Billion Dollar Man

Ben

“Don’t look so down,” Uncle Dean said. We were at the airport. I had already checked my bags, and my flight was leaving in less than an hour.

“I feel like I’m letting him down,” I said.

Uncle Dean shook his head. “You’re not. It’s not a crime to live your own dream. Even if that dream looks different than what your father would have wanted for you. He would have been proud of what you’ve done for the company.”

I nodded. My dad would have been proud. And it wasn’t like I hadn’t given it my all for the past six years. I had done everything my late father would have wanted me to do. But I hadn’t been happy. I hadn’t grown up dreaming I would be the CEO of a billion-dollar company.

“And he would have been even prouder of you for taking your life into your own hands and deciding where you want to go with it.”

I looked at Uncle Dean. He had been my dad’s business partner, owner of half of the company I had inherited when my dad and my stepmom had died in a plane crash. He had been there for me from day one, taking me under his wing and showing me the ropes.

And he had bought me out when he realized how miserable I had become away from home. He had become like family to me, and I was sad to leave him behind, but I wanted to go back to my friends and family. I wanted to get back on the track I had been on before my father died.