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Oh my God. Henn must stand to earn more than a million bucks for this new job! Henn said the payday he’ll be chasing will be the biggest of his career—and he said that after getting a million bucks as a finder’s fee. No wonder he’s willing to ditch my ass to chase that cash! Holy fuck! Go, Henny, go! I throw back a shot, suddenly feeling extremely dizzy.
“And last but not least,” Josh is saying when I tune back in. “To Kat and her new baby.” My heart stops for a split-second, until I realize with relief that Josh is referring to Kat’s new PR firm, not some bun in Kat’s oven she’s never told me about. “YOLO, Kat,” Josh says with a wink. “I’m glad you’ve decided to go for it. May you climb and conquer.”
As we all convey our boisterous congratulations, Sarah says, “Wait! Duh. We’ve got to toast Climb & Conquer, too!” She picks up a shot of tequila and raises it. “This one we’ve got to do with Patron in Joshy-Woshy’s honor.” When everyone has picked up a shot, Sarah continues. “To Climb & Conquer. I can’t wait to watch the Faraday twins climb and conquer every peak of their dreamscape.”
After everyone clinks and throws back their shots, Sarah leaps up and pulls on her man’s muscled arm. “Are you ready, hunky monkey boyfriend? The alcohol has started to kick in. It’s time for you to pay your debt.”
There’s some slight resistance from Jonas, but, ultimately, much to our table’s shock and delight, he stands and lets Sarah pull him onstage.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Josh murmurs. He leans in and says something to Kat that ends with, “God, he must really love that girl.”
A moment later, Jonas and Sarah are onstage doing a truly terrible rendition of “I Got You Babe” by Sonny and Cher. Sarah’s a pretty good singer, actually, by karaoke standards, but Jonas is so tone-deaf, the entire audience can’t help rising to its collective feet and cheering him on. Of course, our table is absolutely loving it, too—although Josh isn’t at the table any longer. He’s now standing closer to the stage by the DJ booth, reveling in every detail of his brother’s performance.
When Jonas and Sarah reach the slow finale of their song, the entire bar erupts into a raucous standing ovation. When the song is done, Jonas dips Sarah dramatically, kissing her like no one else is in the room, and she comes up red-faced and giggling.
As the trio—Jonas, Sarah, and Josh—returns to our table, two stoner dudes get onstage and start singing “American Pie.” Once everyone is seated again, our group showers Jonas and Sarah with praise and questions, at which point Jonas swears that was the first and last time he’ll ever sing karaoke.
Kat says, “So, Henny, how long are you in town? Do you and Hannah want to do dinner with Josh and me Sunday night before Josh heads to the airport?”
“Sorry, leaving tomorrow,” Henn says. He looks at me apologetically, and I wink at him to reinforce my genuine support for his change of plans. Hot damn. Now that I know Henny is probably chasing more than a million bucks, I’m feeling even more supportive. Growing up, my mom always used to say, “Love is the most important thing, but it’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor one.” I always used to tell her to stop saying that. I’d insist a man’s bank account didn’t matter to me, whatsoever. Well, now that I’ve unwittingly followed my mother’s advice and fallen in love with a rich man, I must admit I’m giddy about it.
“Where are you off to next?” Josh asks, speaking to Henn.
“Munich,” Henn replies, causing my jaw to practically clank onto the table. Henn is heading to Munich tomorrow? I could have sworn he told me he’s heading back to DC. Or did I assume that detail, after hearing him say the word summit? Either way, I’m positive Henn didn’t mention Munich as his destination—and I find that super weird. Is Henn so blasé about international travel it didn’t occur to him to mention that exciting detail to me—a girl he knows is obsessed with the dream of international travel?
Henn glances at me while my jaw is still hanging open, and whatever he sees on my face causes a look of concern to wash over his. He shifts in his seat before addressing Kat. “But, uh, maybe you and Hannah could come visit Josh and me after my trip and we can all go out together in La La Land.”
Kat looks at me for confirmation, but I’m still too befuddled by Henn’s Munich revelation, on top of the million-dollar finder’s fee thing, to meaningfully engage with her. All of a sudden, I feel like there might be a whole lot more to Peter Hennessey than I’ve realized. Am I crazy to think a guy would tell his girlfriend he’s dropping everything to travel to Germany the next day? For fuck’s sake, I joked that I’m a German operative at dinner, and he didn’t think to mention it then? I was half-kidding at dinner when I asked Henn if he’s a spy, but suddenly, that doesn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea to me.
