“Did what?”
“About twenty different emotions just zoomed across your face. It must be your eyes. They’re so expressive—I just try to guess what you could possibly be thinking.”
“I hope you don’t ever figure out how to read my mind. That would be really uncomfortable.” She lowered her chin to hide her face.
“Why? What are you thinking that I shouldn’t know? Are you saying secret curse words under your breath?”
Her face flamed. It would be terrible if he knew what she thought about him. What if he knew how his touch affected her? What if he knew her heart beat harder when he came close? She needed to get this man matched up. That way, these illicit thoughts wouldn’t invade her mind anymore.
He was still studying her face when the plates arrived. They devoured the food and stayed at the table chatting for almost thirty minutes. To Anne’s surprise, Gherring no longer seemed to be in a hurry to get back to work.
“I’m not trying to get rid of you or anything, but did you say you had to work some more?”
He stretched and groaned. “I think I’m going to take a break and tackle it tomorrow. I’ve got plenty of time. In fact, if you guys want a ride back to the apartment I could take you.”
“That’d be awesome. We don’t have the whole day planned out, but we’re going to do MOMA. Hey girls, Mr. Gherring’s going to give us a ride home. We can rest a bit and then go see the Museum of Modern Arts. They have an Impressionist Exhibit.”
“Can we invite the boys?” asked Emily.
“I don’t mind, but they may have other plans.”
“No ma’am. We have nothin’ but time today. We’ll study tomorrow.”
“Okay, meet you there at, say, three o’clock?”
“Works for us.”
Rayna exclaimed the moment she saw the group enter the apartment lobby. “Look what came for you! You got a dozen red roses. And two gift baskets. I didn’t read the card.”
Anne glanced at Gherring, who was brooding near the elevator. She opened the envelope attached to the roses, but didn’t read it out loud.
“It’s a welcome to New York present from Henri,” she told the girls. “Why don’t you grab the gift baskets and we’ll take them upstairs to open them?”
With their arms full of flowers and cellophane-wrapped packages piled high in decorative baskets, they tromped into the elevator.
“Aren’t you going up?” asked Anne when Gherring remained outside the elevator doorway.
“No, I’ve decided to go back and accomplish something at work.” His voice was flat. When his stormy gaze met Anne’s, she felt like she’d betrayed him.
“Thanks for the ride and for everything else,” said Charlie.
“Will we see you again this weekend?” asked Emily.
His glower softened. “I’m not sure. We’ll see.”
Anne held her breath, relieved when the elevator doors closed without the girls mentioning anything about her plans to visit Henri.
Upstairs, the girls started unpacking the baskets while Anne called Henri on FaceTime. She turned her phone toward the girls so he could see them busy exploring their surprises.
“We love the stuff, Henri. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I am sad I cannot be there, so I will try to bribe them to like me.”
“Hi I’m Charlie. This is awesome. Thank you, thank you! Look Mom—they’re full of different New York stuff, mostly food. There’s a New York Checker Cab Crunch, Statue of Liberty Lollipop, Hampton Popcorn’s White Truffle & Parmesan Popcorn, New York Mints. What’s this? New York Traffic Treats. W
hat’s in that other one, Em?”
“Hi Henri. Nice to meet you. I’m Emily. Sour Puss Pickled Ginger Carrots, McClure’s Garlic and Dill Potato Chips, NYC Hot Sauce, Mast Brothers Chocolate Bar, Butter+Love Moustache Cookies. There’s some other stuff in the bottom. Oh! McClure’s Bloody Mary Mix, Z crackers. Awesome! This is so much fun.”