Page 44 of Play to Win
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By Saturday, two days after she’d spent the night at his loft, Portia still hadn’t heard from Ethan. She’d thought about him constantly. About whether or not she’d done something wrong, or if his distance had something to do with that call he’d received from his ex-girlfriend the other night. All of the questions had culminated into a decision to take action.
Sunnydale was ready to be shown to perspective buyers. Portia had signed all the pertinent paperwork with Cynthia earlier this morning. The stagers that had been hired to fill the house with furniture that was sure to make it fly off the market, finished at the house just after five. And Portia’s revised book tour schedule had just arrived in her email box with new dates beginning on Thursday.
She climbed into her car and drove to Game Changers.
Portia had no idea what she planned to say to Ethan, just that she needed to say something. All those years ago when she’d left last time, she’d always felt as if she’d stolen away in the night. Too afraid to face everyone head-on in the light of day. Now, things were different—vastly different. If her time was up here, that was fine. She’d enjoyed the weeks of freedom and pleasure she’d experienced, but her life would go on. Except this time, she would be absolutely certain that this “thing” between her and Ethan Henley was over with once and for all.
With her bravado in place, a smile and a wave for Lance and Joy as she passed them on her way to the bar, Portia stepped right up to where Ethan stood. “Can we talk for a second?”
He looked surprised to see her with his neatly shaved low-cut beard and those startling green eyes that sometimes looked blue. Today they were more blue than green. Somber, she’d say if she had to give the way he was now staring at her a name.
“It won’t take long,” she continued when he looked as if he were about to make some excuse.
“Sure,” he said finally. “Give me a sec.”
She nodded. “I’ll just wait over here.”
“No,” Ethan told her. “We can talk upstairs. Go on up. I’ll be there as soon as I finish this order.”
Apparently, they weren’t going to talk down here in front of a bar full of customers. That probably made sense. It almost meant that this talk was going to be bigger than Portia had even planned. She walked up the stairs to the Sky Box private lounge area. It was dim up here since they apparently didn’t have any private parties booked tonight. Portia moved across the floor toward the restrooms where she knew the light switches were. As she flicked them on, she watched the room become illuminated and smiled at the fact that she’d known where things were up here. She knew because she’d been here a lot in the little over two weeks she’d been here. She’d helped set up for another event that had taken place since her first time being up here with Ethan a week ago and she’d cleaned the area with Joy and Camy so they wouldn’t be here all night.
“I’ve got fifteen minutes,” Ethan said.
The sound of his voice interrupted her thoughts about possibly belonging here with her newfound friends and Portia looked up to see him walking towards her.
“If this is about me not being around the last couple of days, we’ve just been really swamped here. College kids and their families are coming in and Labor Day festivities are getting ready to take place. It’s just been really crowded,” he said.
He’d stopped a few feet away from her, folding his arms over his chest as he stared at her.
“That’s great,” Portia said. “This place is thriving. It’s going to be a big success in town, regardless of the Council’s wariness. They’ll never argue with the revenue the bar is bringing into the town. With Lance’s idea to bring in entertainment, the hotels in the area will see an uptick in reservations. The souvenir and specialty shops down on Main Street will also have increased business. It’s a win-win for everyone,” she told him.
“You sound like Del and Noah. Each of you have an eye for business,” Ethan said.
“I’ve taken a few classes over the years,” she said. “I even thought about going back to get an MBA. I don’t plan on doing videos or writing instructional books forever. But I do like being an entrepreneur.”
“You do it well,” Ethan said.
“I do,” she agreed. “So, are we finished? I mean, what we were doing. Is it over? It’s fine if it is, I just wanted to get clarification this time around.”
He at least had the decency not to look startled by her question. He had to have been thinking about this being the topic of conversation. She wondered if that were part of the reason he’d simply steered clear of her the past two days.
“To be honest, Portia, I don’t know what we were doing. I mean, it started out as one thing—us toying around with the ideas from your book. But somewhere along the way, that changed pretty fast.”
She nodded. “It did.”
“And I don’t know if that was for the better. I mean, you have your life in Seattle and I have mine here.”
So it was going to be a distance issue. That was understandable.
“You’re absolutely right. Long distance relationships never work. Glad we had a chance to clear the air. I have just a few things to tie up here and then I’ll be leaving.” The bravado she normally prided herself on was shot to hell, so she walked away. Staring at him while accepting what they had was really over was a little harder than she’d anticipated. The really hard part was acknowledging that Ethan wasn’t going to step in front of her to stop her from leaving. The last time she hadn’t given him a chance. This time he was making a choice.
“I can’t do this, Portia,” Ethan said quietly. “I need you to understand that it’s not you or anything you did. This is all me.”
She froze when he spoke, then snapped, “Cliché. I expected more from you, Ethan.”
Actually, Portia had just expected more. She’d allowed herself to believe that they were moving toward something, when she should’ve known better. “I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with, Ethan.”
