Page 81 of Best Laid Plans

"Sit down, Tyler." I gestured to the couch.

He simply collapsed onto it. I felt bad for the kid. He was twenty-six, a baby, really, and was being bartered away for his daddy's political ambitions.

I poured us both some bourbon. I handed him a glass and sat across from him.

"Bud, I gotta ask you. Do you love Alma?"

He looked up at me like I'd asked him to solve a Millenium problem. "I…sure."

Yeah, that's convincing!

"I hear you're in love with someone you work with." I decided to rip the bandage off.

He now gaped at me.

"Everyone knows everythin'," I informed him. "You know Alma knows, right?"

He shook his head, looking like he was going to throw up. He drank down his whole glass of bourbon like it was a shot. I winced.

Tyler set the glass down. "Everyone knows?"

"Yeah, bud."

"Fuck. Then, why does Alma want to marry me? She went to my dad and made this whole…fuck. Why, when she knows I love someone else?" The poor boy looked baffled.

"'Cause you're probably the future governor's son, and she fancies herself Georgia's first lady someday."

He went pale. "I'm not ever running for office, Anson. Like never."

"Yeah, well, Alma has spent her life getting what she wants how she wants it, so she's pretty sure that once she marries you, you'll perform to the tune she sets."

Harsh! Very harsh. But the boy needed a kick on his backside.

"She's already got me dancing," he muttered, and then looked apologetically at me. "I don't mean no offense."

"She's my sister. I know her. Now, why do you have to do what your daddy asks?"

"Because, he won't give me my trust fund. It's locked up and—"

"You need money?" I asked.

He looked confused. "Doesn't everyone?"

I sighed. "Yeah, bud, everyone does. But how much money do you need to live a good life with your girl? Not Alma, the girl you love."

"Ah…I don't know. I just…I mean, I only have a salary, Anson. I'm an associate lawyer in my daddy's firm."

"I'm guessing you pull like, what, two hundred grand a year?"

He nodded. "About that."

"So, let's put this in perspective, yeah? With that kind of annual income, you're in the top five percent of earners in the United States. You think you can't have a good life with that kind of money?"

"My father will fire me."

"You a good lawyer, Tyler?"

"Yeah."

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