1
MAX
I’m thirty-two years old, and I’m running away.
No bandana tied to a stick. No walking barefoot down a highway while sad music plays in the background.
My version involves delayed flights, an overpriced rental car, and a desperate need to figure out what I’m doing with my life before I end up trapped in it forever.
I’m so used to commanding presence in a boardroom and making sure the company my grandfather built succeeds—or far exceeds—expectations, that now I’m lost when it comes to anything outside of that sphere.
It’s giving hamster-rolling-around-in-its-ball energy. A never-ending circle of the same things, like the movieGroundhog Day. At least it was until my father, Wolfgang Bauer, showed up at my front door in a three-piece suit and looking as though he could wield thunder.
He only makes those kinds of appearances when my world is about to come crashing down. Like the visit he made at the beginning of my junior year to give me my new list of classes because he’d changed my major from computer science to businessadministration.
And my sophomore year of college, when he came to tell me that Opa Vogel, my mother’s father and one of my best friends in the world, had passed away.
Or the last time he’d been at my flat in Munich before I moved to New York to tell me he was giving me control of the company after the heart attack that almost took his life.
This situation is a more figurative crash, but hasn’t finished its full journey yet. Maybe it will be more deadly in the long run, depending on which way I lean.
It’s why I left.
I’ve been the head of our family’s company for the last eight years, and in that time, I can only remember a handful of moments when I wasn’t either studying something about the business or flying somewhere to put out fires. Those were relatively simple, and at least they were within the scope of what I saw as the responsibilities of my position.
My duty as the one taking care of the Bauer family legacy.
But marriage? No, an arranged marriage? That shouldn’t be required of the CEO of Alder Haus Markets. It’s the twenty-first century, and I should be allowed to pursue a woman who would complement my life, not drain the energy from it. One who wants to be with me for me and not for the money she can spend.
And that’s what Victoria will do. Worry about being seen by the world instead of seeing me.
And that’s why I snapped and left New York. I need time away from all the stressors in my life to make sure I’ve got a clear head before accepting or rejecting my father’s demands.
Am I against marriage?
No, I’d love to settle down someday, but it almost needs to be recorded like an appointment on the calendar.
8:00 a.m. Board meeting
12:00 p.m. Meeting with investors
5:00 p.m. Dinner with my future wife
If only it were that easy. My workday typically ends closer to eight or nine at night, and I usually head straight back to my penthouse apartment after, needing to recharge for the next day.
Being set up is probably the only way I’d be able to find someone and get married at this point, but I’ve heard so many horror stories about online dating. I figured it would be from an app or an online platform, not from my sixty-year-old father.
I don’t like either option.
I don’t drink, so I rarely go out, and I’m the worst at small talk. My personal résumé needs an overhaul, apparently.
“Maximus, we need to talk,”Wolfgang had said a few dozen hours ago when he showed up at my New York apartment. That he flew from Munich instead of calling is never a good thing.
What came next was two hours of debate. Did I get to talk a lot? Not as much as I wanted.
Words like culture, duty, and legacy were thrown around like candy, only making me feel like a caged animal. So, I pled with him to give me time to think about his major proposition. More like hisdemandto marry Victoria Meier, daughter of my parents’ longtime family friends.
There are some who would think that’s the start of a good romance story, but it would be a life of nightmares for me.
