Best Dating Rules, Tamie Dearen [literature books to read txt] 📗

maybe I haven’t gained a pound yet, but I feel like I’ll be able to.”

“I’m glad you’re better.” His voice became serious. “I need to talk to you about something. Okay?”

Her heart began to beat rapidly. She could tell from his tone something was wrong. “What is it? Is Emily okay? Did something happen? Is it work?”

“Calm down—Emily’s fine. There’s no emergency. But there’s been a development, a kink in our plans to hide the pregnancy. I think we may have to go public sooner than we thought. I don’t think we can wait until you’re showing.”

“Why? Did someone slip and say something?”

“No… I’m so sorry, Anne. You know you’re more important to me than anything. Right? I’d give up all my money, Gherring Inc., everything for you. In a heartbeat.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m so angry I couldn’t protect you—that my money and my position put you in the public eye. And I’m so frustrated I don’t have the power to shield you.”

“Shield me from what?”

“From people. From the press.” He groaned. “Someone took a picture of us, and it’s obvious you aren’t well in the photo. And the story is speculative and nasty.”

“It’s... It’s in the paper?” She couldn’t help the tears that came to her eyes.

“Yes, only a tabloid. But... But someone called me about it, asking questions. A television reporter.”

She tried to respond, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. She let the tears roll down her face.

“Anne? Are you there?”

“Y-yes. I’m h-here.”

“Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. If you want, we’ll fly to South America and hide out until the baby comes.”

She didn’t say anything. They both knew that scenario couldn’t happen.

“Y-you tell them th-the truth. T-tell them the whole st-story. You make something g-good come out of th-this.”

“What do you mean? What good can possibly come out of this?”

“My problem. M-my condition is r-rare. But I’m not the only one. And th-the other women. People don’t underst-stand it. Th-they think it’s only morning sickness. A-and those other women don’t have the m-money for a private nurse.”

“So what do you want me to do? Pay for private nurses for all those other women?”

“No. If I’m going to have my p-picture plastered all over, I might as w-well be a poster child for this thing.”

She took a deep shuddery breath. “There’s probably a foundation or a society or something. We can raise awareness and help people understand and raise money for research.”

Anne felt humiliated, but she also felt militant. She hated losing. Ever! This seemed like the only way to win.

“Wow. Okay. That’s not the response I expected. But then again, I never seem to be able to predict anything you’re going to do.”

“So, will you do it?”

“I’ll do anything you want. But you’d better be sure. There’s no going back with something this big. We’re talking television interviews, magazine interviews, public speaking. Do you really want to do that?”

No. She didn’t want to do any of those things. None. Not a single one. She wanted to be anonymous. Her tears began to flow again.

“Yes. Just do it.”*****

Emily wondered why Steven had called her into his office. When she arrived, his office looked as if a bomb had gone off. He must have thrown an awful tantrum.

“What happened in here?”

He looked around as if noticing for the first time the books and papers he’d flung across the room. “Oh. I must have lost my temper. I’m okay now.”

He strode quickly across the room to grasp her shoulders. “I need to warn you about something.”

“What?” Emily couldn’t even imagine a scenario that would cause Steven to lose his temper and then require her to be warned.

He started pacing as he pushed his hand through his hair repeatedly. “It’s a long story. But, basically, the press has gotten wind your mother is sick. Actually, they’ve got two pictures and a lot of speculation.”

He stopped in front of her, his hair askew. “And we’re going on television tonight to explain everything.”

“What? Mom agreed to this?”

He shook his head. “I know. I can’t believe it either. It was her idea. Her way of making lemonade out of lemons.”

“Tonight? But Mom looks terrible.”

“Personally, I think she looks beautiful, but she agrees with you. The news crew is sending over a makeup artist right now. I’m mostly worried the stress will be bad for her. Our doctor’s agreed to be interviewed as well.”

“Why are you doing this? Isn’t this going to make everything worse? I thought Mom hated being in the papers, much less on TV.”

“I know. Believe me, I know. I hope she doesn’t regret it. She’s planning to raise awareness for women suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum. She says it’s the only way something good can come out of this.”

“Okay, thanks for the warning.”

He rubbed his forehead with his fingers, squeezing his eyes shut. “This isn’t how I wanted to tell people about the baby. I wanted to announce it some fun way and hand out cigars.”

“Well, it’s not too late.”

“For what?”

“It’s not too late to announce it and hand out cigars. You’ve got an hour and a half before five o’clock. I’ll go buy cigars or candy or whatever you want. You call a meeting for the whole company.”

His face brightened. “You really think I should? It could be fun, I guess.”

“Let’s do it!”*****

Spencer was nervous when he got the notice about the company-wide emergency meeting at four thirty, with only an hour’s notice. Did this have something to do with the newspaper story? He was relieved Gherring hadn’t blamed him, but he still felt responsible. Gherring had been angry, as expected. What he hadn’t expected was how frustrated Gherring was. He thought someone as rich and powerful as Steven Gherring would’ve been able to fight the paparazzi and send some heads flying. But evidently that wasn’t the case.

Sam found Spencer, and she pulled him to the side. “This is really weird. We’ve never been called together for a last minute meeting before. Maybe he’s going to close down a branch and