Page 24 of Until

“Is she for real?” he asks.

“Yes, now take a seat, please,” I say as I pat one of the wide leather chairs facing my desk.

Harold slowly turns away from Beverly, who has made her way back to her desk. I cross the room and close the door, signaling to Beverly to hold all my calls.

“She is quite a woman. Did you know she and your father had a relationship?” he asks as I sit in the plush executive chair behind my desk.

“My dad and Beverly? You have to be mistaken. She wouldn’t do anything like that. She’s too by the book.”

“Your father told me. There was nothing taboo about it. This was after he retired.”

“After he retired? And to think I thought he just couldn’t let go and stop working. He was here all the time. Ends up he was here for her?”

“Woo, the stories he would tell me. This desk, for example…”

I put my hand up. “That’s enough, thank you.”

“He was always quite the ladies’ man. Until your mother tamed him, there wasn’t a woman your dad couldn’t get.”

“That’s not always a good thing,” I say.

“You know where this is going, don’t you?”

I nod. “You’re pretty transparent.”

He laughs. “You’re a lot like him.”

“Not in that way. He never understood why I didn’t sleep with just anyone. And based on his will, he didn’t care.”

“Now that’s not true. He cared a lot. He didn’t want to see you end up alone, though.”

“So forcing me to get married is the only option?”

Harold shrugs. “He did what he thought was right. Consider yourself lucky he didn’t arrange for a wife for you. There’s plenty of that happening as we speak.”

“In this day and age? You’ve got to be kidding me. I wouldn’t go through with it.”

“Even for your inheritance?”

“You know the answer to that.”

He nods slowly as he lets out a long breath. “I’ve been hearing it for the last five years. You know this is coming to an end one way or the another. The trustees aren’t happy that you didn’t show up yesterday.”

I sigh and lean back in my chair, then rest my feet on the edge of the desk. I throw my hands up behind my head.

“I met her, Harold. I met the woman I’m going to marry.”

“Well, that’s great news, Ryan! I would think you’d want to share that with the trustees. When’s the wedding?”

“Not so fast. I don’t even know her name yet.”

Harold groans as he shakes his head.

“She’s not fictional, is she? You didn’t meet her in that store on 42nd, did you? You know, in a box, and she needs to be inflated.” He rubs his forehead with his hand as a pained look crosses his face. “Your father always warned me you were a romantic.”

“She exists, Harold,” I say, sitting up to glare at him. “This is exactly why I didn’t attend your meeting yesterday.”

“Alright, fine then, Ryan. You met her, you don’t even know her name, but you’re going to marry her before your birthday in less than six months. Is that right?”

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