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I make a face at that. “Not a fan of that wording, but whatever you say.”
His eyes get that mischievous gleam they used to get when he was younger. But in the next breath, it disappears, leaving icy cold behind.
“So, how have you been?” he asks conversationally.
My eyebrows furrow in confusion.
“You said you’d give me a chance to get to know you and see if I can trust you with my son. This is my way of doing it.”
My lips curl upwards. “By asking how I’ve been?”
“I’ve heard it’s a marvelous conversation starter. Come on, tell me. Did you graduate Harvard?”
“Yes. I’d have thought you’d would have found out everything about me over the years. Keeping tabs on me to ensure I stay away.”
He shakes his head. “I wanted nothing more than to forget you so no. Once you disappeared, I tried to reach you for weeks. When it was clear you weren’t coming back, I gave up.”
I wish that didn’t hurt as much as it does.
“Okay,” I inhale softly. “So yeah, I graduated Harvard. Then I went to law school, became a lawyer. It was all very fulfilling.”
That’s a lie. Passing the bar felt like going through motions that were expected of me. I never really wanted to become a lawyer. But my father used to mention growing up how it was always a good idea to have the knowledge of the law on our side during the course of our business. So I sacrificed, I decided I’d be the one to take on that responsibility.
“Liar,” Xander breathes.
I stare at him in surprise. “What?”
He shifts in his chair. “You do this thing when you lie. You don’t know? There’s this slight uptick in your jaw, barely noticeable. But I noticed a long time ago. Back then I thought it was just a weird quirk. But thinking back on it, you only used to get it when you were telling me lies.”
I blink, looking at him for a long moment. The silence stretches and becomes uncomfortable until he clears his throat.
“Anyway, my turn. I’ll tell you how I’ve been, although I didn’t do anything nearly as fulfilling. As I’m sure you already know, after I graduated, I joined my father’s company, worked my way up slowly. My old man wanted us to know the value of hard works and refused to let us take any shortcuts. So I started as an intern, got officially hired and things progressed from there. I’m the vice president now.”
He seems to be downplaying what I’m sure was a lot of effort to get where he is. His father’s a hard proud man, worse than my Papa, especially when it comes to his expectations of his children.
“I’m sure it wasn’t easy,” I tell Alexander, offering him a small smile.
“Yeah well. I did what I had to do to provide for myself and Nate.”
My breath hitches at the sound of his name. I clear my throat, daring to ask a question.
“Can you tell me about him? Please?”
“Twice in one day, princess? You sure you’re a big bad scary boss?”
I roll my eyes. “Will you tell me or not?”
“Fine. I’m not going to give you too much information but he’s a great kid. He likes to read, he’s good with numbers and he also has a particular talent when it comes to taking apart devices and rebuilding them.”
“Rebuilding them?” I ask confused.
He leans forward, eyes shining with pride. “When he was seven, I came home to find a 3D printer in pieces. I was pretty surprised. He looked a little worried I’d be mad. I wasn’t. But the next morning when I woke up, he’d found a way to put it all back together.”
“That’s crazy,” I murmur.
“I know right?” Xander chuckles. “I had his IQ tested soon after. It’s pretty high. Not quite genius level but pretty damn close.”
My heart swells with pride I have no right to be feeling.
