Run, Girl (If You Can)

Violet dropped her dad off at home first because their building was fairly close to the hospital. She entreated him to take it easy for the rest of the day and he agreed before getting out of the car and taking his briefcase with him.

Jeremy moved up to the front seat as soon as Aaron vacated it, surprising her. He explained that it would be weird for her to act as his chauffeur since it was just the two of them. She couldn't argue with that logic.

"Where do you need to go?" she asked formally.

Despite hearing a lot about him over the past several years, Violet really didn't know this man and felt a bit awkward around him. The same thing happened any time she met someone new.

"Back to the office," he replied.

Back to the office even though he barely got into a car accident? This guy was even more of a workaholic than her mom! Though she supposed she was the same way. She poured her entire life and soul into dancing.

Funnily enough, most of the people in her life seemed to have this trait. Weren't most people supposed to view their jobs as simply that? A job? But all of the Hales loved their careers. Noah and his mother did too.

Although she had to admit that Uncle Cameron and Logan leaned more toward the societal norm. Noah's brother was currently a history major at NYU and he didn't seem to particularly enjoy it. He picked it because he had to pick something and it seemed less difficult than math. Or so he claimed.

Not everyone could be ambitious or passionate about their work. Other people poured passion into their hobbies. Still others didn't have any passion at all. Violet honestly couldn't even imagine living like that.

"Are you going back to work after this too?" Jeremy asked.

"Yes. Our new show is opening in two weeks and we need to be ready for it. I'll probably get chewed out for leaving when I get back even though I was gone for less than two hours," she said a bit ruefully.

Violet dreaded it already. The director was extremely strict.

She was lucky enough to be one of the dancers usually in his favor but he hated when people missed practice. Even if it was for emergencies. She wouldn't be excused from that even if he liked her.

"I'm sorry. I know you came for your dad but I feel slightly responsible since you would have made it back sooner if you didn't have to drop me off as well. Let me make it up to you somehow," Jeremy insisted.

Make it up to her somehow? That sounded an awful lot like an excuse to take her out on a date. Violet had heard that kind of pickup line before.

Like Noah said the other day, it had been a while since she had been on a date. It wasn't like she had anything to lose by accepting his offer. Doing this might help her form an actual impression of her father's assistant.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked.

"Dinner, maybe? I don't know anything about ballerina's diets," Jeremy admitted.

Violet nearly laughed. Nobody really did unless they lived with one. Her parents and brothers had long accepted her clean eating regimen imposed by the ballet company's dietician. Noah had too since she saw him nearly as often.

She ate small, simple meals or merely healthy snacks most of the time. Meat was a rare commodity and it always had to be white meat such as chicken or fish.

"You can buy me a smoothie after work," she offered. "There's a great smoothie place I know with really healthy low sugar options."

"Excellent," Jeremy replied with a smile. "I look forward to getting to know you better."

Her heart flip-flopped slightly at his words. It had been a long time since a man said something like that to her. She really had been single for too long.

When they reached Hale Investments he waved her off cheerfully after they exchanged phone numbers and thanked her for the ride. She headed back to the ballet studio in a bit of a daze.

As predicted, the director hadn't been happy. Violet had to explain that her father had been injured in a minor car accident and needed a ride home. He couldn't truly begrudge her that. But he did make her promise to make up the missed practice hours the next day.

She got lucky he didn't make her stay late tonight or she would miss her chance to go out with Jeremy. Who knows? He might end up being decent company once she got a better read on him.

Once rehearsals were over for the day Violet changed into a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a white tank top with a long buttonless tan cardigan. Jeremy had already seen her messy bun earlier so she left it alone after fiddling with it slightly. At least her makeup was intact.

They had texted on one of her breaks earlier to confirm the time. She was about to turn on her car and leave when she got a message from Noah.

'Want to have dinner at my place tonight? My mom is making grilled chicken'

Aunt Jen's grilled chicken was undeniably good so Violet turned it down a bit regretfully. 'Sorry, I already have dinner plans. That sounds delicious though. Rain check?'

His next message was immediate. 'With who?'

'My dad's assistant. They got into a car accident earlier and he felt bad I had to miss work to pick them up. He wanted to make it up to me somehow'

'Good luck making any sort of conversation with him. My dad says he's a programmed business bot' Noah replied with a laughing emoji.

Well, at least he wasn't upset she wouldn't be seeing him tonight. That totally sounded like something Uncle Cameron would say too. He should know since he worked just as closely with her dad as Jeremy did. They probably knew each other fairly well.

All Violet knew about the man was that he was devoted to his job and was very good at it. But there was more to people than their careers. Even workaholics had different sides to them at home. Her dad was the prime example of that.

'Guess I'll have to see. Either way, it's free food' she texted back.

'And you never turn down free food. We'll have to get together tomorrow then' Noah replied.

Violet frowned. Tomorrow probably wouldn't work either since she had two hours of rehearsal to make up. She told him as much and he said he would bring her dinner himself if he had to.

Ah, Noah was such a good friend.