays, but she was going to be in Paris. With Henri.
“I’m flying out tomorrow night, but I could be available to work by phone and internet if you need me.”
“You’re going to see your family for Thanksgiving?”
“The girls and I always get together with my dad for Thanksgiving.” So far, so good. She hadn’t actually lied yet.
His eyes narrowed. “So you’re flying to Fort Worth tomorrow night?”
“My plane leaves at six thirty. I was planning to leave work a little early. I hope that’s okay?”
This time his voice was strained. “Ms. Best. Are you flying to Texas tomorrow night, or are you flying to Paris?”
Her throat constricted. “Who… who told you?”
“Michelle told me, but that’s quite beside the point. The point is, why didn’t you tell me?”
Anne’s temper rose. “Because I didn’t think it was any of your business where I went for Thanksgiving.”
“So on one hand you want to know everything I do in this company and work with me on every business transaction and investment. But on the other hand, you don’t think it’s my business if you have an affair with the head of another company?”
“First, it’s not an affair. And second, I thought you had a cooperative agreement with La Porte. Doesn’t that make him sort of a part of your company?”
“Exactly! I think I need to know what’s going on between my employees.”
Anne’s wrath came bubbling to the surface. “In that case… Mr. Gherring, sir. Please let me inform you I’m flying to Paris tomorrow to spend four days with Henri. And I plan to tour Paris and visit a very sick little girl in the hospital. And I’ll be sleeping in my own room at Henri DuBois’ house.”
Her jaw trembled with fury and frustration. “And I’ll probably hug him frequently, and I might let him kiss me. And maybe you’d also like to know I haven’t let anyone else kiss me for the past fifteen years. So maybe I’m a weak person to let him kiss me, but it feels nice. And maybe it’s just something I need right now.”
He’d taken a few steps back as her frantic tirade began. Now he came toward her and held out his hands in supplication. “I didn’t mean—”
“Will there be anything else, sir?” She backed away from him, keeping her eyes on the floor. “I’ll be at my desk if you need me for anything else of vital importance.” She walked out the door without closing it behind her.
Gherring didn’t bring up Henri or Paris again, but their conversations were tense and stilted. Both made an effort to talk only about business. He acted as though their exchange had never occurred, discussing her new job responsibilities and how to inform the other employees.
“I’ve decided to name your position as a new department in the company. I’ll call it Coordination, and you’ll start out as the only team member. Then if we don’t think it’s successful, we’ll just dissolve the department. At that point, would you be willing to move to CMA?”
“Sir, I’m willing to move to CMA at any time. It’s entirely up to you,” she replied without emotion.
He sighed. “Ms. Best, if we’re going to work closely together, you’ll find I have more than a few imperfections. I get stressed and irritable. I may sometimes get a little testy. I might say things that offend you.”
He took a deep breath. “I need to know you’ll be able to overlook an occasional lapse in my demeanor and comportment.”
Anne’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry. I have a terrible temper. I’m usually able to control it, but with you… I don’t know. You seem to push my buttons sometimes, just like my kids. But I can forgive your slip-ups, if you can forgive mine.”
“It’s a deal.” His eyes crinkled in the corners.
“And one more thing, Mr. Gherring…”
“Yes, Ms. Best?”
“I’d appreciate it if you’d forget most of what I said earlier today—especially anything that involved hugging or kissing.”
He chuckled. “I’ll try. But you do make an impressive speech when you’re angry.”
As predicted, Katie was not pleased at the prospect of searching for another secretary for Gherring.
“I can’t believe I have to find you a new PA. Do you know how long it took me—how much work I had to do to get you to hire Ms. Best?” She was on a rampage.
Gherring said, “Ms. Carson, you seem to be a bit more outspoken than you used to be—”
“I just want you to know if this is a trick to make me stay here after I’m married, it’s not going to work.”
He commented to Anne. “I think perhaps you’re rubbing off on Ms. Carson. I’d better keep you far away from my next PA.” Anne started to protest, but he let out a chuckle.
“Katie, please. I promise to make it easy this time. I’ve finally accepted you’re leaving me. You and Ms. Best can choose someone for me from the candidates we’ve already interviewed. Just set up one quick interview appointment with me. It will be on a three-month trial period.”
Anne said, “You mentioned that one girl, Lana something…”
“Yes, do you remember, Ms. Carson? Lana Stewart?”
“Her name was Lana Seward. She was extremely qualified and experienced, attractive, well-spoken.”
“How old is she?” Anne asked.
“I think she was about thirty-five,” Katie replied.
“She sounds perfect,” said Anne, already contemplating the possibilities.
“And I do believe she’s married,” he said with a sideways smile at Anne.
“Oh,” Anne replied. She turned her head and stuck out her tongue at him.
He chuckled. “Score one for Gherring.”
“What?” asked Katie.
“Nothing,” said Gherring and Anne in unison.
“Will you mind if I read all your business email?” Anne asked Gherring. “I know it won’t make any sense at first, but eventually it’ll all fall into place.”
“Yes, but that’ll need to come later. First, I need you to meet with Jared and get an understanding of your responsibilities with the Swiss companies. These first few weeks are really critical. They could still back out of the deal. I’ve already sent out an office-wide memo and spoken to HR about the new department. And I’ve set up for you to meet with Jared this afternoon.”
“What did Jared say about my new job?”
“Why would he say anything about it?”
“I just thought it might bother people for me to get some sort of promotion when I don’t have education and experience.”
His face darkened. “No one here would dare to question my decisions.”
“No, of course not.” But Anne had her doubts. “Okay, I’ll go meet with Jared.”
Working with Jared was even more entertaining than she’d expected. His constant jovial attitude, funny stories, and clever quips made the time pass quickly. But Anne was surprised both at the amount of work they accomplished and the knowledge she gained in a single afternoon.
“Let me ask you something, Jared. Will you be honest with me?”
“Sure thing. What’s up?”
“I just want to know if you think I can do this job. Almost everyone here has an MBA and, I don’t know…”
He smiled. “You can do anything. I’ve never seen any other employee with the b—I mean gumption—to chew out Mr. Gherring.” He laughed. “And then you end up with a promotion.”
“Yes, I’m trying to learn to control my temper,” sh
e said, averting her eyes from his curious inspection.
“But seriously, you catch on to everything really quickly. I didn’t even understand some of the stuff you talked about on Jeff’s part of the presentation.”
She smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Jared. You’ve got a really encouraging personality. Do you have a younger, single brother I could fix my daughter up with?”
“Ha! Nope, I’ve got five, count ‘em five, older sisters. That’s why I laugh about everything. In my house you had to learn to laugh to survive.”
Gram called just as Anne was about to leave for the day. “I’m picking you up for dinner. We need to talk.”
When she climbed into the back seat with Gram, she noticed Gram appeared to be upset.
“It’s about Michelle,” said Gram. “She’s back in town again… and I think she’s set her sights on Steven again.”
Anne swallowed. “I guess that’s good, isn’t it? Didn’t you want them to get married?”
Gram frowned. “I’m not sure I trust her anymore. Last week she was going on about Henri DuBois.” She spat out his name like it tasted bad. “And I know you like Henri and you think I’m misjudging him, but there’s no comparison between him and my Steven.”
Gram was obviously waiting for her to agree, so she nodded her head in response.
“She’s a manipulator, that one. I’ve loved her since she was a baby, but I’ve always known her parents spoiled her rotten. She’s always had her daddy wrapped around her finger so tight he’s still bent when she lets him go. And she always gets her way.”
“So you don’t want Steven to marry her?”
Gram squinted. “I think he can do better, don’t you?”
She had to agree. She felt like Michelle was using Steven to fill a void left by Henri. “I guess I concur.”
“So what do you think we should do?” Gram asked.
“I’m leaving for Paris tomorrow…”
“Steven’s a grown man who hasn’t had much female company in the last few years. I’m afraid if she offers herself, he won’t be able to resist. She’s beautiful, you know.”
She knew just how beautiful Michelle had looked when she visited Gherring last night. And she sounded so needy. Gherring was a sucker for a woman in need. And she was unscrupulous. She’d told Steven about Anne’s trip to Paris after promising she wouldn’t. Maybe she’d already offered herself to Gherring. Maybe she’d spent the night with him last night.
Her head swam at the thought, but she replied, “There’s certainly nothing I can do if he can’t control himself. I’m planning to introduce him to my friend, Ellen, next Monday. But I don’t have any other ideas.”
“Humph!” said Gram. “I was thinking you might flirt with him a bit before you left. You know, you could just keep him distracted so Michelle can’t get her hooks into him again.”
She felt the blood rush to her face. “Gram, I can’t do that.”
Gram stared at her for a long time. “No, I guess that wouldn’t be much like you to do something like that. It was worth a try.” She wrinkled her nose. “Don’t be too distressed, I’ll just keep him distracted while you’re gone. Maybe I’ll fake a heart attack or come down with some other life-threatening disease.”
The astonishment must have shown on Anne’s face, because Gram gave her a gentle pat on the back. “Now-now dear. Don’t you know? Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Anne packed her bags for Paris that night. She tried to call Emily to wheedle some more information about her relationship with Spencer, but she didn’t get an answer. She’d just have to wait until she got to Paris. She knew Charlie was flying into the Dallas/Fort Worth airport on Tuesday afternoon to spend the holidays with Emily and Grandpa. Anne planned to FaceTime with all three of them together on Wednesday and on Thanksgiving Day. Perhaps she could pin her daughter down and pry the truth out of her. Both her daughters seemed to have an innate ability to talk around the truth, a skill that had obviously not come from their mother.
Tuesday morning dawned, and Anne was filled with excitement. Paris! Another stamp in her passport. She wished the circumstances were not so dire for Henri and his family. But Anne felt drawn to bring all the comfort she could to Henri.
Gherring suggested she work in his office that morning so he could begin to teach her about the investment side of Gherring Inc. She listened with rapt attention to everything he said, but quickly decided she needed a crash course in basic economics. Maybe Spencer could lend her a book. She texted him and he promised to bring one to Papa’s at lunchtime.
Anne fielded her first phone call from one of the companies in the Bern transaction. Fortunately, the question had to do with specific information she had covered in her presentation. She breathed a sigh of relief. But secretly, she felt like a poser in a cardboard house that would soon tumble in the wind.
She planned to leave work at two o’clock, so she worked through lunch. She called Sam and asked her to pick up the economics book at Papa’s Place. After lunch, Sam dropped the book by her old desk, where Anne was working for the short afternoon.
“Anne? I need to ask you something.” Sam’s eyes were scrutinizing. “Are you sleeping with Mr. Gherring? I won’t tell anyone, but—”
“No! Why would you ask me that, Sam?”
Sam shrugged. “It’s not a big deal… People have just been saying you and Mr. Gherring spend a lot of time together, and you were in Bern together, and now you’re getting promoted. You know, it just sounds like maybe—”
“It isn’t. How could you think that about me?”
“Anne, don’t be such a prude. I’m not thinking anything bad about you. If you got the chance to sleep with him, you’d be crazy not to. Any girl I know would jump at the chance… I mean, any single girl. Not me, I like Tanner.” She smiled benignly.
Anne couldn’t breathe. She laid her head on the desk as the walls closed together. What is Gherring going to think when he hears about this?
“Hey Anne? What’s wrong? You look terrible. Are you sick? Let me get you a wet towel for your face.”
Anne heard voices, but her eyes refused to open. Something cool pressed against her cheek.
“I should get back to my cubicle,” said Sam.
“Wait,” Anne mumbled, finally forcing her eyelids apart. “Don’t go, Sam.”
Sam’s scrunched up face appeared in her vision. “Anne, are you okay?”
“Please Sam. You have to tell everyone I didn’t sleep with Mr. Gherring. He’s never been anything but a perfect gentleman.”
Sam paled, glancing to the side, forcing her lips into a grim smile. “Okay, I promise.” She waved her hand, disappearing toward the elevator like she was running from a ghost. “Bye Anne. I’ll see you next week. Happy Thanksgiving.”
Holding the damp paper towel against her forehead, Anne lifted her head, jumping when she heard a deep voice behind her.
“I’m sorry,” said Gherring. “I should’ve known that would happen. People don’t mean anything by it, they just don’t know you.”
“But aren’t you angry? They were accusing you as well as me.”
He grimaced and turned away. “Anne, I’m not as innocent as you. It’s not like I’ve never slept with a woman before. Or a secretary for that matter.” Then he turned back with a fierce expression. “But Henri’s no better than me, and I’ve changed a lot in recent years.”
She breathed in and out slowly, contemplating his words. “I guess this is what it feels like to lose your naivety. It had to happen sooner or later, but I don’t like it.”
A myriad of emotions passed across his face, at least one of which was anger. Anne knew she couldn’t handle another confrontation.
“I’m leaving work in thirty minutes. Did you have something for me to do before I go?”
“So, you haven’t changed your mind?” he asked with a hint of sarcasm.
She looked up, trying to appear calm and confident, though she wanted to run away and hide.
“I really want to make everyone happy, but I can’t do that. So instead, I’m going to keep my promises as much as possible. That’ll have to do.”
Gherring nodded and returned to his office. When the door shut behind him with a quiet click, it resounded in her head like the closing of a tomb.
Anne made it home safely with plenty of time to spare. She planned to take a taxi to the airport, leaving at three thirty to allow plenty of time to get to the airport and check in before her international flight. She double-checked her packing list and added some snacks for the trip. Then she heard a sharp knock at her apartment door.
She thought it must be Rayna, letting her know her cab was here. Her cell phone must be turned off. “Coming!” she exclaimed, as she hurried to open the door.
Steven Gherring stood outside the door. His clear blue eyes burned into her and held her motionless.
“What… what’re you doing here?”
“Anne…” His voice broke. “Don’t go to Paris.”
She stared at him, speechless for a moment. Then she turned around and walked back in the apartment and picked up her suitcases, one in each hand. She faced him again. “We’ve been through this, Mr. Gherring. I have to go. I promised Henri, and he needs me right now.”
“Has Henri been a perfect gentleman?”
“What?”
“You said I’d been a perfect gentleman. Has Henri been a perfect gentleman?”
“I don’t know… I guess so. Maybe not. It doesn’t matter—I have to go to Paris, even if he hasn’t been a perfect gentleman.” She still stood unmoving, suitcases in hand.
