“I think so.”
It’s probably low blood sugar,” said Charlie, who was still standing with Gandalf.
“Mr. Gherring just wanted to know if Grandpa was okay,” said Emily as she tucked the cell phone back into Anne’s purse. “I told him about Gandalf, too.”
“Good. Good. Did he say anything else?” Did she even want to know?
“I thanked him for flying you here, and he asked you to call him as soon as you can. He said you could call any time, even though it’s late.”
“Guess he turned out to be a whole lot nicer than you first thought,” said Charlie.
“He’s very nice.”
And very enticing.
“Why haven’t you called Mr. Gherring?” Emily unfolded her couch into the bed Anne was going to sleep on. Charlie was going to share her sister’s bed. Emily’s place was only twelve minutes from the hospital, so they were all crowding into the small apartment.
“I’ll call him tomorrow.” Anne retrieved her toothbrush from her bathroom bag, hoping they’d let the subject drop.
“Why did you freak out when he called you?” Emily asked.
“I don’t know,” Anne said. “Why did you neglect to tell me you’d been talking to Spencer on the phone?”
“You’ve been talking to Spencer?” cried Charlie. “Sister! You’re keeping secrets from me.”
“Nice try, Mom, but I asked you first,” said Emily.
“We kind of had a scene before Charlie called, because he didn’t want me to go to Paris to see Henri.”
“What kind of scene? Like a yelling scene? Mr. Gherring doesn’t seem like the type of guy who’d yell at a girl,” said Charlie.
“He didn’t yell. He just asked me not to go. And I insisted I was going, because I’d promised Henri. Besides Henri really needed me. I feel terrible he’s going to be alone, when he thought I was coming. He’s so upset about Anna-Laure.”
Emily crooked her head. “He d
id you a big favor, flying you here. You owe him a phone call.”
“It’s all kind of awkward. I don’t know what he wants.”
“Maybe he just wants to talk to you, like he said. Did he hurt your feelings or something? He really sounded kind of pitiful to me.” Emily tossed her a pillow.
“You might not even be here yet, if it weren’t for Mr. Gherring,” Charlie said. “I think you should call him.”
“I don’t want to feel obligated to him.”
“But he seems so generous,” Emily argued. “I don’t think he expects anything in return.”
You might not say that if you knew the whole story.
“I’ll call him tomorrow,” Anne said. “Now, about those phone calls with Spencer…”
“I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow,” said Emily. “Right after you call Mr. Gherring.”
Anne’s phone rang as they were driving to the hospital in the morning. She held her breath until she checked the caller ID.
“Hi Gram.”
“Anne, dear. How is your father? Steven says he’s in ICU.”