by Tamie Dearen
He flinched slightly and spoke without turning around. “I assume, Ms. Best, you’ve arrived, and the intent to cause physical harm is once again confirmed.” Steven Gherring smiled as he looked over his shoulder. But his face went pale when he spied Anne’s prone figure and the blood on her elbow. In an instant he was kneeling beside her, supporting her as she tried to stand up. “Are you alright? You’re bleeding. Let me help you.”
But as Gherring’s words sunk in, Anne’s pain and humiliation was driven away by her fury. She shook his hand away. “Believe me, Mr. Gherring. This was an accident. If I’d meant to hit you, I would have hit you in the head, and I would have used something harder than a shoe so it would have done some damage!”
“I think you’ve hit your target this time.” His mouth was quirked as he bent over to gather her scattered belongings. The other coworkers had hastily dispersed when the scene began, so Anne had no recourse but to accept Gherring’s help. “I didn’t know you’d been hurt when I spoke.”
When Anne turned to face him, he looked like a sad puppy. Her irritation evaporated. “Well, that’s almost an apology, so I guess I’ll accept it. I was just hurrying because everyone was here, so I thought I was late. But my cell phone said it was only seven-thirty. Don’t we start at eight o’clock? Was my cell time wrong? Or did y’all start work early today?”
“Now that’s an interesting story. I’ll let you in on a little secret.” He glanced around before continuing. “Officially, the office used to open at nine. But I noticed everyone made it a point to arrive before I got here at eight fifty, so I started arriving at eight forty or eight forty-five.” He smiled broadly. “So, of course, when I started coming in the office at eight thirty, people began to come at eight-fifteen. And so on, and so on. I wanted to see how far the employees would go to try and make a good impression on the boss. So now I usually come in at about seven-twenty.” He chuckled a bit. “But I understand the office opens at eight when I’m out of town.”
Anne raised her brows a bit. “You’re experimenting with your people at their expense? Just for fun? Or do you actually judge people by whether they beat you to the office?”
“Oh no, I’ve never been impressed by people who go to great lengths trying to impress me,” he paused thoughtfully. “Although I guess I do expect it. No it’s strictly for entertainment purposes. So, now you know the truth, I guess you won’t need to sacrifice your body to get here early.”
“No way!” She grinned, dabbing a tissue on her bleeding elbow. “I’m too competitive to let everyone else beat me to the office even if I know it’s just a game. What’s a little bruising and blood when you’re trying to win?”
Anne sat down at her desk and put away her personal things. “Now let’s get to work. What do you have for me today? Katie gave me as much instruction as she could, so hopefully I can handle it myself. She’s out for a fitting today.”
Anne felt herself relaxing as she managed to have a normal conversation with Gherring. He moved behind her desk and reached to grab the mouse, bringing up the day’s schedule on the computer. She felt herself shiver as his arm brushed against hers. She pulled away quickly, pretending to organize something in the desk drawer. Feeling Gherring’s piercing gaze, Anne glanced up and realized he was waiting for her to respond to something he’d said.
“Oh, I’m sorry, what did you say?”
Gherring spoke with amused deliberation. “I said, I’m scheduled to be in conference all morning, so you and I can meet during lunch.”
“Well, actually, I was supposed to have lunch with Sam, from Accounting.” She noticed his frown. “But I could cancel, or you could come with us.”
“No,” he muttered. “That won’t be necessary. You can have lunch with Sam from Accounting, and we’ll meet afterward.”
“But you should come. Sam’s a lot of fun. We’re eating next door at Papa’s Place.”
“I said no!” Gherring stalked into his office.
“I guess I’m supposed to work through lunch when Mr. Gherring is in town. He seemed pretty miffed with me,” Anne confided across the small, checkered tablecloth. “I hate to think how much I’ll miss my lunches here.”
Papa’s Place was always busy for lunch, but Papa George and his wife, May, now saved a table for Anne. She’d eaten there every day since Monday, when their nephew, Spencer, had saved her from a disastrous fall outside the restaurant. Anne had returned at noon, heralding huge accolades on Spencer when she met the restaurant owners, swearing he’d saved her life. Spencer protested her exaggerations, but George and May were proud of their nephew.
When Anne explained she was new to the city and alone, and admitted George reminded her of her Daddy, they responded by practically adopting her into their family. Papa and May already treated her like a daughter, and Anne was working on a plan to fix Spencer up with one of the receptionists at Gherring Inc.
“I invited him to come and eat with us, but he refused,” said Anne.
“I’m glad he didn’t come,” Sam replied, shaking her blond head for emphasis. “He’s just so intimidating.”
“Oh, but I think y’all would get along great. I told you I think y’all have a lot in common. Y’all both like scuba diving and snow skiing. He seems to like dating blonds. You’re beautiful and smart. Y’all both have grandmothers you’re close to. I think y’all would be great together.”
Sam choked, “Together? As in dating? Me and Mr. Gherring? You’ve got to be kidding! He would never… Oh my god! There he is!”
“There who is?” Anne craned her neck around to see the entrance to Papa’s.
“There’s Mr. Gherring,” Sam whispered into her napkin, her eyes wide with terror. “And he’s coming this way, and he looks furious.”
Anne looked up at the scowling face of Steven Gherring as he approached her table. “I’m sorry to interrupt your lunch.” He scanned the restaurant patrons as he spoke. “But something has come up that can’t wait.”
“Okay, I can come up to the office right now. Or if it’s not something too private, you’re welcome to join Sam and me.”
“You mean Sam and your other friend here?” He glanced over his shoulder.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you’d met before. Mr. Gherring, this is Samantha Lowe.”
“Samantha? This is Sam from Accounting?”
Samantha blushed and spoke without quite making eye contact with the imposing man. “Yes, Mr. Gherring. You’d know me as Samantha. I think we’ve met at the monthly accounting meeting.”
“Samantha,” His face brightened. “It’s so nice to see you Samantha. Yes, I believe now I remember seeing you in those dreadful meetings.”
“You know, you and Samantha actually have a lot in common. She’s into diving and skiing, just like you, Mr. Gherring.”
“Really?” asked Gherring in a slightly distracted voice. “Well, you two enjoy your lunch. I’m going back up to the office to work on a project.”
“Okay. Do you want me to come now?”
“Now? Uh, no. No hurry.” He turned to leave.
“But I thought you had something urgent.”
“It can wait,” he said over his shoulder as he strode to the door.
Anne and Samantha stared at each other in confused silence. Finally, Anne broke the spell, asserting with an encouraging smile, “So… I think that went really well. Don’t you think y’all would make a good couple?”
“Are you kidding me? I thought you were a matchmaker. Surely you can find someone that I have more in common with than Steven Gherring.”
She sighed. Back to the drawing board.
Anne wrestled with the steaming cardboard food boxes while holding her purse wedged under her elbow as she tapped on Steven Gherring’s office door with her foot. She tottered a bit, leaning against the door to regain her balance when it was suddenly jerked open. She tried to catch herself without flinging the food across the office, but her ankle turned on the three-inch heel. As she began to fall, Ste
ven Gherring reached around and steadied her from behind, and only her purse fell to the floor.
“Oh my goodness! I just can’t seem to control myself in these silly shoes.” His arms were still around her, and he was pressed up against her back. Both of her hands were still fully occupied with the boxes of food, so she couldn’t push him away. At least that was her reasoning.
Why didn’t she just step away from him? She almost felt frozen in place. She could smell his after-shave or his soap or something. It was a clean, masculine smell, not one of those strong, sweet cologne scents. She hated those girly scents on men. Steven smelled good—but like a man. For a moment, she almost relaxed and leaned back into his strong arms. She stiffened and jerked away, swirling to face him.
“Thanks. Uhmm, sorry!” Anne spoke rapidly while holding out the boxes. “I brought you, that is, May sent you a sample of their specials today. It’s on the house. May says you’ve never eaten at Papa’s, so you just don’t know how good their food is. She says once you taste their food, you’ll come back.”
“I’ve already eaten a protein bar. I’m fine, thanks.”
“A protein bar? That’s all you’re planning to eat for lunch? That’s ridiculous! A grown man needs more for lunch than a protein bar. Just sit down and try a bite of these specials.” She ushered him toward his desk. “I’ll take it away if you don’t like it, but I won’t quit trying to make you eat a healthy lunch every day. I think that’s part of my job.”
She opened the aromatic boxes in front of him. “Today they have a choice of two Italian pastas and Papa’s pot roast. The specials always come with salads or fresh steamed veggies.”
Without further protest, he sampled each of the pastas and then took a bite of pot roast.
“Wow!” He forked another large bite. “This tastes just like Gram’s pot roast!”
Anne chattered about how great the food was at Papa’s Place and told Gherring all about George and May and Spencer. She was relieved to have successfully extracted herself from Gherring’s arms before she embarrassed herself. She realized she hadn’t been held in a man’s arms for fifteen years. It had felt wonderful, just for a moment, to have someone strong to lean against.
She was an independent woman, and she’d taken care of herself and her girls for the past fifteen years without the help of a man. But it would be nice, just once, to have someone hold her and love her and take care of her. Maybe while she was looking for someone for Spencer and Mr. Gherring and a few other new friends, she’d find someone for herself. She really hadn’t even looked at a man in that way for fifteen years. New York was a big city. Surely there was someone out there for her.
He was staring at her. “A penny for your thoughts.”
“What?”
“You stopped talking, and you were obviously thinking about something, because you were smiling.”
Anne blushed up to her ears. “Oh, I don’t know what I was thinking about. I was probably thinking about my girls coming to visit. They’re coming in three weeks.”
“Emily and Charlotte, right?”
“How do you know their names?”
“Just part of the background check I had the detective do on you.”
Anne’s face turned red with wrath. “You had a detective investigate me—”
“Just kidding. Wait, don’t hurt me!” he laughed. “You put it on your resume.”
“Oh… Sorry.”
“Yeah, I thought it was interesting you told about your children on your resume. Most applicants don’t put their children’s names on their resumes. But most of the applicants didn’t have children, at least, they didn’t claim to have children.”
“My girls are evidence of some of my very best work. I couldn’t leave them off my resume. And besides, I think family and children are the most important things in life.”
His face suddenly clouded, and he pushed his food away. “Well, we have work to do.”
“Of course,” said Anne as she quickly gathered up the boxes and cleared the desk. “Let me grab my laptop.”
She hurried to her desk, wondering how her words had stirred up the hurt in his eyes. Her heart went out to the man who for just a moment had looked like a small, lost boy.
Katie returned from her fitting that afternoon and pulled Anne away from her PowerPoint project. “I just remembered I haven’t explained one of your most important jobs.” Katie lowered her voice though no one else was in the room. “You’re responsible for arranging for a female escort for Mr. Gherring for every formal event.”
“Escort? Do you mean a call girl?”
Katie laughed at Anne. “Call girl… Wow, I forgot you’re from the sticks. You’re so wonderfully naïve. Of course I’m not talking about a prostitute. We usually arrange for an escort with this publicist.”
She handed Anne a business card. “The contact is Charles Cooper. He handles publicity for many up and coming artists, performers, models, actresses, and businesswomen who need name recognition. Being seen at a function with Steven Gherring guarantees a write-up in the social columns and pictures in all the popular social media. In return, Mr. Gherring avoids having any social obligations beyond the event.” Katie continued. “Mr. Cooper knows the qualities Mr. Gherring requires in an escort. He likes attractive women in their twenties and thirties, preferably tall, and able to carry on a decent conversation. And he never takes the same woman to another event.”
“But why doesn’t Mr. Gherring get his own dates for these events? Surely he wouldn’t have any trouble finding someone who’d like to go with him, so he wouldn’t have to go with a complete stranger.”
“Well that’s the problem. Lots of girls would like to date Mr. Gherring. In the past, he’s had terrible drama after only one date with a girl. They’re all desperate to marry him, and he probably thinks they all want him for his money. Sadly, it’s probably true. So he makes it a point never to be seen with any woman more than once. That’s why he has a reputation as a player, but in reality, he rarely dates anyone.”
“But that’s terrible. How will he ever find the right girl if he won’t even take someone on a real date? There could be someone right here at Gherring Inc. who’d make him really happy, and he’d never know.” Anne grabbed Katie’s arm. “And not every girl out there would only be interested in him because he’s rich. Some people don’t care about money, and it’s not like he’s not attractive.”
When she didn’t respond, Anne noticed Katie standing with her lips pressed together, looking quite pale. She followed Katie’s gaze to find Steven Gherring standing a few feet away, obviously intent on the conversation.
“I think I’m old enough to make my own decisions about my personal life and whom I will date and whether I will date anyone.” Gherring turned his back on the pair and returned to his private office, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
Anne looked warily at Katie, who let out a low whistle. “Call the number on this card and have Mr. Cooper arrange for Mr. Gherring’s date to the International Business Gala next Friday. Dress is formal, as you know. We’ve been so busy working on all the details of the reception I almost forgot to arrange for his escort.”
“But do you think I should go apologize?” Anne asked, inclining her head toward Gherring’s office.
Katie shook her head. “No, I think anything we say would make it worse. He’ll forget eventually. Just do your job, and try to stay out of his personal life. And,” Katie warned with a serious look, “don’t ever gossip about Mr. Gherring. You absolutely cannot share any details about anything he says or does, business or personal. It’s very important you stay completely out of his personal life.”
“Of course,” Anne said, wondering how she could find a match for Mr. Gherring while staying out of his personal life. But she would. She’d find a way. Somehow, she had to find a way.
Chapter Five - Monsieur
Monday morning, Anne breathed a sigh of relief as she made it to her work desk without incident. N
o slips or falls on the way to work. This time, she wore her running shoes until she made it to her desk to change into her shiny spike-heeled pumps. She had a few strange looks on the elevator because of her footwear, but she knew she was really protecting those critics from imminent disaster by postponing the change to her awkward dress shoes.
Slipping into her heels and stashing her running shoes in her oversized handbag, Anne glanced at the clock on her computer. Only seven fifteen. She was really proud of herself. She started checking messages and emails, knowing she needed to finalize the plans for the gala on Friday night. Her first big event. She was glad Katie was still helping her. She felt the pressure to make everything perfect.
Not only did she have to prepare for the party, but she also had to make travel and hotel arrangements for all the company’s internationally stationed executives. The first ones were due to arrive in New York on Monday morning. Steven Gherring would be holding meetings with international clients all week, but the huge formal party would happen on Friday night. Katie was only working Thursday and Friday this week, so Anne had to handle all the crises in the early part of the week by herself.
This would be a hectic week for all the employees at Gherring Inc. In evidence of the impending increase in workload, employees poured out of the elevators, hurrying off to get an early start.
Although she’d only been at Gherring Inc. for a week, Anne was already well liked. Calls of “Morning Anne!”, “Hey Anne!”, “Hi Anne,” kept her looking up to respond.
Anne liked pretty much everyone, unless they were purposefully rude. She’d always been taught to give people the benefit of the doubt and not to take offense unless she was certain the offending person meant to be offensive. Consequently, anyone who met Anne felt she was a friend, and a number of folks who didn’t have many friends were especially grateful to be on the receiving end of her smile and encouraging words. There were other elevators that serviced the top floor of Town Center Economic Tower, where Gherring Inc. was located, but most employees took the central elevator in hopes of seeing and being seen by Steven Gherring, unless they were late in arriving.