I had never heard my dad yell like that. "Dad, what did Mrs. Fitzgerald say?" I wasn't sure why I even asked. It was pretty clear.
"She said you lost your scholarship because you're sleeping with your professor." He pointed at James. "Didn't you think about that, Penny? Did either of you think of any of the consequences?!"
"I can get a job, Dad. I can pay the difference. I'll figure it out. Please just calm down."
"You know how we feel about you working during school. It's out of the question. You need to focus on your grades. Something that you've clearly put on the back burner recently."
I swallowed hard. It felt like he had slapped me.
"Mr. Taylor, the scholarship isn't an issue," James said. "I can pay the difference. I'd like to pay the difference."
"So you're going to start a thriving tech company and pay for my daughter's education? Do you have the necessaryfundsfor all that? What, do you have a wealthy family to fall back on? Are you just some rich, entitled kid that never grew up? That goes around screwing students because you think there are never any consequences? Well, we don't want your money. We don't want anything from you. Haven't you done enough?! Get the hell out of my house!"
"Dad!" I stood up beside James. How could he say that to him? He knew nothing about James.
I could see that James' couldn't keep his cool anymore. Mentioning his wealthy family was the last straw, even though my father didn't actually know he had a wealthy family. He had unintentionally hit a nerve. Something seemed to just snap.
"Mr. Taylor, you don't know anything about me. And it does not appear that you want to. Yes, I was your daughter's professor. Yes, I got divorced yesterday. Yes, I am not ready to get married today or tomorrow. But I have every intention of marrying your daughter. And I will provide for her. I want to provide for her. You don't have anything to worry about. Her future is secure. That is all you need to know."
I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. This couldn't be the end of the conversation. James couldn't just walk out right now. My dad was fuming.
"How could it possibly be secure?" my dad pressed. "You just ruined her education. And you ruined your own career. This is a scandal. No one's ever going to want to hire you or her."
"I don't need anyone to hire me. I told you, I'm starting my own company."
"You have no tech background. You're a communications professor."
"Working at the University of New Castle was not my career. I wanted to give back. It was never a permanent situation. I just needed a break. I needed to start over. I was doing a good thing there."
"A good thing?" my dad scoffed.
"Yes, a good thing." James' voice was louder than usual. "I founded my first tech company when I was 22 years old. Right after I graduated with honors from Harvard University. Blive Tech International. Maybe you've heard of it? It's a publicly traded Fortune 500 company. Well, I sold it last year for 2.8 billion dollars. I don't need to work another day in my life. Yourdaughter, our future children, and our grandchildren won't need to work a day in their lives if they don't want to."
2.8 billion dollars?I couldn't even conceptualize that much money.
James pushed his chair back under the table and looked down at me.
I could see the hurt on his face. The snap judgments that my father had made had stung. They had stung me too. I couldn't believe my dad had done that. I knew that losing the scholarship was a big deal. I wasn't naive. But I could work to make up the difference. I didn't mind working during school. What I did mind was that it suddenly felt like I had to choose between my parents and James. That was the hardest part of all. I didn't know how the afternoon would go. But I had never expected this. I wasn't a kid anymore. I had made the decision to be with James. And I wouldn't let my parents belittle him like this. He didn't deserve that. I took a deep breath and grabbed James' hand. "I think we should probably go."
I only saw it for a second. But it had definitely been there. A flash of relief. He hadn't expected me to choose him. I hated that he didn't believe in me. Or us. Hopefully this would be what he needed to finally understand that I wasn't just going to abandon him. He meant everything to me.
"Wait," my mom said, breaking her silence. "A break from what, James? Why did you need to start over?"
"I felt empty in New York. I needed a fresh start. Teaching helped with that. I wish that the circumstances had been different. But Penny is my fresh start. She made me feel whole again."
"I do understand," my mom said. She looked at my dad. "Penny was right. We were her age when we fell in love. I'd like to think that if the circumstances were different for us, we'd still be together. Please don't go, Penny." She paused and looked over at my dad. She gave him a pleading look. "Peter, say something."
"So that means your last name is Hunter?" my dad asked.
"Yes."
My dad sighed and sat down. "James Hunter, the founder of Blive Tech International. I didn't realize you had taken a sudden career change into teaching."
"I needed the change."
"You know, I actually own stock in your company."
"You do?"
