He didn't know what exactly she was getting at, but he had to agree. It didn't really matter in whatever term she was talking about, professionally or otherwise. Harold couldn’t get Sarah out of his mind, no matter how hard he tried, and he had tried. After seven months that he hadn't seen her or talked to her, still he thought about her just as much.
“Why did you invite me here? Sarah said that you had insisted.”
“My daughter thinks highly of you, and she talks about you quite a bit. I guess I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.”
Harold didn’t know how to respond to her words. She was just so blunt. It was refreshing and a little intimidating, too.
“Well, here I am. I hope I was worth it.”
“Oh, you are. It’s like the two of you were destined to be together or something.”
That made him focus on her. It was the exact same feeling that he had had himself, but he was too afraid to put such things into words.
“Your daughter is an amazing employee. She has put fear into most of my employees’ hearts by now.”
Carolyn was confused. “Why?”
“Because if anyone is doing anything wrong, she’ll find it. The amount of money she’s saved the company has been more than I could have ever imagined. I just send her out and she finds the truth. It is quite amazing what she does.”
Carolyn smiled and Harold was hopeful that he could get her on his side. When she said that they were destined to be together, Harold had to hope and wonder that maybe it wasn't just him that felt that way. Maybe it wasn't just some crazy feeling, but something more. Something true.
“Well, I am going to try to get back to bed before it gets too late. Don't stay up all night. We have a lot of fun things to do tomorrow.”
Harold agreed that he wouldn't and again he wondered what Carolyn knew that he didn't. She just had this knowing look in her eyes that really made him nervous. All he wanted to know was what it was about. What the hell did she know? Harold thought of the witches then and the way they spoke in riddles and knew more than everyone else in the room. It was the first time that he wondered if Sarah's mom was more than just a human. He had to wonder, was there something more to her and her knowing looks? Did he read this wrong all along? He shook his head. That's not what would happen. He would have known if she was something else. His intuition would have told him. Right?
Harold lay down on the couch, questioning everything and hoping that he wasn't wrong. Would it be so bad?
Chapter 21
Sarah
The rest of the weekend went rather different. Sarah was quite convinced that there was something going on between Harold and her mother. They had the strangest looks between them and she wanted to know what was going on, what was the truth. Sarah was so worried that there was some kind of conspiracy that she didn't know about. It felt like they were talking about it or that they were planning things about her life, and she had no control over it. Sarah didn't really know what it was, just that she felt a huge unease.
By the end of it, Sarah had not gotten another kiss or anything else to help the frustration that was going through her. While Sarah wanted to believe that she and Harold had this special connection, it was hard to believe that by the end of the weekend, he could barely look at her. He was not necessarily avoiding her, but he was definitely keeping his distance. He spent more time with her parents than he did with her. Sarah tried not to be offended by it or be upset by it, but it was pretty hard not to be. She wanted him, badly, and the more she tried to deny it, the harder it was to do so. Harold was a mystery to her. He was the man that made her feel something more and Sarah didn't want to give that up. It was the last thing she wanted to do.
She was so inside her feelings that they barely talked on the way home. When Monday morning rolled around and she had to go to work, Sarah kept herself as far away from him as she could. It was hard, considering that he wanted all the reports directly brought to him, because he didn't trust other people, due to the nature of her job with him. So, it made it impossible for Sarah to completely stay away from him. She did as long as she could, though.
At the end of the day on Monday, Sarah had a report and a few spreadsheets that she needed to get to Harold. It was an inefficiency and how they were taking care of the servers. They had too many people on call in the daytime. He could save lots of money if he would just fire two people or put the extra people on the shift where it was actually needed. He seemed happy enough about it, but he barely looked at her. Sarah figured that it must have been as awkward for him as it was for her. She wanted to believe that she wasn't the only one that was feeling the way she was. She didn't want to be the only one that felt like her brain was going to explode at any moment. It would've been nice to know that he felt that way, too. It wouldn’t have made her feel any better, but it would have made her feel like at least she wasn’t suffering alone.
Harold barely looked at her, though. He barely looked up from whatever it was he was reading, and Sarah was quite devastated. She wanted nothing more than to have the conversation that she was dying to have. Sarah wanted him to touch her, she needed it even, but he didn't seem bothered by any of it. He just kept writing whatever it was he was writing on the paperwork and completely ignoring her standing there.
“Do you want me to explain the report, or do you think you got it?”
“I don't need you to explain anything.”
Sarah started to turn to walk away, and he finally met her gaze. Sarah’s gaze must have been too intense and too much for him to handle. She could tell it was too much for both of them, not just her. It was all the answer she needed and now she could leave with a sense of peace that she hadn’t had before.
“Okay, I'm going to go.”
“No, you're not.”
Sarah looked at him a little funny. His face was expressionless, and she had no idea what to make of it.
“Why not?”
“Because we need to have a discussion.”
Sarah felt relief come through her. That's exactly what they needed to do. They needed to have a discussion, though the one that she had in mind didn’t include much talking, but more of everything else.
