“Of course, I’d be happy to. Are you sure that you don’t want to – ”
“No. Just the bus station.”
He couldn’t argue with her. He didn’t know what to say after messing up so badly. Obviously any points he’d won up to now were lost. “Do you mind driving again?”
They drove in silence for twenty minutes. When they got to the station, she got out of the car, thanked him for his help, and walked through the front doors without looking back.
Chapter 13
Juliet took a seat in the lobby and pulled out her laptop. She had enough time before her bus arrived to connect to the internet and send the remaining videos to Greg.
There were a few problems that slowed her down, but she didn’t mind. Not only did it help fill the time she was waiting for the bus, it also took up all of her mental space.
Juliet typed out an email thanking Greg for editing the video together and then got on the bus for the seven hour ride. It wasn’t something she was looking forward to. She had a book in her bag, but it was a romance and she wasn’t in the mood for that.
She settled into her seat and thought that maybe she could take a nap for a few hours. This hope was quickly dashed when two college aged girls settled in behind her, chatting loudly and excitedly.
Juliet took a deep breath and closed her eyes anyway. Immediately, the image of the car spinning out of control flashed in her mind.
She opened her eyes and touched the spot on her shoulder where the seatbelt left a bruise. Maybe she should see her doctor when she got home? But she didn’t have time for that. She needed to get back to work.
Juliet pulled out her phone and decided to look at the news. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a story about their ten car pileup on the highway. It must be a common enough occurrence that no one cared.
A morbid curiosity got the better of her and she googled James’ name to see if there was a story on the news about him being arrested for stealing a car.
He was such a ridiculous human being. Not only did he almost kill her by driving like a maniac in the snow, he almost got her arrested! She couldn’t decide which was worse.
Clearly he didn’t realize how serious this all was. If she got arrested for a felony, she could’ve lost her veterinarian’s license. Also, someone could’ve been really hurt in that crash. Or the camera could have been destroyed!
What did he care? He had all the money in the world. He could buy himself a new camera or a new Porsche or a judge to get him out of jail.
Juliet let out a huff and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She told herself that she wasn’t going to obsess over James the whole way home. Yet she couldn’t think about anything else – why was that?
It wasn’t because she liked him. Definitely not that. They had fun on this trip, sure. A lot more fun than she expected to have. But he still ruined everything in the end because of his stubbornness and inability to accept fault.
She should have seen that coming. Maybe that’s what bothered her so much – she should’ve known better because she knew what James was like.
They dated for three years, and she’d been let down by him before. Why did she think this time would be any different?
Yeah, that was it. She was angry at herself for trusting him again. Even if it was just trusting him to drive her around safely, it was too much. He couldn’t even handle that responsibility. While she was angry at him, she was more so angry at herself. It felt like…well, it felt like the last year of the relationship all over again.
Their relationship started out like a cheesy romantic comedy. Initially, James sought out Juliet as his tutor. She couldn’t believe that she was going to tutor the James Balin in biology.
They’d never spoken in high school, so she was a bit afraid that he would be a jerk, but she took the job because she badly needed the money. Plus, at the very least, it’d be a good story to tell her friends. And when James turned out to be charming, and funny, and sweet…it made for more than a good story for her friends.
He was an avid animal lover, like she was, and he was enthralled by her plans to go to veterinary school. He asked her all kinds of questions about the process and what the classes would be like.
It wasn’t that he wanted to try to get into veterinary school, too – he admitted that he didn’t stand a chance because he was terrible at science. Despite this, he was a biology minor. It was one of the many things he did to try to impress his dad.
Nothing worked, of course, and James struggled to pass the classes. Luckily Juliet was a great tutor. She was so great that after one semester, James didn’t really need her anymore. She’d taught him how to study biology – her method was to make him explain the notes out loud with minimal peeking at the material. It was a trick she picked up in high school that ensured she fully understood what she was talking about.
She couldn’t help but develop a bit of a crush on him during tutoring, but never in a million years did she imagine that he would feel even remotely the same. So when she received a text message asking if she’d like to go to dinner, she was shocked.
At first, she assumed that he must need help with biology lab or something. She didn’t even tell her friends because she didn’t want them to tease her and say that he liked her when she knew that couldn’t possibly be true.
Yet he did like her. He told her that evening that he couldn’t stop thinking about her and missed spending time with her. All the while, Juliet felt like her head was spinning. She loved spending time with him too, but she never planned to say those words out loud.
The first six months of their relationship felt like a dream. James was an exceedingly thoughtful and attentive boyfriend. They had so much fun together, too. Things were perfect until he graduated and headed to New York City.
The bus pulled into a rest stop and Juliet was jarred from her thoughts. She didn’t realize they were already three hours into their journey. She decided to get out, stretch her legs, and maybe get a snack.
After stopping in the bathroom, she wandered into the gift shop to see what looked good. She paused in front of a huge display of Pringles.
Of course there would be a seven foot tall display of Pringles. They were James’ favorite.
She picked up a can of the sour cream and onion and allowed herself to feel a bit nostalgic. The last time that she had Pringles was on a bus ride a lot like this. She took a bus from Ann Arbor to New York City to visit James. He offered to buy her plane tickets, but she felt weird accepting something so expensive from him.
He’d always say, “What’s money worth anyways if you can’t spend it on someone you love?”
She never knew how to respond to that, so she’d just tell him she was sticking with the bus.
Juliet remembered feeling tense for most of the ride. It was long – fifteen hours – but she’d hoped to sleep for most of it since it was overnight.
She had little luck with that, though. She felt nervous about seeing James. Everything about the relationship changed when he moved to New York.
He spent most of his time working and they didn’t talk nearly as much as they did before. He made new friends that Juliet always felt uncomfortable around. Half of them were as career driven as he was, uninterested in talking about anything unless it related to making more money. The other half were these stunning woman who were convinced they were going to make it big as models.
Juliet never fully expressed how these people made her feel, because she couldn’t put her finger on it. It wasn’t until years later that she processed what bothered her so much.
The beautiful women made Juliet feel insecure – not because she was jealous, exactly, but because they were so sure of themselves and men always paid attention to them. Juliet never knew how to dress when she went out with them, though one would always make a patronizing comment like, “I love how you just go with casual.”
The rest of his friends couldn’t speak to her without making it obvious that it was a chore. Or that i
t was like talking to a little sibling, and they were only polite as long as they had to be before moving onto something more interesting.
They made it clear that she wasn’t one of them, and they did it with a smile.
Juliet picked up a can of sour cream and onion Pringles on her way to NYC on that last trip. She thought it would be sweet, especially because James said that he couldn’t find them in any stores around his apartment. It wasn’t the most exciting gift, but she figured it’d be the last time she’d make this particular bus trip – she’d gotten into veterinary school in Austin and James promised to transfer to the Austin branch of Balin Labs as soon as he could.
When he picked her up from the bus station, he surprised her with the news that he was having “a small get together” to celebrate his promotion at work. As other partygoers brought fancy champagne or artwork as gifts, Juliet showed up with that can of Pringles, like an idiot.
She had nothing appropriate to wear and as always, felt underdressed and awkward. James was busy welcoming people and making sure that the party was running smoothly. Juliet was pushed off in the corner of the kitchen, telling people where the ice bucket was. One of James’ friends from work, Logan, took a shift making polite conversation with her.
“It’s amazing that James has been promoted so quickly,” he commented.
Juliet smiled. “He is amazing. And it doesn’t hurt that his dad is the head of the company.”
“Oh – I wasn’t implying – ”
“No,” Juliet said quickly, “I didn’t mean that. We joke because his dad is so tough.”
“Right, right,” Logan replied. “He can probably afford to actually move to Manhattan now, though.”
Juliet laughed. “Well I’m sure that money will go a lot further in Austin.”
“Austin?” Logan turned to face her. She finally had his interest. “It’s going to be hard for him to be the lead salesman of the North Eastern territory from Texas.”
Of course. This party was supposed to celebrate his promotion – the one that kept him from keeping his promise to her.
“Oh,” she touched her forehead, trying to hide her reddening cheeks. “Right. What was I thinking?”
Logan gave her a stiff smile and excused himself.
The next hour of the party was a blur. James eventually came over to explain to Juliet how important the promotion was, and how moving to Austin now would jeopardize his career, and she would understand in the end, right?
She didn’t want to cry in public, so she refused to talk to him about it then. She was only able to tell him that she was shocked and disappointed.
He got a glint in his eye. “Well, before you get upset –”
He grabbed a glass, clinking a spoon on the side.
“Everyone,” he called out. “Can I have your attention for a moment?”
The room settled down.
“As excited as I am to be taking the next step with Balin, it doesn’t compare to how excited I feel to be with this beautiful woman. Juliet, you are the most wonderful person that I’ve ever met. I can’t imagine my life without you. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
He got down on one knee and pulled a ring box from his pocket. The women around them gasped – it was a huge stone. Ridiculous, even.
Juliet looked at him in horror. How could he do something as stupid as proposing to her in front of all these people? Though she was able to stave off the tears when she heard that he wouldn’t be moving as he’d promised, this was too much. Her vision started to blur – she ran from the room and out of his life forever.
Juliet set the can of Pringles back on the shelf. She was more of a Combos girl anyway.
Chapter 14
For an hour, James sat in the parking lot of the bus station. His reasoning was twofold – first, he wanted to make sure that Juliet’s bus came and she wouldn’t end up stranded. Second, he couldn’t drive stick shift, so he was stuck with the car until the company came to pick up both him and it. He finally decided to press the pickup request button on the dashboard.
Since he abandoned his bag in the Porsche, he wasn’t able to charge his phone and the battery was dead. It gave him an excuse not to call his dad for just a bit longer – he knew he’d get an earful about leaving the Porsche in the snow.
Without his phone to distract him, James sat there daydreaming and staring at the front doors to the bus station. People filed in and out, but Juliet remained inside.
When Neal, the driver, came to pick him up, James asked him to wait for just a minute as he checked the bus station lobby. It was possible that the snow might’ve canceled some of the bus routes and Juliet would be stranded in Cleveland.
Fortunately – or, unfortunately for James – Juliet was nowhere to be seen. Though he was glad that she was able to catch a bus, he was disappointed that he wouldn’t get to see her again.
Despite this hiccup, he was determined to get back in her good graces. He didn’t care if he had to quit his job at Balin Labs in order to show her that he was serious – all he cared about was winning her back.
Neal drove him to the main office and James was able to set aside his phone to charge. Since Neal still had two hours on the clock, James decided to treat him to dinner at the nearest restaurant that was still open – Red Lobster.
Despite being complete strangers, they had a lovely time. James learned that Neal started out as a used car salesman, eventually moving up to luxury car sales, and finally to this high-end business of catering to the whims of annoyingly rich people.
“I’ve got to say,” said Neal with a mouthful of biscuit, “you’re one of my favorite clients by far. You barely drove the car, you didn’t yell at my staff, and then you took me out for a romantic evening.”
James almost choked on his water. “You’ve been a lovely date.”
When they returned to the headquarters, James turned on his phone and was surprised to see that he had several missed calls from his dad. There was even a voicemail. Puzzled, James dialed in to listen to it.
“James,” it started out, “it’s Richard.”
He let out a sigh. Why couldn’t he ever get a message that said something simple like ‘Hey, it’s Dad, how are you?’
“My assistant tells me that the Porsche was involved in a multi-car pileup outside of Cleveland. Please, uh, give me a call as soon as you get this.”
Now that was something. His dad must’ve gotten a call from the police that his “stolen” car was discovered abandoned and damaged in the snow. Was James fooling himself, or did his dad sound concerned? That seemed about as close as his dad ever got to concerned. Or at least as close as he would show.
James had the petty thought of purposely not calling his dad back, just to make him sweat. That would show him! But he quickly dismissed it, knowing that it was cruel and wouldn’t achieve anything.
He dialed his dad’s cell phone number.
“Hello, Richard Balin speaking.”
Again with the formalities. He clearly saw James’ name pop up on the caller ID. Whatever.
“Hey Dad, it’s me.”
Richard cleared his throat. “Hold on a second, let me step out of this meeting.”
James waited almost a full minute as his dad gave a few last instructions before leaving whatever meeting he was in.
Finally, he said, “Okay, what’s up?”
Oh, so now that he knew that James wasn’t killed in a snowy crash, he was going to play cool?
James could play cool too. “I don’t know. I got your voicemail that you wanted me to call you.”
“Right. Yeah. I got a call about the Porsche.”
“The stolen one, you mean?” asked James, unable to keep the edge out of his voice.
There was a pause before his dad responded. “You left me no choice, taking off like that without a word.”
“Come on, Dad. You basically ran me out of the city, what was I supposed to do? Stay there and beg for your forgiveness?”
/> “You ran off to Cleveland, of all places.”
“Alright, well I don’t know if you were worried, but if you were, I’m okay. I’m going to leave the Porsche where it is so I don’t get arrested, which would cause problems for your company’s reputation.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” his dad responded in an even tone. “I told them that it wasn’t stolen, just that I didn’t know you’d borrowed it. It’s being repaired as we speak.”
James sighed. “Okay. Do you want me to drive it back, or are you having it shipped?”
“That’s fine, you can drive it. Take your time.”
“Thanks.” He waited – maybe his dad would say something nice?
James finally broke the silence, “Alright, well, have a good night.”
“You too.”
He ended the call and resisted the urge to throw his phone across the room. No wonder Juliet wanted nothing to do with him. The man on the other end of that call was supposed to be his role model, the one who was supposed to show him how to love and how to live his life well. No wonder James was such a disappointment.
It didn’t matter. That was in the past. James wasn’t going to let his dad define his life anymore – he’d allowed that to go on for too long. And what did he have to show for it?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He had a job where he’d clawed his way to the top by working crazy hours and traveling most of the year. His employees did the same, driven by their own misguided illusions as to what was important in life.
He drove fancy cars and lived in a fancy condo, sure, but he’d never actually wanted any of that. It brought him no joy. It was all just necessary to fuel the image of a successful businessman, training to take over a company that he didn’t care about.
Yet somehow, his dream of being a zookeeper is what his dad thought was crazy.
Veterinarian's Date with a Billionaire Page 9
