“Exactly. You needed to know, deep down, that you could survive entirely on your own. Stand on your own two feet without anyone’s safety net underneath you. That’s what real wealth actually is, Michael. Not the number sitting in some account. The knowledge that you’re capable of building an entire life without anyone’s help.”
“But you lived like this for three whole years. This tiny apartment. That old car. Clipping coupons at the grocery store.”
“And I was happy. Happier, honestly, than I ever was in that big house out in Newton, with the Mercedes in the driveway and the country club membership card in my wallet. This apartment is enough for me. That car is enough. I’m enough, without all the excess weighing me down.”
“The Bradfords learned a pretty valuable lesson today.”
“We all did,” I said. “They learned not to judge people by appearances. I learned not to judge people by assumptions I hadn’t bothered to test fairly. And you learned that your old man is apparently full of surprises.”
