by Grace Conley
She was looking at him, eyes serious and quiet.
“Ethan.”
“Sunshine.”
“Ethan.” She paused.
He looked at her, knowing it was wrong.
“Please, this weekend…please help me. Make love with me, just for this weekend. I won’t ask you for anything else, and no one needs to ever know. I just want to feel wanted by you this weekend. I promise you, no strings.”
He paused, realizing he needed to give her what she wanted, even if he wanted more. He couldn’t mess with a future with Ava. She was his kid sister’s best friend, and about to be a – he didn’t know exactly what the hell she was about to be, if her sister was marrying his brother. Some type of in-law, he guessed.
“I see,” he said.
“Do you?” she looked tenderly at him. “I couldn’t do anything to ruin Isabella’s engagement. I know you’re angry with Jake, and you’re right to be. But let’s let them live their lives together. She’s good for him, and he’ll be good for her.”
“It would be too weird for them to know we’ve been together.”
She looked unsure again, which stopped his heart. She pulled back, her eyes searching his.
“This is a mistake. Ethan, I’m so embarrassed. I’m so sorry!”
“Ava, no.”
She looked wildly around the room, eyes falling on the keys to the truck, hanging on a wooden peg by the door. Ava ran and snatched them up, eyes downcast and shoulders hunched.
“I – I need a few minutes, Ethan. I’m just going to sit outside in the truck.” She flung open the front door of the cabin and ran onto the sun porch, the screen door clattering behind her.
Ethan stood in shock for all of two seconds, then went after her. He made sure the door latched but didn’t lock behind him, and followed her to the truck, getting drenched in the process.
She sat in the passenger seat, sobbing. He let himself in the driver’s side and sat down quietly, just sitting next to her. They both looked forward, out into the darkness, fat raindrops pelting the car.
Finally, she spoke. Her voice came out with a hitch, “I’m so sorry.”
He spoke softly but firmly. “You don’t need to be sorry. And Ava, I would have no regrets about being with you this weekend whatsoever. For the record, I think you’re beautiful. Inside and out. And I think you deserve to be loved, and taken care of, and have someone cherish you. I’m not that man. But if you change your mind, I can make love to you, make you feel wanted. But I don’t want to do anything that would be the wrong thing for you.”
She sniffled, still looking straight forward.
“You’re my friend, Ava,” his words trailed off as he realized how wrong they were. He wanted her, and had for a long time. He tried to think back to when it actually happened, and couldn’t, which meant that he’d been jonesing for her for longer than he should ever admit publicly.
“You’re more than a friend,” he corrected.
“That’s just it. I’m about to be a relative.”
“Well. We still need to figure out exactly what we are to each other.”
She laughed.
“You and Jake have always been big brothers to me, as much as my own big brothers. But you…”
“But you have feelings for me.”
She looked down at her lap. “Yes, I do.”
“Ava.”
“Ethan, I know, you’re going to let me down easy. It’s okay. Just please don’t say anything to anyone. Please, for me.”
“Ava, come back inside the cabin. This is crazy, you can’t stay out here!”
“No.”
“Ava, you’re beautiful,” he said simply. “Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?”
He sat there, trying to figure out how honest to be. Should he tell her that he’d watched over her during design school, never telling anyone else? That he’d dreamed of her, never thinking she could be his?
He placed his hand on her cheek, turning her towards him, taking her mouth in a deep kiss.
Ethan pulled back, noticed she was panting a little, and pulled her over into his lap, their wet clothes an uncomfortable barrier.
“Inside,” he said deep into her ear.
“I want to stay right here,” she said.
“Inside,” he insisted.
“No, I’m staying with you.”
“So come inside the cabin and let me – I want to be inside you.” He said it so quietly he wasn’t sure she could even hear him, but she responded with another kiss.
“Tell me how to please you,” he said.
She shivered. “You do please me, believe me.”
“No, I want you to tell me. Come back inside, and tell me everything. Rebound sounds wrong. Let me – let me help. Let me stay with you. Let me help you know how beautiful you are, sunshine.”
“And our families?”
“They are all home, snug in their houses, staying out of this crazy damned storm. And I’d like to get you inside, keep you warm, have you feel loved.”
He hooked the fingers of one hand through belt loop on her jeans and gave a tug. “Let’s pretend, just for tonight. Come inside, Ava, and put on whatever’s in the pink-and-black bag. It’ll be just until morning, and we’ll never tell another soul.”
As soon as the words came out of Ethan’s mouth, he knew how wrong it was. How he was agreeing to make love to a woman that he loved, and couldn’t have. And what he was giving up, in order for her to function in her daily life around the friends and family they’d both grown up with. He could escape back up to San Francisco, hide out in his restaurant. She’d gone home, and had to face their loved ones every day.
He knew he was done for when she pulled back a little, her breath on his face as she cupped his jaw with her hands.
“All right then, Ethan,” she said, pressing her lips to his. “Let’s go back in. And let’s pretend. Just for the weekend. Just until we find out that Jake is on his way up to help us dig out.”
Chapter Five
“You think it has promise?” Ethan asked his business partner, Mitch Lewis, a tall, rain-thin finance guy and avid foodie with an easy grin and wavy brown hair that was just starting to need a cut.
Ethan and Mitch entered the historic old restaurant Norah’s with the “For Sale” sign in the middle of the downtown village of Heart’s Delight, greeted the owners, and took a seat on the worn leather banquettes at a side table.
In spite of Jake’s blanket offer to bankroll businesses for anyone named Fletcher, Ethan and Karma were dogged in their determination to make it on their own.
That’s why Ethan gave a middle finger salute to the giant silver towers of Fletcher Electronics that morning as he roared past them on his motorcycle, passing through Silicon Valley on his way to Heart’s Delight.
Besides, Mitch was a long-time friend and backed Musica, Ethan’s hot restaurant in San Francisco that won him his first Michelin star. Ethan was working on getting it to three stars, which would mean continuing his long hours and dedication to creating the perfect dining experience for his growing following of customers.
But he was willing to split his time for something. Ethan wanted a tie to his family roots, and to give something back to this beautiful small California town where he was raised, and where his heart remained. Something classy, which would attract the Silicon Valley families who continued to move South, but not so overtly fancy that old-timers would mind coming in for a meal.
“It’s pretty damned good so far,” said Mitch, eyeballing the interior of the main dining room at Norah’s from behind his thick glasses. “But I figure it would have to be, since you asked me to drive all the way down here this morning.”
Norah’s was a family restaurant that had been in business since the 1930’s, housed in an old Art Deco building in Heart’s Delight that had been a swanky night club back in the Roaring Twenties. The club shuttered overnight after the stock market crash, and just a few years later, the Wilson family t
ook it over and turned it into a restaurant. The family had worked in the restaurant business for generations, but the great-grandkids all had business and technology degrees and worked at software companies. Norah’s son and granddaughter still worked the family business, and they were ready to retire.
“So if you want to go back to the Art Deco motif, there’s a good salvage place up in Berkeley,” said Mitch slowly. “I’m thinking you want that.”
“I do,” said Ethan. “It’s kind of a love letter to someone. I want to take the building, update it, but honor the original period. And serve really, really great food.”
“Well, that’s your forte, Ethan, and I’m happy to help you get there with this one and get that next star. The kitchens, the booths, everything need updating, though. And we need to rip up this carpeting, see what’s underneath.”
Ethan thought about the name. He actually really liked the name Norah’s. He felt it had a lot of retro appeal, but would change it, of course. He needed to give the business his personal stamp, something that let diners know it was an Ethan Fletcher eatery and that they would be taken care of in his unique, exceptional way.
“A love letter,” he muttered.
“A love letter, huh?” Mitch looked at him keenly.
“Yeah.”
He let Mitch talk his ear off then, about numbers and needed improvements and due diligence about the types and numbers of folks that ate out in the South Bay.
Ethan straightened up. “Mitch, what I’m doing here is very specific. I was raised here, I get the clientele. There’s a growing market for eateries and other venues in town. There’s both the old vineyard and orchard-owning families, who all love good food. It’s in their blood. Then there’s all the married Silicon Valley commuters from the tech companies, who moved down here so they could have nicer homes and a good quality of life for their families. They eat out, a lot, and they’re used to San Francisco-level dining.”
He grew impassioned. “The downtown has got the small-town charm thing going, and the town council is backing a lot of improvements. We’ll get the permits we need from Planning. My…friend’s older brother is the mayor here, he’s my age and energetic and all about attracting a vibrant business community to the area. There will absolutely be support for a fine-dining establishment here.”
“You clearly love it here.”
“I do.”
“Enough to make the drive back-and-forth to San Francisco multiple times a week?”
“I’ve worked that out. Musica is clearly my first priority business-wise, so it’s Wednesday through Saturday in the City for the near future. And Sunday through Tuesday here. I’ll need to train an expert line staff. That’s nothing new, we have a great staff at Musica and we’ll build a great staff here.”
“I’m in. Ethan, I just wanted to hear you say that Musica was still your top priority. This is a cute small town and I can tell they’ve got a lot going on, but Napa or Mill Valley, they’re not. But I get wanting to have a second venture, and have it be out in a place near your dad, and where you can eventually have your own family.”
“Yeah.”
Ethan was still trying to make sense of everything. He felt more open than he had in years. He still mourned his mom, but he felt sorrow more than anger at his brother now.
Twin rivalry reared its ugly head for a moment. He needed to be smarter, more successful, a better man than Jake. But being the first two hadn’t gotten Jake to a better place in life, and Ethan figured neither was really the better man. They both had their faults.
He wasn’t a kid anymore. He was a man, and extremely successful in his own way, at twenty-seven. His brother might be a billionaire wunderkind, but he had a Michelin starred restaurant in one of the toughest restaurant markets in the U.S., and was about to open a new venture. He could stand proud on what he had done. Whether his twin thought he was successful or not no longer really mattered.
He cared about his life, his work. And he cared about his family, about Dad and Karma.
And Ava.
He felt like the biggest fool to ever grace the planet. It was over a week past their rainy weekend in his family’s mountain cabin. The flood waters had receded, people had broken open and raked the sandbags into their yards. Repairs were being done.
In Ethan’s case, he was ready for some emotional repair. He realized that he loved Ava, more than anything. And if she wanted to settle in Heart’s Delight, to build a life for herself where their families came from, he wanted that for her.
And with her.
He’d have to show her that he could come back from the big city, too. That he cared for his family.
And that he wanted her to be a part of his family, when the time was right.
“So you had this designer you wanted me to invite over,” stated Mitch flatly.
“Oh – yeah, right, I did,” said Ethan.
“I followed up with her. Was a little surprised you didn’t do it yourself, I have to say. And I already had an excellent mock up done by the place that did Musica,” shared Mitch. “But I have to say, when I called her in, Ava showed great promise. She’s some new grad you’re helping out, I take it?
“Yeah,” said Ethan. “Yeah, she is. So you talked to her?”
“Well, I was going to ask her to meet us up at Musica, but since she’s local, she said it would be better if she met with us in the space. Makes sense, she can talk us through the vision.”
“You mean, now?”
Mitch checked his watch. “Ten minutes. Which really means five, she’ll be early if she wants a job.”
Ava hadn’t returned his calls or texts after their weekend, responding only once that she needed to help her sister. Family came first, which he had to respect. The Maggianos were a tightly-knit clan.
More than anything, he wanted to show her that he was ready for that, ready to be a man she could depend on.
Ava came through the door then, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the darker interior.
She was dressed completely against type, in a simple beige colored suit with pearls, and cocoa-colored suede pumps. She strode forward and crisply shook both their hands, her eyes widening as Ethan’s and her hands touched.
“Ethan,” she nodded.
“Hi,” he managed, feeling stupid.
“So we all know one another now, great!” said Mitch, looking from Ethan to Ava. “Let’s have Ethan see this.”
Ava pulled out her portfolio and took them through her vision of a redefined restaurant space, at once elegant for the foodie crowd but also homey and comfortable.
“I’m not sure how you pulled that off, but I like it,” said Mitch.
“Ethan, what do you think?” she asked with quiet steel.
“I love it,” said Ethan.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Mitch looked from Ethan to Ava, then up to the ceiling. He cleared his throat.
“So, Ava,” he asked casually. “Did you by chance take French in high school?”
“French and Italian both,” she said. “I hoped to be able to travel and study. I still hope to.”
“Great, wonderful,” said Mitch. “So you know how to say ‘love letter’ in French?”
Ethan’s heart stopped as she looked in his eyes as Ava pronounced it for them, “billet doux.”
“Billet Doux,” said Mitch genially. “I think you found your name for this place, Ethan. And if I’m not mistaken, this is my cue to make my exit to my next appointment and let you two kids talk all about how brilliant it will be and make your plans.”
Mitch cleared his throat again as he straightened up and gathered up his notes. “I, uh, think this will be a great success,” he called as he made a speedy exit. “I’m in, Ethan. And I wish you both the best.”
“Love letter,” said Ava, gazing straight into Ethan’s eyes.
“Yeah, love letter,” said Ethan. “I told Mitch that opening this place would be a love letter to someone.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, I did,” said Ethan. “So you’d know, when you were ready.”
Ava smiled as she took his hand in her smaller one, “Ethan Fletcher, we have a lot to talk about. We’re going to need to figure out how to tell people. And together, we’re going to have to decide to just not worry about how they’ll respond. If they love us, in time they’ll come around.”
“But first, I think we should go home and that you should cook me dinner.”
Ethan moved quickly around the table and boxed her in to the banquette.
“I like to cook for my women,” he said, pulling her in for a kiss.
And when they kissed, they both knew it was the start of something amazing.
Their life was in front of them, together, in the small town of Heart’s Delight, California, where all their friends and family were.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Conley lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her engineer husband, two darling daughters, and three feisty-yet-adorable Scottish terriers. Grace writes both Young Adult and Contemporary Fiction. When she's not behind her computer, you can find Grace hiking through National Parks, obsessively reading the books of Nora Roberts and Kristan Higgins, and enjoying the quirks of living in a small town at the edge of Silicon Valley.
Find Grace at:
Website: www.graceconley.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GraceConleyAuthor