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He rang the bell, pacing to calm his nerves until Gherring opened the door. “Hi! Is Emily still here?”
“No, she just left. But come in for a minute.”
“I don’t want to intrude. I only wanted to surprise Emily.”
“That’s okay. Come in. We should talk.”
“Uhmm, okay.” Something in Gherring’s tone made him uneasy. “Hi, Mrs. Gherring. How’re you feeling?”
“Great. Thanks for asking. How’s your mom? Is she enjoying her new job? I really miss having her around.”
“She’s good, and she loves her job. Thanks, Mr. Gherring, for helping her find it.”
“We owe her so much,” said Gherring. “I’ll always be grateful.”
“So, Spencer... What were you doing tonight? Emily said you were working at a homeless shelter,” Anne questioned, her stare intense.
The blood drained from his face. “I, uhmm, I wasn’t really at a homeless shelter. But, it’s a secret. Promise you won’t tell Emily?”
“What’s going on?” Gherring’s voice thundered.
“I’m taking dance lessons.”
“What did you say?” Anne’s mouth hung open.
“Dance lessons. I’m taking ballroom dance lessons so I can dance with Emily at the wedding.”
Gherring began to laugh, and the sound was infectious. Soon all three of them were laughing. Anne had tears in her eyes.
Gherring caught his breath. “Dance lessons? That’s awesome. Emily thinks you’re losing interest in her, and you’re really taking dance lessons for her benefit.”
“Wait. She thinks I’m losing interest? She told you that?”
“I’m afraid so,” said Anne with more sympathy than her husband demonstrated.
“How could she think that after we talked about—” He barely stopped h
imself in time. He’d almost said they’d talked about getting married, and he hadn’t asked Gherring for permission yet. He gulped. And he wasn’t ready to do it tonight. He needed to be prepared to answer questions about how he was going to support her and take care of her. He needed to think about it and rehearse his answers.
“Well, you’re either going to have to tell her the truth or be a lot more convincing when you lie,” said Anne.
“Oh, man. Thanks for the heads up. I guess I could tell her, but I thought it’d be such a fun surprise.”
“Maybe I could help you think of something,” said Anne.
“Are you kidding?” Gherring scoffed. “You’re the worst liar in the world. He needs a master like me to help him conjure up a good lie. Now, the best lies have an element of truth. Why don’t you say you’re doing some type of exercise? You could be playing pickup basketball or something like that.”
“Yeah, that might work. And my excuse could be I’m not hiking on the weekends anymore.”
Anne frowned at Gherring. “You’re just a little too good at thinking up a quick, plausible lie. Maybe I should be worried.”
“I used my ample skill to snag you. It’s too late to worry about it now.”
“Wish me luck,” said Spencer as he left them, still arguing playfully. He hoped Gherring’s lie worked better than his.
Emily heard a knock on her door. She was already dressed in a sleep-shirt and shorts, hair flowing, face freshly scrubbed and ready for bed. She couldn’t imagine who’d be at the door at nine thirty. She peeped through the hole and spied Spencer. What was he doing here? She pulled back and looked at herself. She was decent enough to open the door.
“Hi. Uhmm, what’re you doing here?”
