The Day I Kissed An Older Man by Cher the Cherished

It would be remiss to claim that Vince did not love Rita, but there were numerous considerations clouding his feelings. There was his desire to have a family that at least looked complete and could be admired by all.

Sherman could not help but feel a pang of sorrow for Rita's predicament and wished she would not have to go through that at all.

The names Karen Parr and Esmond Parr popped up in his mind, and he sat up abruptly as soon as he thought of that. For some reason, he had numerous recent encounters with individuals whose surname was Parr.

"Tch, I shouldn't be overthinking things. Parr is a common surname. It's absurd to assume that they're all connected," he chided himself before settling back down.

Half an hour later, he still found it difficult to sleep. It was one of those times he wished that Lucy would have just handed him several stacks of documents to review. Rather than toss aimlessly in bed, he could better use the time to review some contracts. Unfortunately, he did not bring any home, so he resigned himself to another two hours of tossing before finally drifting off.

The next morning, Rita awoke feeling disoriented until she noticed Sherman's message. [Let me know when you're up. I'll fetch you.]

message. Memories of the previous day's embarrassment flooded back into her

all that," she mumbled silently. Despite her reluctance to face reality, she picked herself up and got

back time, she would do the same thing she did the day before and choose vulnerability

would never judge her for what

muttered to her reflection,

to find Sherman already waiting Seeing him lean on

you waiting!"

at the sound of her voice. "No worries, I just got here. You don't look like a reporter

at his directness. "What do you mean by that? Are you saying I don't look nice

dressed like a college student," Sherman replied. He reminisced about their encounter at the Russells' banquet, where ske donned an evening dress and put on a delicate layer of makeup. She was beautiful then, but there was a certain air of unapproachability to

preppy manner made him feel as if she