Noah took a sip of his tonic water. He felt a little curl of relief, because May understood. "It's only luck that I wasn't chosen before. From what I understand, my name could have come up the week after her funeral. That would've been--" he paused, so many words tumbling through his mind, "--unfortunate for all concerned."
He tipped his head in acknowledgment of the massive understatement. Had such a thing happened, he would've refused outright, fought them on it, and ended up in prison and in re-education. It was a nightmarish thought. His mind and personality might not be the best, but they were his, and he was determined to keep them undamaged and unmolested by the state.
But luckily, it hadn't happened that way. "But it's happened now for the both of us, so we'll deal with it. I can't imagine that you are any more pleased with the situation than I am, but I trust that we can come to some sort of arrangement that will be" not satisfactory, no, "agreeable to both of us."