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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.”
