“I’ve been doing that for over a decade,” he said, laughing.
“Exactly. Wrap your mind around people not duties or what they do. That’s where you’re going to be helpful for your brother.”
“I want to be,” he said. “For everyone.”
“Sit,” his father said.
This was where he was going to get a lecture.
He sat behind his desk, his father going to the chair in front of it. It wasn’t as if his office was big enough for him to have a table or other chairs in it to sit off to the side. No one had that much space. It wasn’t how his parents operated.
They didn’t flaunt their status to those under them and never had. Not like he was used to at his last job where the bigger the office meant the bigger the paycheck.
“What did I do this time?”
His father laughed. “Nothing bad. How are things with Farrah? If I don’t ask you first, your mother is going to.”
“I’d rather talk to you,” he said. “This had to do with bringing Mom flowers when I got home, huh?”
“That and taking us out to dinner. She appreciated the gesture, but she’s biting her tongue to ask what is going on.”
“And you decided to do it instead?”
“It will be fun for me to have this over her.”
He grinned. “Good for you. Things are good. I love her. She loves me.”
“I’m glad. We liked her when you were kids. She’s always been friendly to us when we see her at the doctor’s.”
“Is that going to be awkward for you two now?”
“If it is, we’ll request someone else, but we only saw her if there was an emergency. We didn’t schedule her for annuals.”
He knew how it worked at Farrah’s job. “I didn’t think it’d be a problem but wasn’t sure where you were going.”
“Just that we are happy to see parts of the old you back. We all change so I never expected you to be that kid again.”
“No. Those days are long gone. I’ve had some reflections that I’m almost embarrassed about.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
He sighed. “That maybe I said some hurtful things to you and Mom when I was younger. Not to or at you, but just my thoughts of not wanting to be part of the family business. Looking back, it might have insulted you or made you think I looked down on the business.”
The multimillion-dollar business that gave him a free education and a lifestyle he tried to elevate even higher.
Maybe, deep down, he’d just wanted to be more than his blue-collar father and brother, and that was his first mistake.
The expensive suits, the endless schmoozing with pro athletes, the ass-kissing for the biggest wallets. It had all looked like success, but it felt hollow. It even made him bitter at times and it should have been the first clue it wasn’t right.
For years, his world had been a glossy shell, him straining to fill it and trying to be someone he wasn’t. It was exhausting.Stressful. A slow, suffocating lie to himself and everyone around him.
He couldn’t believe how much effort it had taken to hold on to something that had never really belonged to him, and he still didn’t know why he’d clung to it for so long.
“I’m not sure we were insulted, but your mother and I, we always knew you wanted something different. We were fine with it.”
“But you wanted me back at the same time?”
“Every parent wants to hand off their legacy. But no one said you had to be part of it. Gabe and Jocelyn were and are doing just fine.”
