Profession

Decisions, decisions

Jon was surprised when I told him about Grandma Alex's offer, but not as stunned as I was. "You're the obvious choice, if they're looking for somebody to keep up those joint projects," he said logically. "You do the same thing, basically, just on your own, and you actually do more in your projects than they do, objectively. Some of that might be due to the fact that there's more than one person making the decisions over there whereas it's just your vision and your direction at MM. But they're still doing things fairly traditionally. You push farther because you think why not? It's important for you to be a good neighbor. So I can see why they're pursuing you, it was good of Alex to keep the others at bay while you're making up your mind, but I don't know if you know whether you really want to do this, and I'm not going to tell you what I think you should do. This is a big deal, but I will give you two pieces of advice. First, take your time, do the pros and cons thing. Talk with other people whose opinion you value. Make a list of things you must have, if you decide to look into this further, things you really want to have, and anything that's icing on the cake, then negotiate with your grandma. So I guess that's three things." And that's what I did. I talked with my friends about it, then saved the best for last, going to Uncle Tony.

His eyebrows arched up as I told him what had happened, what Grandma had proposed. "So I'm not sure what to do," I confessed. "There are advantages and disadvantages to agreeing. But I'm worried about really having control and the freedom to run things the way I want. I'm afraid of things not working out and disappointing her. And I'm concerned that we wouldn't be able to do any more of our projects together." He heard me out, nodded, and thought a moment.

"Well, What I'm hearing is a couple different things. Let me rephrase them and tell you what I think. I think you're worried about stepping into big shoes and failing. You're worried about being hemmed in again by other peoples' expectations. Everything else is negotiable. And while Chastity isn't as canny a lawyer as Aslyn was, she's still more than competent enough to tie you up tightly contractually in ways that you might not find easy to extricate yourself from." I nodded, that seemed to hit things fairly squarely on the head. "My advice to you is to figure out what you'd need from Valkyrie in order to be comfortable bringing your company in. And I'd ask your team how they'd feel about it first, before going farther. Then once you know what you need to be secure and productive, figure out what you wouldn't be willing to accept, then take it to Alex. You two might not be able to have a meeting of the minds, but this way you'd have a pretty clear idea of whether it would work out or not before, as much as possible. And don't worry about letting her down," he said gently, slinging his arm around my shoulders for a hug. "You both care  lot about your companies, and she's aware you  might not want to do it. She wants the best, who doesn't? But if she doesn't get it, she'll make other plans. She'll still love you, she's not your dad." That last sentence was rather more venomous than I'd been prepared for. He scowled.

"Your party was for the celebration of your talents and winning those very prestigious photography awards, but Daniel went on in that idiotic mea culpa trying to make himself the center of it all. Poorly done and inappropriate. All those things should have been said to you personally, because nobody will be able to convince me he wasn't just showboating, jumping on your bandwagon, trying to get people's opinion of him elevated." I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Well, it was kind of shocking to realize how little his apology meant to me," I said. "I think a public apology would have been nice if it had been brief. But he just wasn't shutting up until you made him. But it's been awhile since I've just resigned myself to knowing that I was just accidentally born to the wrong family. But it's ok, it's not like you and Aunt Ann haven't been right with me." His hand tightened on my shoulder and I felt him kiss my hair.