She realized that her taking the car would strand James at the gala. Perfect.
“Yes, would you mind taking me to the hotel?”
“Of course not,” he said, motioning to open his door.
“No, please, it’s okay – I can let myself in. Thanks Reg.”
She got into the back seat, looking over her shoulder to be sure James hadn’t followed her.
She slid into the backseat and let out a sigh. She couldn’t process her emotions. It was still too fresh for her to examine, so instead she pushed it out of her mind.
What she did know was that she couldn’t stand to look at James again, especially if he tried to come by with some big apology. She felt trapped, though. She had no way of getting back home to Lansing.
Except…there was one way to get home.
She made a call to Greg.
He answered on the first ring. “Hey sister, how’s it hanging? Did we win?”
“Hey Greg,” she replied. “No, we didn’t.”
He groaned. “I’m sorry Jules.”
“Please, don’t be,” she said. “You did an amazing job editing the videos. And it’s really not your fault. It was James’ fault.”
“Oh come on,” said Greg with a laugh. “He isn’t that bad. You can’t blame everything on him all the time.”
Juliet realized she was clenching her jaw and forced herself to relax.
“Yes I can, because apparently, he met with someone from the company last week to try to cheat. He wanted to find out what the judges were looking for in the competition.”
Greg was silent for a moment before responding. “Okay, that is pretty bad. But are you sure that’s why you lost?”
“I can’t be sure,” she said quickly. She could feel her heart rate beginning to pick up again as she thought about it. “But the person who announced the winner personally came over to tell me that I was disqualified. She said that I should have disclosed that I was associated with Balin Labs.”
“Ah,” he said. “That all sounds…bad.”
“Yeah. And now I’m stuck in Chicago with James, despite the very inconvenient fact that I never want to see him again.”
“Right,” replied Greg. “He’s dead to me, too.”
Juliet let out a big breath. “It’s a mess. Anyways, Greg, I hate to ask this of you, but does Kerry still get those standby tickets from the airline that she works for?
“She does!”
“Is there any way that I could use one of them to get a flight back to Lansing? Or Detroit?”
Greg didn’t hesitate. “Definitely. We have so many of those, and I’ve been begging you to use one for years.”
Juliet laughed. “I was waiting until I really needed it.”
“Clearly. Okay, give me a few minutes and I’ll find out if there any open seats. When do you want to go?”
“As soon as possible.”
“Alright then,” he replied in an airy tone. “Let me call you back in a bit.”
“Thanks so much Greg. I really appreciate it.”
She arrived at the hotel and asked Reggie if he would mind waiting for her while she packed her things.
“I’m at your service,” he said. “Please take your time.”
Why was he so nice? “Thank you, I’ll be right back.”
A hotel employee rushed to open the door for her, saying, “Welcome back Mrs. Balin.”
Mrs. Balin! Did James put her down as his wife? It didn’t matter. Whatever.
“Hi, how are you?”
“I’m doing very well. Is there anything that I can do for you?”
“No, thank you. I’m just heading back to my room.”
“Very good Miss.”
She paused. “Actually, I think I may have lost my key.”
“I can help with that,” he said, darting to the front desk to have another key printed.
Juliet stifled a laugh. This was all so ridiculous. The dress, the driver, all of these people acting like she was important.
She wasn’t important. She didn’t even have enough money to rent a car to drive home. She definitely didn’t have enough money to stay at this hotel, and she failed achieving the one single goal that she set for herself.
The employee handed her a new key. “Is there anything else that I can get for you?”
“No, thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”
She got into the elevator, feeling a bit scattered, as though James could appear at any moment. Surprisingly, he hadn’t tried to call or text her. Maybe he didn’t have service. Or maybe he was coming up with another dumb scheme to win her back.
It didn’t matter. It wasn’t going to work.
She opened the door to her suite and made sure to lock it behind her. She felt exhausted, but she didn’t want to sit down on the off chance that James was on his way.
Luckily, her room was empty, so she could slip out of the dress and get back into her comfortable clothes. As she threw things back into her bag, her phone rang.
She froze before peering over to see who it was. It was just Greg.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Hey. I’ve got good news,” he said. “There’s a flight leaving Midway in two hours. It’ll bring you right into Lansing. Do you think that you can make it?”
“Definitely,” she said as she zipped up her bag.
“Okay good. It looks like there are six open seats and only one other standby passenger is listed. I’d say you’ve got a pretty good shot to get onto the flight.”
“Thank you so much Greg, I can’t tell you how much of a lifesaver you are. I swear that I’ll pay you back for the standby ticket.”
He laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. It was like $20. Consider it a gift.”
“I really don’t – ”
“Or consider it a consolation prize.”
She shook her head, even though he couldn’t see her. “I will send you the money, okay?”
“Fine,” he relented. “Have a good flight! Let me know if you don’t make it, I’ll find another one.”
“Thanks Greg.”
Juliet ended the call and set a reminder on her phone to send a check to Greg and Kerry. Then, she picked up her bag and headed back downstairs; Reggie was still waiting for her.
“Hey Reg – would you mind taking me to Midway Airport?”
“It’d be my pleasure,” he said as he opened the door for her.
There wasn’t any traffic and she managed to get to the airport in half an hour. She thanked Reggie before heading inside to ticketing.
Her standby ticket was waiting for her there, and she got through security quickly. It wasn’t until after she got a coffee that she allowed herself a moment to think.
As she sat in front of the gate, she sipped on the coffee and closed her eyes. Somehow she’d managed to avoid seeing James all this time. Hopefully, Reggie wouldn’t tattle on her and tell him where she was.
It didn’t matter, though. Her flight was supposed to start boarding soon, and she could go back to her apartment and lock the door so that he could never speak to her again.
That was what she wanted, wasn’t it? She wanted an excuse to never speak to him again. She finally had it. He messed up so royally this time that he couldn’t expect her to forgive him again.
Yet…why did she feel sad? It was more than just losing the money to save the clinic – though that made her exceedingly sad.
Juliet rubbed her face in her hands, but quickly pulled away when she remembered that she was wearing makeup.
“Oh shoot,” she said, examining the black mascara smeared on her fingers. She delicately tried to wipe off the smudges around her eyes.
How was she supposed to feel? This whole thing with James was a fantasy. Just like when she dated him before, it was silly to believe that two people who were so different could ever make it work. It was silly of her to even entertain the idea.
Juliet was angry at him, and not just because he sabotaged her entry. It was everything about him and e
verything that he did.
He acted like he was different. He tried to be cute by buying all of those Combos and ginger ales; he apologized and made her laugh and joked about crying in front of his fireplace.
And for what? Just so he could remind her that every time she risked opening her heart, it was a mistake? That someone could pretend to be good, and kind, and generous and still be a total selfish jerk who always thinks he’s right and ruins the only thing you care about?
Juliet felt tears rushing to her eyes. How could she have been so foolish to trust him again?
She took a deep breath and bit her lip. She was not going to cry over James Balin.
Not again.
He simply wasn’t worth her tears.
Chapter 24
“I’ve never actually been up here before,” said Brad.
“Yeah,” responded James. “Now you can see that it’s nothing special.”
They were on the 45th floor waiting outside of the boardroom meeting. When James initially called his dad about needing to present to the board, he was met with resistance.
“You fall off the face of the earth for weeks and expect to come back in, no questions asked?”
“I’ve been working on something big,” said James. It wasn’t worth getting into an argument. “Do you want to see it or not?”
“Make it good. This is your only chance.”
The line cut out. James knew that his dad hung up on him. He knew his dad was angry. He didn’t care – his only goal was to make sure that Juliet’s clinic was funded. One way or another, he would achieve this goal.
They could hear laughter and voices from inside the boardroom, but they couldn’t make out what was being said. James knew what his dad was doing – he was purposely keeping him waiting to teach him his place. James wouldn’t let it rattle him.
After waiting for 40 minutes, the door finally opened.
Brad looked at him with wide eyes. “Are we up?”
James nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll do most of the talking. Except for when some legitimate science comes up – you know, the stuff that actually matters.”
Brad laughed nervously. “I can definitely speak to the science.”
“That’ll be perfect.”
“Hello everyone,” James said as they walked into the board room.
“Hey Jimmy, long time no see,” responded Eric.
“Good to see you, Eric.”
James ignored the nickname. Eric was trying to push his buttons – obviously, he took his lead from the boss. James didn’t take it personally. He ignored their chatter as he connected his laptop to the projector. It only took him a few minutes to get his presentation loaded; Brad handed out packets that contained all of the slides and background numbers.
He cleared his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen of the board – and Dad.”
The room rippled with laughter.
James continued. “I’m here to present an overview of a new opportunity that stands to bring in an additional $40 million to Balin Labs next year.”
He clicked the button on the projector to go to the first slide that read, “Untapped Opportunity.”
“I’m sure you’re asking yourself how I’m going to do that. Is it developing a new drug? Exploring a new disease state? Or, do I plan to rob a bank?”
Everyone in the room, except for his dad, chuckled.
He clicked to the next slide. “None of the above. My proposal requires minimal investment up front for a projected $300 million in revenue over the next five years.”
With another click, Juliet’s Delicaid video started playing. It was the shorter version – only three minutes long – and it gave James the opportunity to study the faces of the board members as they watched.
When the video was complete, Beverly, the only female member of the board, spoke first. “James, did you forget what company you work for?”
Everyone laughed. Good. They were still engaged.
“I didn’t. What you just watched was an entry into a competition that the makers of Delicaid pulled off brilliantly. Their drug, which is mechanistically similar to our Tremibade product, has been used to treat cancer in a variety of animal species for the last seven years.”
James surveyed the room for a moment. The laughter was replaced with expressions ranging from skepticism to interest.
“This is the part where I need to step aside,” said James. “I’d like to introduce Brad Michelson, one of our top scientists. He’s been involved with the development of Tremibade since the beginning. He’s here to discuss the potential of the drug, and hopefully he won’t confuse you too much.”
Brad nodded enthusiastically. “Hopefully I won’t confuse you at all. Now, what you need to understand about the basic pharmacokinetics of both of these drugs…”
James watched as Brad gave a high-level summary of the mechanisms of both drugs. Earlier that week, James made Brad practice his part of the presentation.
“You have to dumb it down enough,” James advised, “so that even I can understand it.”
It turned out that Brad overestimated James. It took four tries to finally get the presentation down to a dumb enough level.
“Are you sure they won’t be insulted by this?” asked Brad.
James shook his head. “Trust me. They barely understand how any of these drugs work. I would know.”
Brad got to the part of the presentation where some of the numbers expanded on the screen. Everyone in the audience let out an audible, “Wow.”
Well, except James’ father. He was as stony faced as ever.
James didn’t let it deter him. It was time for him to conclude the presentation. He knew from experience that keeping it under 15 minutes was their best bet.
“Thanks Brad. And finally, I’ve got some numbers that show the projections for the demand of the drug. You can also find these in your packets.”
“How would you propose that we would even implement something of this size?” asked Beverly.
James smiled. “Thank you for that question, I was hoping someone would ask that. As I’m sure you’re all aware, veterinarians are able to prescribe medications once they are approved in humans. My plan, which starts on page 18 of your packet, details how we would incentivize veterinarians to not only use our drug in their patients but also to report the data that they collect.”
“What kind of data?” asked Eric.
“Once we get through some initial safety testing, we can expand the number of clinics and get survival times, adverse effects, everything.”
The board members turned and quietly murmured to one another, flipping through the pages of the packets. The room became animated again, and James’ spirits lifted.
His father did not touch his packet. “James, I need to see you in my office.”
“Thanks everyone, I’ll be back soon,” James said graciously.
He followed his dad out of the board room and into an office three doors down.
When the door was closed, his dad turned to him. “What in the world do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m finding new areas of revenue for the business. Isn’t that something you wanted?”
His dad slammed the packet onto his desk. “Don’t be cute with me. I know what this is about. You’ve been running around with that girl again and she’s got your head all twisted.”
James pulled away. “That girl?”
“The veterinarian. Why can’t you just let her go?”
“Have you been spying on me?”
“It’s not spying when the future leader of my company is getting into car accidents in my car because his girlfriend told him to.”
James felt like he’d been slapped in the face. “Excuse me? Is that what you think this is about?”
“Of course it is,” he spat back.
“You wanted me to be serious – ”
“Yeah, I want you to get serious about this company. Not this nonsense.”
“The board didn’t
seem to think it was nonsense,” retorted James.
“The board didn’t start this company.”
James could see that there was a vein popping out of his dad’s head. “Whatever you want to do, Dad. I’m just presenting some ideas.”
“And if you think you can sneak in some project to save your girlfriend’s failure of a clinic, you need to think again.”
“Is that what this is about to you? Making sure that I’m never happy?”
“This is nonsense!” he yelled. “You’re behaving like a lovesick teenager. Get back to what you’re good at. Sales.”
James crossed his arms. “I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t like my new idea. Unfortunately, I won’t be getting back to sales. Today is my last day at the company.”
“Oh, so now you’re going to throw a tantrum to get your way? Typical.”
“I’m not throwing a tantrum,” James said calmly. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I’m never going to be good enough for you. I’m never going to be happy here. So I’m moving on with my life.”
His dad scoffed. “Moving on? Well good luck with that, you’re not getting a penny from me.”
“That’s fine,” said James. “Tomorrow morning I’m selling all of my shares in Balin Labs.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m just letting you know,” James said softly.
His dad pointed a finger at him. “You’re going to tank our stock prices. I can see the headlines now – ‘Heir to Balin Labs’ Fortune Dumps Stock.’ Can you imagine?”
James shrugged. “I can just sell a quarter of them tomorrow, if you prefer, and the rest in the weeks to come. You’re welcome to buy them.”
“I’m welcome to buy them!” his dad said, throwing his hands up and turning to look out the window. “This is what I get for spoiling you. You’ve always been ungrateful. I’m not talking to you when you’re acting like this.”
“Goodbye Dad,” James said before turning to leave.
As disappointed as he was by his dad’s reaction, he wasn’t surprised. He had to move quickly to enact Plan B. He picked up his phone and dialed.
“Hey, Marie? Looks like I’m going to need that favor.”
Veterinarian's Date with a Billionaire Page 15
