Juliet laughed. “I highly doubt that.”
He shot her a mischievous look. “Oh, you’d be surprised. I’ve been nothing but a stream of disappointments to him for the last five years.”
“He always had high standards,” Juliet said with a shrug.
“Yeah, and I never should’ve tried to meet them in the first place. I never should’ve set foot in New York. I just should have done what I wanted to do with my life.”
Wow. She’d never heard James talk like this. When they were both in college, his thoughts on success were very different. There was no reasoning with him – it was almost as though his sanity depended on convincing his dad that he had some worth and could run the company.
As much as her own parents yelled and carried on, they always were proud of everything that she and her brother did. James never once had his father’s approval, and he never stopped chasing it.
“I thought you were doing what you wanted? You wanted to be a successful businessman. And I’d say you’re pretty successful.”
“I wanted to be a zookeeper like Steve Irwin, and you know it,” he said without looking away from the road. “My dad always thought that was some kind of a silly childhood dream, though. I believed him, so I decided that it was, too.”
“And it wasn’t?”
“It’s one of the only two things that I can’t stop thinking about. I use every business trip to go to a new zoo. I’ve been to 36 different zoos in the United States, and four zoos in Europe. More and more I find myself daydreaming during meetings about being outside in a pair of khaki shorts.” James laughed, shaking his head. “I know it sounds wacky. But I can’t tell anyone this, they’ll think I’m crazy and the stock price of the company will probably plummet.”
“Well if you randomly told them that you wanted to wrestle crocodiles, they might think you’re crazy. And they might be right.”
“Crikey, isn’t she a beauty?” James replied in his best Australian accent.
“Still working on that accent, huh?”
He sighed. “I mean what I said. Seeing you after all these years, still doing the right thing, still doing what you think is important. I just feel like I wasted the last five years of my life.”
This was getting a little too heavy. Juliet didn’t need to play James’ therapist, or hear him say any more nice things about her. She had a fleeting feeling that he might be trying to manipulate her – but no, it seemed too genuine. She had no idea where it was all coming from.
“I don’t know what to tell you, James. If you don’t like your life, change it.”
“It’s not that simple.”
She flipped on the radio. “It is that simple. It’s just not easy.”
They rode along in silence for a few minutes. James seemed lost in thought. Juliet took the opportunity to check the weather for their upcoming drive. It was a long drive, and a snowstorm was supposed to hit the Cleveland area pretty hard during the last two hours of their drive.
“Maybe we should stop early and wait out the storm,” said Juliet.
James made a face. “Nah, we’ll be fine.”
Four hours into their drive, things were definitely not fine. Almost four inches of snow accumulated in a matter of hours and the highway was completely white. Most drivers were staying in the right lane, driving slowly with their flashers on.
Not James. He insisted on staying in the left lane, passing the rest of the cars.
“They’re going so slow that they’re actually being hazards. You can’t drive that slow in the snow,” he reasoned. “You can get stuck.”
“They’re going at least 20 or 30 miles an hour. That’s plenty of speed to not get stuck,” Juliet snapped. “It’s getting worse by the minute. Let’s just pull over and find somewhere to wait out the night.”
“Trust me, this car can handle the snow.”
“I’m not someone who cowers at an inch of snow,” she said, her voice rising. “But I’m telling you, road conditions are only going to get worse. We don’t need to get to Cleveland tonight, we can get there in the morning after they’ve had some time to clear the roads.”
“I’m going to get you there on time,” he replied.
“This is ridiculous.” She firmly crossed her arms on her chest. She held them so tightly that there were deep red marks on her skin.
“Watch out,” she said, “this truck on the right is being really aggressive.”
Almost as though on cue, the black pickup truck cut in front of them. The back end of the truck drifted too far and the driver tried to correct it – first right, then left, then right again. Each swing of the vehicle was more extreme than the last, and finally, the driver lost control completely, spinning sideways and blocking both lanes.
“Not good, not good,” yelled James. There were three more cars ahead of them now also trapped in the mess; James quickly turned the steering wheel to the left.
At first, he was successful in avoiding the other cars and the bits of broken-off plastic bumpers. The Porsche did well, tearing through a snowy embankment, until another car smashed into it from behind, causing a tailspin.
Juliet heard herself screaming, but in a moment, their car was stopped, pushed off to the side, with the front of the car nestled into a pile of snow.
“Are you okay?” asked James.
The seatbelt had held her firmly in place, and though startled, Juliet didn’t feel pain anywhere.
“Yeah, I think I am. Are you?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He peered out of the window, straining his neck. “It looks like there are at least ten cars that slid off the road.”
Juliet rubbed her face in her hands. If he’d listened to her, they could’ve avoided this entire situation. What if someone was really hurt back there?
It seemed that at least for now, all of the cars were stopped along the highway and no one else could blast through and hit them. She pulled out her phone, dialed 911, and got out of the car without saying another word to James.
Chapter 12
This was bad. This was very bad.
James looked out of the window and saw Juliet popping her head into the car behind them.
He groaned and rubbed his face. Just when things were starting to go well, he blew it. Somehow the airbags didn’t deploy – they must not have been hit that hard. Just hard enough to lose control.
It didn’t look like anyone’s car was terribly damaged, but there were several cars forced off of the road. Maybe they’d all hit an icy patch?
Of course he didn’t expect all of that to happen. Of course it would be when Juliet was finally talking to him – he even got her to stop crying.
They were supposed to meet the next group of pets early in the morning, so James wanted to be sure that he got to the hotel with plenty of time. He really thought that he was doing a good thing for their cause. Clearly he was wrong.
He got out of the car and caught up to Juliet. “Hey – is everyone okay?”
She responded by pulling up the hood of her jacket and walking away. Clearly she didn’t want to talk. James still walked with her from car to car.
Two police officers arrived on the scene fairly quickly. Juliet spoke to one of them, letting them know that so far, she hadn’t seen anyone seriously injured.
The second officer came up to James and said, with a laugh, “Look at that fancy Porsche all banged up.”
“Yeah, it’s a shame,” said James. He wasn’t going to admit to owning it while the officer was making fun of the damage.
A third police officer joined them. “That car was reported stolen. Just ran the plates.”
Huh. Now James really didn’t plan on telling him that the Porsche was his. Clearly his dad was still salty about the lost investor, but reporting the car stolen was taking it too far.
“Well,” said the officer, “the storm isn’t supposed to let up for another four hours or so. We can drive all of you to a nearby hotel and you can reassess your cars in the morning.”
“That would be wonderful,” said James. He spotted Juliet, who was making a beeline for the Porsche. He almost fell over running towards her.
“Juliet, I need a word with you please,” he said.
She ignored him, as usual. He had no choice but to step in front of her.
“Listen, we have a bit of a complication. Apparently my dad reported the Porsche as stolen.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. “What!”
“You have to keep your voice down. And we can’t get anything from the car, this other officer said that he would give us a ride to a hotel. We can come back in the morning for everything once I sort things out with my dad.”
She crossed her arms. “We can’t leave the camera in the car overnight, it’ll be cold and might break.”
“No it won’t,” said James. Truth be told, he had no idea if that was true.
“And what if it does? And we lose all of the footage? Or they put it into evidence and lock it away forever?”
James groaned. “But if we go back to the car they’ll see –”
“I don’t care! I’m getting the camera!”
She brushed past him; he reached out and grabbed her elbow. “Okay, listen, I need you to distract them. Then I’ll go and grab our stuff.”
“No! That’s ridiculous. Just call your dad and get it straightened out.”
“That won’t work, because he will tell them to arrest me. I really don’t want to spend the night in the county jail.”
“Maybe it would do you some good.”
“It might,” he said, lowering his voice, “but you’ll be charged as an accessory to grand theft auto.”
“Are you kidding me?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.
“Unfortunately, I’m not.”
Juliet gritted her teeth. Clearly, as much as she wanted to yell at him, she wanted to not be arrested more.
James leaned in. “I’ll be fast. Just walk like twenty feet away and fall over or something. They’ll all come running over.”
“That’s not going to work,” she hissed. “Why would they come over if I fell?”
“Because you’re a pretty woman, and it’s their duty to protect and serve. But also, and I can’t stress this enough, you’re a pretty woman.”
She turned around to look at the two remaining police officers – the other two were driving people to the hotel. She took a deep breath. “I can’t believe this. But fine, I’ll do it.”
“Thank you,” he said.
James made his way towards the Porsche as casually as he could. He kept an eye on Juliet, who walked past the officers, and then one, two, three cars away. Suddenly she slipped and let out a yelp.
Both of the officers looked up immediately.
Bingo.
They didn’t hesitate to rush toward her. James dropped to the ground and army crawled through the snow to the far side of the Porsche. He quietly opened the passenger door, reaching in only far enough to grab Juliet’s bag, her purse, and the camera bag. Unfortunately, his bag of clothes was in the trunk. He wasn’t going to risk getting caught for that.
He closed the door and peeked around the back of the car. The officers were facing away from him, so he stood up quickly and ran towards them.
“My darling, are you okay?” he said.
For the briefest moment, he saw the flash of anger in Juliet’s eyes. “Yes, I’m fine, thank you.”
Even though she was annoyed, she had to be nice to him. James couldn’t help it – he was going to enjoy this opportunity for the brief amount of time that he had it. He put an arm around her.
“I think my wife needs to get somewhere warm. Maybe we can take the next trip over to the hotel?”
“Of course,” said the officer. “I think Officer Gear will be back any minute.”
“That’s perfect,” said James, pulling Juliet in tightly.
As soon as the officers turned their backs, Juliet elbowed him in the ribs. He let out a puff of air.
That hurt, but it was still worth it.
Officer Gear arrived and was happy to drive them to a nearby La Quinta. Unfortunately for James, Juliet would not speak to him. Not when they got to the hotel, not when they booked their rooms, and not when he said goodnight after walking her to her door.
He knew that they were supposed to meet a group of dogs and their owners the next morning – he thought it was at 9 o’clock. That was going to be tough, because they couldn’t take his car. Well – they could try, but they might be arrested.
That wasn’t ideal, so he decided to call in a favor from one of his friends from work. The salesman had a coordinator on staff – Rachel. She helped them book flights, keep their calendars, and not mess up their schedules. He gave Rachel a call, and luckily she answered.
“Hey – I need a big favor. Can you get me a car in a snowstorm?”
“Of course,” she said casually. “Where are you?”
The next morning, James sent Juliet a text message at 6:30.
No response.
At seven he knocked on her door. She didn’t answer, but he could hear her moving around.
“Come on, I can hear you in there,” he said through the door.
Still no response.
“I fixed our car problem.”
The door flung open. “Oh yeah? Does it involve either of us having to post bail?”
“No.”
“I’m finding my own car, thank you,” she said. She closed the door in his face.
James stood there for a moment. He knew he deserved it, but she had to give him some credit.
“You won’t be able to rent a car before we need to be there. I have a car waiting in the parking lot.”
The door whipped open again. “Great. Give me the keys.”
“No, because you’ll leave me behind and I’ll be stranded.”
“Why don’t you go and reclaim your car from the police?” she said.
“Because I’ve still got work to do before I get arrested for the week!”
She scoffed. “You mean more cars to crash?”
“I am really sorry about that. I was driving perfectly safely until that truck lost control ahead of us.”
She nodded slowly. “Oh, right. It’s almost like I told you to go slower and get out of the left lane, but you didn’t, and we ended up in a crash.”
“But I didn’t cause us to – ”
She cut him off. “Not your fault, right James?”
He frowned. “That’s not fair, you know that wasn’t my fault.”
“Don’t you know that you’re supposed to drive expecting other people to do stupid things?”
“I do now!” he said, raising his voice.
She stuck out her hand. “I don’t believe you. Let me drive.”
“Only if you promise to take me with you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine, you can come. It’s the last stop anyways.”
“It is?” His heart fell. “Are you sure you don’t want to find some more people to talk to?”
“The video has to be submitted in two days and I’m lucky that Greg even agreed to edit this on such short notice.”
He didn’t expect their trip to end so abruptly. Or so badly.
“Okay, you can drive. Let’s go.”
Juliet didn’t budge. “Where’re the keys?”
“I don’t have them yet.”
“Do you even have a car?”
“Yes.” He paused. “I think so.”
She sighed, clearly weighing her options. “Let me make sure I have everything in my bag.”
Before he could answer, she closed the door on him again.
They checked out of the hotel and made their way to the parking lot. They were met by a man in a suit and white gloves. James cringed – Juliet wouldn’t appreciate the formality of it all. He handed James the keys to a Jaguar.
“Thank you,” James said before turning over the keys to Juliet. “I was told that this was the best winter driver they had a
vailable.”
Juliet nodded and made her way to the driver’s seat. James quickly rushed to the passenger seat to make sure that she didn’t drive off without him.
“Well,” she said once inside, “it’s a good thing you’re letting me drive.”
“Why?”
“Because this car is a stick shift. I guess you forgot to tell them that you can’t drive stick.”
“That detail did slip my mind,” he said with a smile.
She didn’t smile back before starting the engine.
They made it to the meeting place only 10 minutes late, which James didn’t think was too bad considering everything that happened, but Juliet felt terrible about making the dog owners wait.
This time, they met with a group of seven people whose dogs all had osteosarcoma. Since Juliet was no longer speaking to him, James had all morning to get to know everyone in the group. Each of the dogs had bone cancer in one of their legs and underwent an amputation and chemotherapy before getting Delicaid.
“We know from humans that bone cancer is one of the most painful cancers,” one of the owners, Sandy, explained to James. “Without the amputation, my Bella would’ve been unable to walk. In no time, the aggressive tumor would’ve destroyed so much of the bone in her back leg that it would’ve snapped it in half. And we would’ve had to put her down.”
“That’s awful,” said James. He watched as Bella, a three-legged German Shepherd, ducked and hopped, wrestling with another dog.
Sandy continued. “Even with the amputation and the chemo, the cancer is so aggressive that most dogs may not even make it a year. With the Delicaid, Bella has lived three years past her diagnosis.”
“That’s incredible!” said James.
Sandy smiled. “It’s been such a blessing. Such a blessing.”
They spent a total of four hours getting videos of the dogs and their owners. James couldn’t believe how full of life these three-legged dogs were. They ran, they jumped, they played. Some of them moved so fast that he couldn’t tell that they only had three legs until they stopped. It was amazing.
They got back to the car and Juliet decided to speak to him again. “I bought a bus ticket. I’m going back to Lansing tonight. I’d appreciate it if you could give me a ride to the station.”
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