Sarah
“Sarah, I’ll just be a second, okay?” Harry handed me a drink and stepped back.
“Sure. Where are you going?” I asked him in surprise. We’d only gotten here about fifteen minutes ago, and I wasn’t sure why he was leaving me by myself, seeing as he knew I didn’t know anyone else here, aside from his dad, and his dad, hadn’t really looked that happy to see me.
“I’m just going to the restroom. Don’t panic.” He grinned. “You’ll be okay by yourself for a little bit?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ve got my phone, and I’ve got this drink, and it seems like there’s a lot of nice people here, and maybe I’ll go and talk to your dad.”
“Yeah.” He looked at me for a few seconds. “Sure, you want to talk to my dad?”
“Well, no, I don’t actually want to talk to your dad.” I laughed. “But I do know him, so if I feel like I’m absolutely going crazy and need someone to talk to, then I’ll rush and find him and talk to him,” I finished dramatically.
“Oh my gosh, Sarah, really?” He snickered. “You’re too much.”
“Yeah. Well, you know, what can I say?” I did a little twirl, and he laughed at me. His eyes were warm, and as I stared at him, I realized how happy I was to be here with him. This wasn’t so bad. I hated events like these normally, but being here with him like this, it felt different. I didn’t feel like I was on the spot, like I normally did. “Now, hurry. Shoo,” I said and pushed him away before I took a sip of my wine. “Hmm. This tastes really good. Maybe I’ll get another glass.”
“Don’t get drunk on me now, Sarah. You haven’t eaten dinner.” He tapped me on the nose. “And if we do what I’m hoping to do tonight, I want to make sure you’re doing it because you’re cognizant and want it, not because you’re drunk.”
“Harry, we’re not having sex tonight,” I said with a small smile. “So don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah. We might not be having sex, but if you go down on me.”
“Harry,” I said and blushed. “Enough.”
“Okay. I’m going. I’ll see you in a second. Okay?”
“Okay.” I watched as he walked off and walked over to the side of the room and looked around. I didn’t recognize anyone here, which wasn’t surprising. I wasn’t really in the corporate world and didn’t care to be, though I knew if my parents knew I was here tonight, they would be absolutely shocked and excited because maybe, they would think to themselves, that I was interested in getting to know the business world a little bit better and taking over my family’s business, which I had absolutely no interest in doing.
“Hi there, Sarah.” I looked up, and Mr. Huntington was walking toward me with a young man.
“Hi, Mr. Huntington. Harry just went to the restroom,” I said, wondering if he was looking for his son.
“Oh, okay. I’d like you to meet Herr Wagner.”
“Sorry, what?”
“Oh, this is Mr. Wagner. He’s from Germany.”
“Oh, nice to meet you, Mr. Wagner.” I smiled at the blond man that was looking at me with an appreciative gaze.
“And nice to meet you. What is your name?” he said in a strong German accent.
“Sarah.”
“Ah, Sarah, beautiful. My name is Severin.”
“Sorry, what?” I said and looked over at Mr. Huntington, who had a bemused smile on his face.
“Severin. Severin Wagner.”
“Oh, nice.”
“Yes. It’s a German name. I expect you’ve never heard it before.”
“No, I’ve never heard it before, but I love unique names.”
“Ah, have you ever been to Germany?”
“Once when I was young, I went to Berlin, but I don’t really remember it. Where are you from in Germany?”
“I’m from Munich, a very beautiful city, much more beautiful than Berlin.”
“Oh, cool. I’ll have to go someday.”
“Yes. If you decide to come, you must look me up. I’d be more than happy to show you around my very beautiful city, yah? You maybe come Oktoberfest.”
“Oh, is that where Oktoberfest is, in Munich?”
“Ah, yes. We like our beer in Germany, and Oktoberfest is a very fun occasion.” He looked over at Mr. Huntington. “Eh, you might want to come as well.”
“Oh, no, I don’t think so,” Mr. Huntington said. “I’ll leave it for you youngsters.” He looked back over at me. “Sarah, do you mind if I leave Severin in your company for a couple of minutes? I’m just going to go over and speak to someone. Is that okay?”
“Sure,” I said with a shrug and looked at Severin. “If that’s okay with you.”
“I’d be more than happy to stand here talking to a beautiful woman like you.”
“Oh, well thanks.” I blushed. “Although I wouldn’t say that I’m beautiful.”
“Ah, and modest too,” he grinned. “I like it very much. Please tell me you’re single as well, and then maybe all my dreams will come true.”
“Well, I guess I am single,” I said, not knowing what to say. I looked at Mr. Huntington, who was staring at me with a weird expression on his face. I mean, yeah, I’d kind of hooked up with his son a couple of nights ago, but we weren’t in a relationship. So technically, I was single. I looked away from Mr. Huntington, hoping he couldn’t read my mind, hoping he couldn’t figure out that Harry and I had done things that we never should have done.
“Okay. Sarah, Severin, well, I’ll leave you two for a few seconds or rather a few minutes, and I’ll be back.” And then he walked away. Severin took a step closer to me and gazed down at me. His eyes were very, very blue, and I couldn’t stop myself from staring into them.
“Ah, I have something on my face, some food, perhaps?” he said, touching his cheek.
“No. Sorry, I was just staring at your eyes. They’re so very blue.” I laughed self-consciously. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“No. I am happy that you stare into my eyes, ah? I like to stare into your eyes as well. Very beautiful.”
“Well, thank you.” I looked at him and just thought for a few seconds. I wasn’t really sure what to say. “So, you’re a business acquaintance of Mr. Huntington’s?”
“Ah, yes. My father, he owns some companies in Germany, yeah? And Mr. Huntington wants to do business with us. So we come to this party to see if we think it’s a good idea. We looking at a few different American companies, and it is important to us to make a merger with the right family company, you know? We are a family company in Germany.”
“Oh, cool.” I smiled, not really knowing what to say. “That sounds really cool,” I said again, redundantly.
“So I take it you are not in business, ah?” He laughed.
“No, I am a history buff. I actually came with Mr. Huntington’s son, Harry. He’s my best friend.”
“Ah, the famous Harry Huntington. Hmm. I have yet to meet him, but I’ve heard a lot about him.”
“Yeah. He’s really cool. I think you’ll like him.” “So, he’s your friend or your boyfriend?”
“Oh, he is my friend. We’ve been best friends since we were young.”
“Ah, good, good, good. I like to hear that.”
“So tell me, Severin, what have you been doing since you’ve been here?”
“Ah, you know, I go to the Rockefeller Center. I go to Times Square. It is always in the movies, so I wanted to see it. It’s very, very busy, yeah?”
“Yeah. That’s where all the tourists go.” I laughed. “What else have you seen?”
“Let’s see, I went to Broadway. I see a show on Broadway.”
“Oh, what show did you see?”
“I saw Wicked, eh? The Wicked Witch of the West, I guess from Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz.”
“Oh, yeah, I love Wicked. That’s one of my favorite musicals.”
“I would have liked to have seen it with you rather than with my father. Ha ha.” He laughed. “I think it would have been a much more pleasant experience.”
“Oh, well, you know, shows are shows.” I shrugged, blushing again. As we talked, I could feel someone watching me, and I looked over to the side. I could see Harry approaching us, and he had a frown on his face.
“Harry, there you are,” I said with a beautiful, wide smile, hoping he wasn’t going to be frumpy. “This is Severin. Severin, this is Harry Huntington, Mr. Huntington’s son. Harry, this is Severin Wagner. He is the son of the guy your dad wants to do business with.”
“Okay,” Harry said as he stopped next to me. “And you guys are talking because?”
“Harry,” I admonished him, not knowing why he was being so rude. “Your dad brought him over to chat. I guess he needed to do something.”
“Okay, then.” Harry frowned. “Nice to meet you, Severin.”
“Ah, nice to meet you, Harry. Your father has told us many things about you. I’m surprised that you bring Sarah with you tonight.”
“And why is that?” he said.
“Ah, just because your father said that you were having a serious girlfriend, and I thought you would have brought her tonight instead.”
“And how do you know Sarah’s not my serious girlfriend?” Harry said in an abrupt tone.
“Ah, Sarah told me you were just friends, eh? You’ve been friends since kids. I guess you almost like brother and sister.”
“Brother and sister?” Harry sounded pissed off. And I was scared that he was going to completely blow the deal for his dad.
“Harry,” I said and touched his arm lightly, “Severin’s from Munich. And did you know that Munich is where they have Oktoberfest? That seems like it would be really cool to visit.”
“Yes, Sarah, you are welcome anytime. If you need a place to stay, I have a very big house. You can stay with me.”
“She won’t be staying with you,” Harry cut him off and then looked at me. “What’s going on here, Sarah?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I leave you alone for five minutes, and you’re flirting up a storm with some rando.”
“Harry,” I looked at him nervously. Oh my gosh, he was going to blow the deal, and his dad was going to kill him and kill me, and everything was going to be horrible. “What is your problem? This is your dad’s business partner’s son. I was being friendly. He is being friendly.”
Severin coughed slightly. “I see that perhaps you are more than friends, eh?” He looked at me, and then he looked at Harry and held his hands up. “I not mean to cause any problems. I’m here because I want our families to get to know each other. Yes, Sarah, you are very beautiful. And obviously, if you were single, I would love to get to know you, but this seems complicated. And Harry, I am not competition. If we get into business together, we are family, and family is on each other’s good side. I would like to start the business relationship like that, eh? Yah? It sounds good to you?”
Harry let out a few deep breaths and sighed. “Sorry. I’ve just been really worked up recently and yeah, this is just a crazy time. I apologize if I made you feel uncomfortable. I really hope this doesn’t get back to my dad.” And then he looked at me. “And Sarah, obviously, you know, this is just a weird time for us.” He gave me a wry smile and then looked back at Severin. “We are friends, but possibly, I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I need a drink. You guys want a drink?”
“I have a drink.” I held up my half full glass of wine. “But maybe I can have another.”
Severin laughed. “I think I’ll be very happy in joining you for a drink, yeah? Should I get them? Give you two time to talk, and then I come back in five minutes?”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” I said quickly. “I can go and get the drinks.”
“Sarah, you’re not going to get the drinks.” Harry shook his head. “It’s my bad. I’ll go and get the drinks. You guys stay here. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” I looked over at Harry and squeezed his hand. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. I guess I’m becoming a bit of a hothead, huh?” He grinned.
“Just becoming a bit of a hothead?” I laughed. “You’ve always been a hothead.” I leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Just be cool, okay? You don’t want to ruin this for your dad. He will absolutely kill you if you do.”
“I know.” He gave me a knowing look. “And thanks. I’m really glad you’re here with me.”
“I’m really glad I’m here with you too, Harry.” We just stared at each other for a few seconds. And then shockingly, he pressed his lips against mine for a few seconds. I held onto him and kissed him back before we both stepped back. We both looked over at Severin. He was grinning.
“Ah, now I know why you got upset when I said you guys were like brother and sister.” He grinned. “Not brother and sister at all.” He gave Harry a small smile. “It’s okay. If you don’t want your dad to know, for whatever reason. I understand these things can be complicated. I won’t say anything.”
“Thanks, man.” Harry nodded. “I appreciate it.” He looked back at me. “Okay, Sarah, stay here, and I’ll be back. You want a red wine?”
“Yes, please.”
“What would you like, Severin?”
“I wouldn’t mind a scotch on the rocks.”
“Great. I’ll have that as well. I’ll be back in a few seconds,” he said, and he walked away.
Severin and I just stood there for a couple of seconds before he started speaking again. “So you are the family friend. You are the best friend. And now perhaps you are the lover?”
“No,” I said as I blushed, “we’ve never had sex,” and then I groaned, “or slept together. Maybe I shouldn’t have said sex. That seems so crude.”
“In Europe, we use the words that we use.” He shrugged. “Sex, yes. Sex, no.” He looked thoughtful. “It’s complicated, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s complicated.”
“You know, I’ve heard about Harry being a bit of a playboy.” He looked into my eyes. “He does seem to care for you, but be careful, yeah?”
“What do you mean?”
“Playboys? Well, it’s very hard for them to change. When a man can get any woman he wants, it’s very hard for him to settle down, you know? When he’s rich and he’s handsome and he has the world at his feet, why settle for one?”
“Oh, I guess. Are you saying this from experience?”
He nodded and smiled. “Yes. I am talking from experience. Have your fun, yes, but remember, a leopard never changes his spots.”
“Okay. Well, thank you.”
“I don’t mean to be a pessimist, but I like you. You seem very nice. You seem genuine. You seem sweet. And you know, maybe.” He shrugged. “Let me stop. I do not know you very well, and I do not know Harry. But I want to ensure your heart is protected. Whatever you do, just remember, a lion in the jungle will always kill to protect himself.”
“Okay,” I said and then sipped on my wine. I had absolutely no idea what that meant, and I wasn’t about to ask him. But what he said was right in some ways. Harry was a playboy. Harry didn’t do relationships. And no matter what happened, I had to protect my heart. I had to. I had to be smart about this whole thing.
And then it hit me. I needed to talk to Mr. Huntington, not about Harry, but about his connections in London. I didn’t want to go through my parents because, well, I didn’t want them to feel like I had to go through them to get a job. But I didn’t mind speaking to Mr. Huntington. I didn’t mind asking him to put me in contact with his connections at the British Museum. It was the right thing to do. It was the smart thing to do. I needed to move forward in my life.
And even though I was excited about this upcoming time with Harry, I knew I needed to have a plan for after that time, because I didn’t want to fall into a pattern that I’d seen with other women he dated. I didn’t want everything to be going well until he suddenly dropped me. Because I knew if he dropped me and broke my heart, it would be very hard for me to move on again.