“You mean Sam and your other friend here?” He glanced over his shoulder.
Sam was probably embarrassed that Gherring hadn’t recognized him. Anne hurried to cover his gaffe.
“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. “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.”
At least he was being pleasant, now. Anne jumped in to take advantage of the moment. “You and Samantha actually have a lot in common. She’s into diving and skiing, just like you, Mr. Gherring.”
“How nice,” Gherring replied, in a slightly distracted tone. “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? No. There’s 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 confusion. Finally, Anne broke the spell. “So… I think that went really well. Don’t you think you’d make a good couple?”
“Are you kidding me? I thought you were a matchmaker. Surely you can find someone I have more in common with than Steven Gherring.”
Anne 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, Steven Gherring reached around and steadied her from behind, and only her purse fell to the floor.
“Oh my good
ness! 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.
“Thank you. Sorry!” Anne spoke rapidly while holding out the boxes. “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.
“Mmmmm.” 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?”