[Intro]
Pour whatever you're pouring. This takes exactly one glass.
You said make the case.
Sweetheart, making the case is the only thing I've never lost at.
So. On the record. Counsel for herself, opening now.
[Verse 1]
Let's start where you'd start, 'cause you'd start with the wreckage:
Three years ago I walked into your town running the only play I knew
And you met me at six feet out with a warm glass and a colder question
And carved me down to "what else" in front of God and the canapés.
I've billed a thousand hours since on that one question, honey.
Tonight I've finally got the answer. You're gonna want to sit down for it.
[Verse 2]
Here's what I am, appraised honest, no shine:
Fifteen years of deals that close. A mind that reads a room like a term sheet.
Every skill you'd ever rent — except I'm not for rent anymore, that's the amendment —
And one asset I acquired late, at cost, the expensive way:
nothing in the drawer. The kid taught me that one. I'll say it plain — the kid taught me.
I audited her books trying to find her angle, and the angle was the books were OPEN.
Took me a year to copy it. Best year I ever billed.
[Chorus]
Second chair — that's the ask, and I chose the words with care
Not the crown. Never the crown. I've seen the crown's invoice — the daily, forever — that's YOURS.
I'm asking to be counsel. Of counsel. The shark on the family's side of the glass.
You told me once you staff useful.
Well. Look at me, honey.
Staff me.
Second chair
(...I've never sat second in my life. I'm asking to. Weigh that.)
[Verse 3]
And here's my honest column, 'cause you'd smell anything less:
Yes, I wanted him. You knew before I did — your minion clocked me in a week.
And somewhere between the mountain and the morning I learned what he actually is:
not a man you get. A method you run. I run it now. Daily. Ask my boots.
What's left isn't wanting. It's — hell, I don't have a word that isn't yours already:
it's wanting a FAMILY that grades on loyalty instead of performance.
I've had the other kind. I was raised by the other kind.
I know exactly what you're offering, and I know what it costs, and I can PAY it.
[Verse 4]
So weigh us straight, 'cause you will anyway:
She's got the years and the heart and the clean books from birth — I'll stipulate all of it.
But she's twenty-six with the whole sky ahead, and I —
I just started being a person at thirty-four. This is the only door I want.
Send me to run Harrisburg and I'll run it flawless and you know it.
But you asked for my best case, so here's the closing line, off the record, one time:
I don't lose. And I'm standing here asking you to let me stop needing to.
[Outro]
Case rests.
No exhibits. First time for everything.
Take your time. I'll be at the bar, learning how waiting works.
The kid says you learn it from the best.
(...second chair. I'd take it. I'd keep it. I'd earn it.)
(...noted.)
The_SCAR
