Page 13 of Play to Win
5
Portia was on her third trip from the house to the car and back. Because of the delay in meeting Cynthia and then Cynthia’s not so subtle suggestions that the house would make a much better profit if some renovations were made first, she and Sunny decided to scrap the plan of having movers come in and pack up the entire house and put everything in storage. Now, Portia was going to do most of the packing. She would ship some things to Sunny and put others in storage. The things she wanted to keep herself, she would ship to her apartment in Seattle.
As for the book tour, she wasn’t due to her next stop until next Tuesday which was five days away. Rodney Hankin had just left after assuring her that the updates Sunny had approved would be completed by then. Cynthia had proposed knocking down walls and changing paint colors, but Sunny had been…well, she’d been Sunny telling Cynthia via their conference call, what would and would not be changed. There would be fresh paint in all the rooms, new countertops and appliances in the kitchen, no walls would come down and landscapers could come and attack the overgrown shrubbery in the front and back.
Now, it was almost ten in the evening on Wednesday night and Portia desperately needed dinner and a shower before she could work on the outline for her next book. She carried a heavy bag in one hand and a file folder full of research in another. When she came to the screen door, she attempted to open it with the hand holding the bag. The broken handle moved and when she tried to overcompensate, the bag and her folder dropped to the ground. She cursed as she bent down to pick them up.
“Let me get that for you.”
She looked up to see Ethan running up the stairs to the porch and kneeling down in front of her. The wave of déjà vu came quick, making Portia dizzy with a mixture of surprise and expectation.Why was he here and why did a part of her feel so happy to see him again?
“I can get it.” She hurried to pick up the books and papers that had fallen out of the bag because she didn’t want Ethan to see them.
“I’m just trying to help, Portia.” She knew that and felt like a jerk for acting like he’d come to pounce on her or harass her in some way.
When she finished stuffing everything into the bag, she stood. “I know. Thanks.”
Ethan was standing across from her, looking as calmly sexy as always. Today’s jeans were a dark denim-wash but the red t-shirt was familiar from the other night. This time she noticed there were words embroidered in black script over the right pocket of the shirt. They read: Game Changers.
“You work at that restaurant near the interstate exit?” she asked.
He stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and stood with his legs partially spread. “Iownthe sports bar near the interstate exit.”
“Oh,” she replied. Ethan owned a sports bar. Of all the things she’d considered he might do in his adult life, that hadn’t been one of them.
With raised brows, he asked “Shocked?”
“Yes,” she said frankly. “You played football. They were talking about scholarships and possibly the NFL when you graduated.”
He was expected to go on to become a great college level wide receiver and then to be a top pick in the NFL draft. Portia had gone to every football game, watching in awe as he moved on the field and when he walked off. There wasn’t much she hadn’t known about Ethan while they were in high school, and nothing that hadn’t intrigued and endeared him to her even more.
He nodded slightly. “I went to college, studied criminal justice, graduated and went on to work for the Secret Service because I wanted to do more than run up and down the field for the rest of my life.”
There was a terseness to his tone, but she chose to ignore it. She hadn’t invited him here so if he was annoyed by her words or her presence, he could leave. That may have seemed unduly harsh, but she wasn’t going to be intimidated anymore.
“You could’ve been rich.” She tightened her grip on the handle of the bag and clamped her lips closed tightly. Money meant different things to different people. She’d known that Ethan lived at the group home because his parents were dead and he had no other family. That was part of the reason she’d thought if anyone deserved a free ride to college and a top NFL pick, it was Ethan.
He shrugged. “I wanted to help people more and for the record, I learned how to invest well, so I’m doing okay.”
“Right. I understand. Sure, you are. You own a restaurant. I’d say that was okay.” She’d also say she was babbling and that made her feel ridiculous. Portia took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Well, it was great catching up, but I need to get inside. I have some things to do.”
That wasn’t a lie. She had to finish packing up her room and some other things that Sunny wanted in storage. Her agent had also sent her an email asking her about the first chapters to her second book, so she needed to get started on that. She also wanted to get away from Ethan, again. After spending all her teen years pining for this guy, now she couldn’t stand to be in his presence. That wasn’t true. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be around Ethan. It was more like she didn’t know how to be around him.
“Yeah, I heard that you were going to be in town for a while. Fixing this place up so you can sell it,” he said.
He was looking around the porch now, to the handle on the screened door that was barely hanging on by a nail and the windows that needed to be reframed.
“I’m pretty handy. Noah and I did a lot of the work on The Lofts so I could help you out with some things. You know, free of charge,” he said.
Portia had seen The Lofts yesterday when she was driving around town looking for a UPS or FedEx store. She recalled the space used to be an old textile warehouse.
“Ah, thanks, but that’s okay. I’ve hired a contractor. Hankin and Sons.”
“Yeah, that’s Rod Hankin and his dad. They do good work. I’m sure they’ll take care of the big things, but if you need help with just hauling boxes or stuff like that, I can give you a hand.”
She opened her mouth to tell him again that she didn’t need the help, but didn’t want to sound ungrateful. She also didn’t want to appear needy, but she hadn’t invited Ethan here. He’d simply showed up on her doorstep. Like, he’d been showing up wherever she was since she’d been back in town. It was both annoying and confusing.
“And I also wanted to apologize to you, again.”
