Harry
“Yes, Dad. I understand what you’re saying, Dad.” My father, Alexander Parker Huntington was on the phone and he was lecturing me for what I thought were frankly, very stupid reasons. We had these calls at least once a month and I was starting to feel really frustrated.
“You listen to me, boy, you want to be the next CEO of Huntington Enterprises, right?”
“Yes, Dad, I do but you also want me to be the next CEO.”
“Well, that’s not exactly true, Harry. We were hoping that Ethan would take over.” Way to cut me, Dad!
“Yes Dad, but Ethan’s not interested in taking over the company.” Ethan was my older brother. In fact, I had four older brothers. I was the youngest, but none of them were interested in taking over the family business.
“Well, Harry, I know you’re twenty-eight, but if you want to assume power in this company, you need to show the board of directors that you are a mature adult.”
“Dad, I’m very mature and I’m very adult.”
“Well, I wouldn’t quite say that son.”
“What Dad, I can’t go on a few dates?”
“Harry, you’re photographed every week with a different woman. We are a company that manufactures toys and childcare products. It doesn’t look good when the son of the CEO, the man that is soon to be the next CEO, is gallivanting around town with different women.”
“Dad, I’m not exactly gallivanting around town with different women. I go for a dinner here. I go for a dinner there. I go for drinks. I’m living my life. I’m twenty-eight. Isn’t that what all young men do?”
“Well, you’re not all young men, Harry, are you?”
“Okay, Dad? Well, what do you want me to do?”
“I think you know what I’m asking?”
“What are you asking?”
“You need to decide which of your young ladies will be accompanying you to all the events this Christmas season.”
“What?”
“I know you think you’re going to bring a different woman to each different event and I’m telling you from now on, son, choose one woman. At least for the holiday season. This is our biggest retail season. You know, you’re going to be photographed. You’re going to be in the society pages. You may even make it on the news and some other channels. We don’t need you being seen with a different woman of the week. Okay?”
“But Dad...”
“Harry, I’m being serious now, do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes, Dad. Fine.”
“Well, okay. Now we’ve got that out of the way. Grandma and your mother, wanted me to ask you if you’re going to be home for Christmas early or not?”
“What do you mean, early?”
Well, you know, they’d like you to come a couple of days before."
“I was going to come on Christmas Eve like always.”
“Well, Harry, your mother doesn’t want you to come on Christmas Eve.”
“Would she rather I come on Christmas Day?”
“Harry.”
“Okay, Dad. What’s good, the twenty-second?”
“Yes. Your brothers will all be there then as well.”
“Oh yay. Great.” I was looking forward to seeing my brothers. I just wasn’t looking forward to everything else that came from being home with the parents and grandparents.
“Your grandma and grandpa will be there as well. And they will have expectations of you.”
“What expectations, Dad?”
“Well, they’ll want to know... they want to know when, you know, when you’re getting married.”
“Dad, I’m the youngest. So if none of the others are getting married yet, they can hardly expect me to get married, right?”
“Well, they’re going to be asking each one of you when you’re getting married.”
“Okay,” I sighed. “Well do Ethan, Jack, Dylan, and Joshua know that?” Those were my other brothers, all older than me, all single and all also playing the field.
“Well, I’m just saying, I don’t want it to be unexpected when it happens.”
“Okay, Dad.”
“And check and see when Sarah will be coming as well.”
“I’m sure she’ll be coming when I’m coming. That’s how it always goes every year.”
“I just don’t understand you and that girl.”
“What, Dad? What don’t you understand?”
“I mean, I know she’s your best friend, but I mean, she has no boyfriend. You have no girlfriend. It just doesn’t look right.”
“What doesn’t look right, Dad?”
“The way you two carry on, you know, you’re always at her place. She’s always at your place. You’re like chalk and cheese. You’ve not really got anything in common.”
“What do you mean, we don’t have anything in common? Our mothers are best friends. That’s how we met.”
“Well, I know your mother and her mother are best friends, but the girl, she’s a tomboy. She has no interest in business. She has no interest in anything.”
“Dad, you know she’s interested in history. You know she just graduated with her master’s degree.”
“Well, I know, but why doesn’t she do something with herself? I mean, how is she going to catch a husband looking like that?”
“Dad, she’s not interested in getting a husband, okay?” I was getting angry now. “She’s not that sort of girl.”
“She’s not what sort of girl, Harry? She’s not the sort of girl that wants to get married or are you saying she’s a lesbian?”
“No, Dad, she’s not a lesbian.” I laughed. “Oh my God, really? I hope you’re not going to be asking her these questions this Christmas. You know it will upset her.”
“She’s so sensitive. She always has been, since she was a little kid. She should be used to it.”
“She is used to it, Dad.”
“Well, I do have an idea. Actually, it’s your mother’s idea that she cooked up with Sarah’s mother.”
“What’s the idea, Dad?” I waited for him to say something that was going to annoy me.
“Well, Sarah’s mother really thinks that it’s time for her to be dating, you know, someone proper.”
“Well she’s not dating anyone, proper or not.”
“Well that needs to change. There are a couple of guys at the office that we’re going to invite over for a Christmas party.”
“What are you talking about? We never have guys from the office at home during the Christmas season.”
“Well, this year there’s going to be a change. We’re going to have a large party with some eligible bachelors for Sarah. So can you make sure that she dresses nicely? Tell her to bring something other than those jeans she loves to wear.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about? What eligible bachelors? What’s going on here, Dad?”
“Her parents want to get her married. If she’s not going to take over the company, then they need to find someone suitable who will.”
“What do you mean? Find someone suitable who will what? What are you talking about?”
“Look, obviously there are some great guys that are working at Huntington Enterprises. You’re my son, so you’ll take over the business. So they won’t be CEO of my company, but I can recommend them. They do good work. They might be good husbands for Sarah that can help take over Caddington Enterprises.”
“Dad, Sarah is not going to like that.”
“Well, that’s why you’re not going to tell Sarah, son. You’re just going to make sure she brings some dresses with her.”
“Whatever, Dad. Look, I’ve got to go, okay?” I didn’t wait for his response before I hung up. I stared at the phone in my hand for a few seconds. I was feeling angry. I wasn’t sure why I was so upset. It had nothing to do with Sarah and the eligible bachelors that were going to be brought her way at Christmas. This was the absolute worst call I could have had before my dates tonight. I was meant to be focusing on my dates, not thinking about Sarah and the men my dad was going to fix her up with.
“What the fuck, Dad.” I was pissed as I walked to the bathroom to get ready. I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to shake off the foreboding feeling in my stomach. I knew I was most probably feeling pissed because I had to dump two of the women I’d been seeing. I mean it had been getting pretty hectic and frenzied dating three women at a time, but it was fun. And none of them took it too seriously. Which was very important to me.
If I only dated one woman, and took that one woman to every event, she was definitely going to think that I liked her more than I did. She was going to think that our dates were going to lead to a relationship. She was going to think that she was on the way to being my girlfriend. She might even let it slip to the media that we were going to be engaged and married and that would lead to even more complications. I didn’t want any of it. That was why I didn’t date multiple women at a time. I was fine with casual dating. And yes, it had been a while since I’d been laid, but only because in the last six months I’d been too preoccupied with work.
I hated the drama that came from expectations that were never going to be met by dating me. First of all, I wasn’t looking for marriage. Secondly, I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend. I mean, yeah, I’ve dated women and had casual sex more times than I could count. Who hadn’t? I was a healthy man and I loved having fun. But ultimately, I just wanted to enjoy my life and have fun without the stress that women with a mission brought to my life. Women wanted relationships. They wanted to tie me down and they hated my relationship with Sarah. It was so annoying dealing with jealous women. The perfect woman would understand that Sarah was my best friend and would always come first. They’d be available when I wanted to be intimate, and they’d be rewarded with expensive dinners and dates. I didn’t understand why every single woman I went out with wanted more than that. And now I had to make a choice. I sighed, thinking about my dilemma. I was pissed that my dad was putting me in this position.
“Ugh,” I groaned and clenched my fists. How was I going to choose which woman would accompany me to all the company events? There was Lisa, who was a tall, gorgeous blonde. She had big boobs, though I was pretty sure she’d had plastic surgery on them, and big blue eyes. She was a really pretty girl and seemed very smart as well.
I was pretty sure that she worked at an accounting firm, though wasn’t really sure what she did there. I’d never really cared enough to ask her, though I’m sure she’d most probably babbled on about it at some point. I’d just not been paying attention.
Then there was Denise. Denise was tall and brunette. Also beautifully stunning with a slamming body. I’d met her at a nightclub I’d gone to with my brother, Ethan. Denise and I had danced the night away, and at the end of the night, she’d given me a lap dance, which frankly should have led to more, but hadn’t. I’d been drunk and she hadn’t been the best dancer. She was definitely wanting to go back to my place though. I’d declined. I was the sort of guy that only slept with one woman at a time. I thought it wasn’t safe to sleep with multiple women. I mean, yes, I was a playboy, but I liked to be safe. I wasn’t looking to get any STDs and I certainly wasn’t looking to get anyone pregnant.
I didn’t think it was cool to sleep with multiple women at the same time, though I wasn’t against casual sex. I’d contemplated banging her, but had just never really wanted to follow through.
And then last but not least was the beautiful redhead known as Kim. She had a body that went on for days. Small waist, big ass, and ginormous boobs. I was starting to think that I was more of a boob man than I thought. I’d always thought I was an ass guy, but I guess I was just a guy that was into boobs and ass. I laughed to myself, but then stopped as Sarah’s body came to my mind.
Kim was the ditziest of the bunch of women I was currently dating. She was very sweet and lovely, but she didn’t seem to know what was going on in the world. I’d asked her a question about the recent election, and she hadn’t even known who the two presidential candidates were. That was a no-no for me. I was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be the one that could make it as my long-term girlfriend for Christmas.
But I’d see and make my decision after I had the dinners with all three of them. I decided that I’d give them all their presents and then I’d have conversations with them about a business relationship. I’d see which one I thought could hold their own. And then we’d go from there. I’d have to let them know though that this wasn’t actually a real dating relationship.
It was more for convenience. I wasn’t sure how that was going to fly. I looked at my phone and thought about calling Sarah again, but she hadn’t answered the last time I called. If only she would be the best friend that she was supposed to be, and just go with me to these events. It would make it so much easier. That way we could get photographed together. The board of directors would be happy. My dad would be happy, and I would be happy because then I could spend the rest of the evening flirting with other women at the events. Women who had no expectations from me.
And that would make me happy. It would make my life so much easier. But no, Sarah wanted nothing to do with the business world. She was fed up with it. She hated making small talk with people she didn’t know. I sighed. She could make my life so much easier, but I knew she wouldn’t help me. I grabbed my phone and groaned. It was time for me to get ready. My first date was going to start in an hour. By the end of the night, I’d have to dump two of the women, but at least they would have a parting gift from me. At least Sarah had helped me out with one thing.