well aware that he had taken advantage of the situation, but it was hard not to. He’d been working on and off for his father since he finished school. It was mostly just a few hours here and there. His father paid him more than he would be getting paid anywhere else, and he hardly worked at all.
He kept promising his father that one day he would figure out what it was that he wanted with his life. But the truth was that he barely gave it any thought at all. Especially since, on the day of his twenty-fifth birthday, the money that his father had been putting away for him since his birth had finally been released to him.
James was now a billionaire without ever having to work for it. Deep down, he wondered why he ever had to work again. Of course, he never told his father that.
“I’ve been good, dad. I’ve been thinking about it. I have a few ideas, but right now I don’t want to start anything that I’m not completely sold on. I think I’d make a good businessman, though, don’t you think?” He flashed his father a big, toothy grin.
His father laughed, “James, you’d certainly look the part. But you can’t just be a businessman. You have to actually specialize in something. What are you most passionate about? That’s what you have to look at.”
I’m passionate about women and having fun, James thought immediately. He looked at his glass of orange juice as if pretending to be giving it a lot of thought. Then he looked up, “I don’t know, dad. Do you think I’ll ever know?”
“Of course you will. You’ll find your path. But you must be willing to work hard at it. To make it happen. I know you have that drive in you. I have always believed in you. Now, I hope you’re not going out and going crazy every night? I know you’re young, and I know you have money now – but you must also think about your future.”
“I’m not. I mean, I am going out. Of course I am. I’m still young, like you say. But I’m not going crazy.” Again, more lies.
“Good. And have you met anyone lately?”
“No. I’ve just been hanging out with the boys.”
“The boys! How are Elton, Marco, and Tom doing these days?” James had been friends with them for so long. They knew his father well and used to come over to the house often. Of course, they loved coming over to his house. James always had the best of everything, and his dad let him do whatever he wanted.
“They’re good. Elton actually asked that waitress out that he’s been going on about for so long. Which reminds me, I need to call him tomorrow to find out how it went. But otherwise, they’re all good.”
“You must bring them over for dinner next time. I’d love to see them.”
“I will. They’d love to come over. They know that Martha still cooks better than anyone they know.”
James sat with his father for the next half hour, just talking, and he felt a strange feeling of sadness come over him. His dad spoke mostly about his business, and James knew that it was because he had nothing else to really speak about. Since James had left the house, the only thing his father had done was work.
James had asked him once if he would ever re-marry, but his father said no and promptly changed the subject. James didn’t remember his mother very well. He was only eight years old when she died. When he did think about her, he mostly thought of the photos he had looked at growing up.
The one thing he knew for sure was that his father was completely in love with her. To the point where once she had died, he had sworn never to be with another woman ever again – and to this day he still felt the same way.
James wished that his father would meet someone, but he knew that it would never happen. Instead, his