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I chuckle. “Admittedly, that’s where I got the idea from.”
She giggles around a bite of syrupy waffle. “Ah. Well, it’s not a terrible question. And I think everything in your upbringing affects the rest of your life. Your career, your politics, it’s all shaped by your childhood. For instance, I grew up poor, so I have a soft spot in my heart for the needy.”
“Yet you work for the very wealthy.”
“The needy can’t pay my school loans.”
I smile at that, even though the reminder stings. Can’t ignore that elephant in the room, either. “Working on getting the money thing settled, by the way.”
June laughs with exuberance. “God, I haven’t even thought about that in the past day. I mean, not really. Funny. It was all I could think of before some guy stuck a knife to my throat.”
A surge of rage floods through me, like my body thinks the guy is here right now. But I bank it for later. “Thought we weren’t talking about that now.”
“We’re not. Just … funny how perspective changes in the blink of an eye.”
She is more right than she knows. This whole incident has shifted my perspective on a lot of things. “Very true. I’m not sure I want the CEO seat at work. Not after all of this.”
Her eyes widen. “Really?”
“I won’t make my future family pay for my mistakes. Not in any way.”
“That’s smart of you. But I think everyone pays for the mistakes of the generation before it, no matter what you do.”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t mitigate the possibilities of what that payment might look like.” I scrub my hand over my face and try not to make her talk about things while talking about them. Maybe we can just keep talking around it until she’s ready. “If I can make my children’s lives safer, my wife’s life safer, then that’s what I’ll do. If that means abandoning the C-suite, I’ll do it. Or leaving the company entirely, I’ll do it. I don’t care about the company. I care about my family.”
She smiles mischievously. “You don’t have any of those things yet.”
“But I will. I want that more than anything.” I want you more than anything.
June sighs. “You don’t know what it’s like to live without money and access and connections, Anderson. It’s easy to say you’d leave all that behind, but in practice, it would be far harder than you think.”
“I’m sure you’re right about that. But I’d be willing to try.” To keep you safe.
“What do you think your upbringing taught you about the law?”
I smile and sigh. “A lot of the technical. Dad was big on me learning about the law from a young age. He molded me as a boy to follow in his footsteps … but I never wanted to. It was a destiny decided by others. Nothing more.”
She sets her waffle down and looks at me. “What would you do if you weren’t a lawyer?”
The question makes my mind go blank, and I laugh. “You mean, what did I actually want to be when I grew up?”
She nods.
It’s a fair question. But it’s also an impossible one. “I don’t rightly know. I was never given the option of being anything else.”
June smiles. “Well, think about it and get back to me.”
I grin. “Maybe a househusband.”
She laughs sharply. “What?”
“I’m still young enough to be a trophy husband, and I could marry some rich, powerful woman, and raise our babies and?—"
“And lose your mind from the boredom.”
I laugh. “Yeah, okay. Not a serious thought, but now that I think about it, it doesn’t sound half bad.”
“Better than rescuing damsels in distress?”
