Harold
Harold didn’t know what to think of the invitation, but he was willing to see where it went. He knew that Sarah was trying to get close to him, but he didn’t know if he wanted to get close to her or anyone else. Every time he did, something bad happen. Harold’s life was full of failure and defeat. He had to have so many armed guards because his life was always on the line. Someone always wanted to take him out. Harold didn’t want Sarah to be involved in such things. He didn’t like the idea that something would happen to her because of him.
He’d tried keeping his distance, while keeping her close. It was a strange feeling he had when he was with her. He wanted to know about her, like meeting her mother would tell him all he needed to know about the woman he was falling for. Falling for…
That’s what it was, too. She made him think of her always, settled his anger, something no one else was able to do. Sarah was a balm to his senses, and the best he could do was try to at least figure out why that was.
What he didn’t expect though, was how Sarah would look when she answered the door. She was in a tight-fitting red dress that pulled out the color of her eyes, matching her red lipstick completely. He hadn’t ever seen her like that. She had tried for once to entice him, and it showed. Sarah was always beautiful, but now she was something else. She was on the prowl, and Harold wanted to believe that it was because of him.
“Wow.”
Sarah blushed and invited him in. Harold handed her a bottle of wine that he’d brought, and she gushed that it was so nice of him. Harold wasn’t sure what was going on there, but he wanted to see where it could lead. There was a part of him that was convinced that Sarah was trying hard to pull him in. She already had, though. There was no need to bait him, Harold was ready to gobble her up.
“Something smells good.”
She took his coat and led him into the kitchen to meet her mother and stepfather. Harold was taken aback by how he felt meeting Carolyn. She was an older version of her daughter and lovely as ever. Harold knew that there was some kind of attraction to her as well, though it was different. He didn’t feel the same way about Carolyn as he did about Sarah, obviously, but there was something there.
Carolyn asked a lot of questions and Harold answered all the ones that he could. She asked about his mother, and he told her the truth, how his mother had died when he was younger and that he didn’t technically remember her all that well. He had great recall, but he was so young that only fragments stuck with him very long.
“I am sorry to hear that, Harold. It is horrible to lose a parent.”
Harold wanted to ask about Sarah’s father. The man that he met wasn’t related. There was no DNA shared between the two, but he didn’t want to walk into something ugly if he didn’t have to.
“It is. I just wish that I could remember her. I got a stepmother not too long after. We are really close, and she has been with me since I was about five.”
“Sometimes stepparents are just as good.”
Harold nodded but didn’t feel like that was true. He wanted to believe that his mother wouldn’t have been so devious, constantly devising plans and riling him up so that he would go along with what she wanted. He wanted to think that she was kind and honest. His father wasn’t, and his mother was the guiding force. When she died, any good that was left in him died with her. It took Harold a long time to realize that. It took him even longer to accept it as the truth.
“Yes, but blood is blood. There is something poetic about sharing the same DNA, a kind of bond that cannot be replicated.”
Harold saw the look that came over Gerald, Sarah’s stepfather’s face. It gave him the proof that he needed, that he already knew. There was nothing wrong with some stepparents, but there was something to be said about blood and where a person came from. He would give anything to have a real conversation with his mother.
“That is true, Harold. Where a person comes from matters a great deal. I would suspect that it is needed more in your world.”
His world? Harold studied Carolyn carefully. What did she mean by that? Harold wasn’t sure that he wanted to ask. Why did he get the distinct impression that she knew something that he didn’t? If she did, what was it?
“My world?” Harold couldn’t help himself. He had to know.
“Yes, you know, the business world or what have you. I suppose that you must have to know the people you go into business with rather well.”
Harold agreed, but he didn’t think that was actually what she was talking about. Harold could see intelligence in the woman’s eyes and knowing, like she knew more about ‘his world’ than she let on. Harold suspected that Carolyn knew more than a human should know about his shifter world.
He couldn’t say more, because he wasn’t sure if he was right or not. That creeping feeling was there, but he was going to let it go. He had no other choice. Whatever she knew, there was a reason for it, a reason for her to say what she said. Harold would get to the bottom of it.
The conversation got off of family and went to business for a while. That was a subject that Harold was more comfortable with, so when Carolyn wanted to know what he did for a living, he was able to talk to her about that much easier than he was able to talk about his personal life. It had always been that way for Harold. His personal life was a mess, had been for a while, but his work life was something that he strived in. Most likely, it was because he dumped most of his energy into it. That was where all of Harold’s free time and energy went.
He got ready to leave with mixed emotions but had cleared up some problems that were circling his mind. First off, he liked Sarah, a lot. It was only getting stronger and no matter how long it had been, Harold was sure since the first time he saw her, that Sarah was supposed to be in his life, somehow.
He also walked to the door thinking far too much about his own family and all of the problems in it. He was going to have to ignore Katie for a while. She got into his head and made the problems worse. She wanted him to do bad things, and Harold loved her, but he was old enough now to see what she was doing. Harold missed his real mother in a way that was unseen and unremembered. He just knew that she would have been like Carolyn. She was genuinely good, and Harold knew that his mother was, too.
Harold also knew something, a big secret no doubt, about Carolyn. It was something that confused him, because he didn’t understand how someone so good, could lie the way she was. It was obvious to Harold that Sarah’s mom wasn’t sick. She didn’t have cancer, nothing that he noted. Harold could tell many things about a person, and the woman’s vitals were strong. The grey pallor to her face was makeup. None of it added up, but Harold had to keep quiet. He knew that there had to be a good reason why Carolyn had told her daughter that she was sick. He figured that it was important, whatever the reasoning was, so he just left it alone.
Sarah walked him out and he told her that he had a nice time. Harold was dying to say more. He knew how worried about her mother Sarah was. He wanted to alleviate all that stress, but he couldn’t. Not without outing the older woman and starting a huge issue. Harold was just going to have to let it go.
“Thank you for the invitation, Sarah. It is very nice of you to have thought of me.”
“Well, the job you gave me has been great. I have never had this much leeway before, and I appreciate the confidence that you put in me. You have had it from the start, and I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but it has been great to come to work every day. I look forward to it.”
