Page 27 of Wrapped Up In You
“I mean, I make pretty decent tips.” He took a sip of his wine. “I actually do really well, if I’m being honest. But serving isn’t really a career.”
“If you make good money, why not? Do you enjoy it?”
“Yeah, I guess I do. I like people, and I like the challenge of trying to give folks a memorable experience. And I like that it’s never the same two days in a row.” He frowned as he twirled his wine glass on the counter. “But I have a degree in business. Shouldn’t I be using it?”
Jonathan from two days ago would have saidabsolutely. But now, I just wanted Hayden to do what made him happy and fuck what anyone else thought.
“Why did you go to college?”
He raised his eyes back to mine, confusion at the question written all over his face. “I don’t know. It was just always expected of me.”
“You said you changed majors a couple of times. What were they?”
“Marketing, economics for, like, one semester, and then I finished with business.”
“Did you enjoy any of that?”
“No. I hated all of it.”
“If you hated all of it, why did you pursue it?”
He looked at me like I was an idiot, like I should already know the answer. And I was pretty sure I did, but I wanted to hear it from him. No more assumptions. “I knew it was what my father wanted. And probably Mom too.”
“If you could have majored in anything else, what would you have done?”
He sipped his wine and thought for a moment, brow furrowed. “I honestly don’t know. Music, maybe? But I’m not sure studying that formally wouldn’t have sucked the fun out of it for me. I don’t mind taking lessons and practicing, but all that other stuff—taking tests, and I don’t know what else—would have made it feel like work.”
“Do you have to have a degree to be a musician?”
“I don’t know. Probably not.”
“So go for it. Be a musician if that’s what you want. But don’t allow yourself to be limited by what everyone else expects of you.”
He stared at me a moment, astonishment written on his features.
“That easy?”
“Well, probably not. I’m sure it’s fucking hard. But if it’s what you really want, it will be worth it.”
“Would you do it? Ditch the corporate whatever-it-is-that-you-do and go, I don’t know, own a goat farm in southern France?”
A laugh burst out of me at that. “Goat farm?”
“I don’t know.” There was laughter in his tone and a sparkle in his eye that I found so damn attractive. I wanted to chase his light to the ends of the earth. “I was trying to come up with something opposite of what you actually do.”
“I assure you I have no interest in becoming a goat farmer, though I wouldn’t mind a visit to the South of France.” I finished my wine and set the empty glass in front of me. Hayden reached back for the wine bottle and refilled our glasses as I continued, “I’m a corporate accountant, just like my father. And despite the fact that it was exactly what my father wanted for me, I actually like my job. Rules and numbers make sense to me.”
“It must be nice to be able to follow in your father’s footsteps. I’m sure he’s very proud of you.”
I scoffed. “You know how rigid and controlling he is. Everything has to be done his way and on his timetable. I don’t think I’ve done a thing to please him my entire life. The accountant thing was just expected, so what was there to be proud of? It wasn’t like I’d done anything extraordinary. I’m just lucky I ended up liking it.”
Hayden had paused with his wine glass lifted halfway to his face and was giving me an incredulous look.
“What?”
“You know you’re just like him, right? Or at least up until a couple of days ago, I thought so.”
“I am not.” This conversation was taking a turn I didn’t care for. We were supposed to be talking about him following his dreams.
