Half an hour later he was sitting across from Annie in the cafeteria. They had found a window seat and she’d finished showing him pictures of her grandchildren.
“Lucky kids,” he said, smiling.
She took a sip of her coffee. “Why don’t you tell me about you, Ethan? No wedding band I see. I would’ve thought you’d be married with a truckload of kids.”
He shook his head and put his coffee down. “Haven’t really made that a priority.”
“Hmm…as I recall you didn’t have a problem proposing to women or not taking no for an answer.”
Yeah, except he’d pissed off the only woman he’d ever propose to. “Well, I did find someone, but uh, I’m not really sure I can make it work.”
She leaned forward and gave him the same look she did when she suspected someone had been stealing Jell-O. “Can’t or won’t?”
He averted his gaze and focused on the Christmas tree in front of the window. “She has…ideals…”
“Usually that’s a trait people admire,” she said with a deep frown.
“I know. She reminds me of you.”
She wagged a finger at him. “Don’t go trying to charm me with your flattery. Tell me what you did so I can guide you back to her, Ethan.”
He laughed and groaned at the same time. He told her the details surrounding his father’s competition, and she sat there, silent for a long time.
“Did you tell your father what this would mean for you? For Allie?”
He knew she wouldn’t understand. “That’s irrelevant to him, Annie. Business and personal don’t mix.”
“So then, how are you feeling? Do you feel as though you made the right choice? You lied to a woman you love deeply, you made friends with the kids at the shelter, and then you backstabbed all of them by putting your own personal needs first. How is that working for you, Ethan?”
He ran his hands down his face. “Shit, Annie, you’re still a ball-breaker.”
She chucked a cookie at him. “You should have been back here to visit me sooner. I would have set you straight before you screwed everything up.”
He took a bite of the cookie she threw at him, not even enjoying it. He didn’t enjoy anything without Allie. He missed her in his house; he missed her in his bed. He missed visiting her at the shelter. Hell, he was miserable.
“Come follow me, and then I need to get back to my shift.”
They walked out the lobby and through the front doors. It was snowing, the day dark and damp. Annie was made of steel, barely a shiver as she walked to a quiet spot near a tall spruce. “Nothing like a snowy day, the anticipation of Christmas in the air,” she said, breathing deeply and looking up at the sky. Ethan didn’t want to tell her this was actually crap weather despite the time of year. He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Do you remember the prayer?” Annie asked after a few minutes of watching cars drive by.
His stomach dropped. He nodded.
She turned to him, jaw set. “Then say it.”
“Say what?”
“The words.”
“Now?”
She nodded. He sighed roughly.
“Annie…”
“Ethan.”
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment, a sheen entering her eyes. He attempted to clear his throat; he knew the both of them were thinking of that night, of Cara. Annie had read it to him that night. He had never read the words out loud.
She took hold of his hand. He squeezed it gently, noting how much frailer it felt than when he’d been a kid. “Make it up to her, Ethan. Don’t lose her.”
Sunday brunch at his parents, the week before Christmas; this one would go down in the record books. Maybe a part of him never really wanted to know. Maybe a part of him was comfortable in not knowing or not feeling.
He took a sip of orange juice and stared across the table at his mother, father, and brother.
“Ready for tomorrow’s presentation, Ethan?”
He smiled at Carson, ready to get this done and over with. Ready to rip off the Band-Aid. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that, Dad.”
His father looked up from his plate of smoked salmon and fruit salad.
“I know you’re putting in your offer tomorrow, and I’d like to ask you to change the usage of the building.”
His father frowned. “Get to the point.”
“I want you to keep it as a shelter.”
Carson choked on his orange juice.
“That’s absurd. Why would I do that?”
“There’s a shelter—”
“I’m not about to outbid all the other developers only to house a shelter. That’s suicide and makes no business sense whatsoever. I would never pay that kind of money for a shelter.”
Ethan knew this was a long shot. He knew it didn’t make business sense, he knew the kind of money it was going to take to be the highest bid. “Then I’m asking you as a personal favor.”
Everyone stopped eating. His mother looked concerned. His father looked pissed. Carson looked smug.
“You didn’t get the proposal done, did you?” Carson asked, leaning back in his chair, tilting it on only two legs. Ethan resisted the urge to shove it over, as he’d done on numerous occasions in his youth.
“Why on earth would you ask me that?”
Ethan turned to his father and tried to put this whole feelings thing to use in a family that had none. “I’m in love with a woman who works at the shelter.”
“This is priceless. You’re in love with a homeless person!” Carson tipped his chair back farther, hands in the air. Ethan nudged the one leg, pushing it over and watched with satisfaction as his brother tipped backward.
“Boys, please stop,” his mother said as Carson swore and righted himself.
“First off, she’s not homeless, she works there. Secondly, the kids in that place are trying to get their lives straightened out. They lack security and to force them out is cruel.”
“So this worker put you up to this?”
Ethan stared at his father’s dispassionate face, not an ounce of emotion in his eyes and thought of Allie and her abundance of emotion. The night at Jackson and Hannah’s when she threw snow at him, when she basically looked at him as though she had no idea who he was, certainly not with any of the warmth from before. “She didn’t put me up to anything. I’m here because I realized the only reason I went along with this is because I wanted to be part of the family business, but not enough to ignore what’s right.”
His mother put down her napkin, her face pulled into a frown as far as the Botox would allow. “My dear, there was always a place for you.”
“No, there wasn’t. I was basically ignored after what happened…when I had cancer.”
His father didn’t say anything, his jaw just clenched. At least the man wasn’t a liar.
“Regardless of what you think, I can’t do what you’re asking of me.”
Ethan stared into his father’s face, his features remarkably similar to his own. “I’ll ask you one last time, for me, as your son, please don’t go through with the development project.”
His father broke his stare, cut a piece of smoked salmon, looped a red onion around his fork, and looked up at him. “No, and never ask me something so pathetic again. Weakness like that will get you killed in business.” Ethan studied his father, looking for an ounce of softening. He hadn’t changed. If having a child with cancer didn’t change you, then nothing could. It’s not that he sought comfort from him, or that he expected him to become all schmaltzy, but maybe a moment of entertaining the idea or really listening to him.
If they could so easily dismiss his request, then he’d be forced to do the same.
Ethan sat in his car outside his parent’s house and dialed Nicholas Wright’s phone number. Having friends in all the right places came in
handy. You could call on Sundays and not be billed. “Nick, I need the name of the best commercial real estate agent you know.”
“Why?”
“I’m not going through with the proposal. I’m going to put in my own bid.”
“Against your dad’s company?”
“Yeah. I’d love to chat, but I need to move on this tomorrow. I need an agent who can put this deal together for me now.”
Nicholas sighed. “There’s only one agent that comes to mind. She’s the best of the best. Hot but really irritating, and I’m forced to work with her way more—”
“I don’t have time to hear your analysis of this woman. Text me her details,” he said and ended the call. As soon as the text came through, he took the next step in making all of this right, in getting Allie back.
Chapter Thirteen
“I’m not telling them. I refuse. Even though I know it’s inevitable, I think we should wait until after the holidays. They need to have a good Christmas,” Allie said, clearing more dishes from the empty tables. The fact that she was even coherent was a miracle.
Every single moment since Ethan had basically ripped her heart out of her chest and stomped on it, she’d been torn between crying and yelling at herself for being so stupid. Even her sister was being nice to her because she felt so sorry for her. After their night at Hannah and Jackson’s she went back to the condo, grabbed their things, and found a decent hotel with a weekly rate. She had found them a new apartment, and they were ready to move in next week. Just in time for Christmas. Yay.
“You’re right. We’ll keep this quiet until after the holidays are over. Are we all set with the presents?”
Allie nodded. “Yup.” Allie watched her sister laugh in the gathering room with some of the other kids. She was happy Dani was here tonight, keeping her company. Again, another sign her sister pitied her.
The bell at the front desk rang, and she followed Denise out. Even when it was late at night they accepted new teens. Sometimes it was the most popular time, especially in the winter. The thought of another night on the street with frigid temperatures was the final thing that brought them in. But it wasn’t a teen.
It was Ethan.
She was completely immune to the man, she told herself. He was standing there with boxes and boxes filled with wrapped gifts. She crossed her arms. Denise inhaled sharply and then walked forward and poked him in the chest. “Are these the gifts you plan on handing out before you take everyone’s house away from them?”
He smiled. He was wearing jeans and a hoodie, and he had stubble. And the ratty Blue Jays cap. His eyes sparkled and, oh God, she was such a liar for telling herself she was immune to him. Even though it was “Weekend Ethan” and he was her favorite Ethan, she refused to acknowledge the way her heart beat like an out of control drum.
“No. They are staying. The shelter is staying.”
Denise gasped.
Allie stared at him, wanting so much to believe him but needing more. “How is that possible?”
“I put in a bid, on my own. I outbid my brother.”
Tears blurred her vision for a moment. She blinked them away. “What does that mean?”
“It means it took me a little longer than it should have to come up with a solution, but it was the only solution, because not having you in my life wasn’t an option for me. And being a guy obsessed with revenge isn’t an option for me. Having you disappointed in me killed me. Not waking up to you, not going to bed with you…not an option.”
“You seem pretty confident there for a guy who royally screwed up.”
He grinned and walked toward her. “I will spend the rest of the night and the rest of my life making it up to you. I know I disappointed you, and I let you down.”
She was a blubbering mess now, and it was impossible to go from pretending she hated the man to professing her undying love to him. “You killed me. You made me believe that all my instincts had been wrong. You made me trust you, you made me think you had my back and then you just betrayed me, Ethan.” She was vaguely aware of Denise shutting the dining room door behind her and leaving. She covered her face with her hands, and Ethan whispered her name in a delicious, gravelly voice. He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, Allie, and I’ve got your back forever.”
“Did you really buy this place?” she mumbled against him.
She felt him nod.
“You got hosed with the price, didn’t you?”
“Completely. Worst financial investment I’ve ever made in my entire life. Best personal one though, by a long shot.”
She wrapped her arms around him tightly and looked up. His hands softly framed her face. “It’s going to take a lot more than overpaying for me to win back your trust, isn’t it?”
She studied him, the truth in his eyes, the love. She shook her head and smiled. “I think you’ve proven yourself.”
He leaned down and kissed her, and it felt like she’d been without him for years, when it had only been days. Ethan had somehow found his way inside her soul and heart. He was the rock she had always wanted, the person who would come through for her in the end. She knew what it had meant for him to let go of his grudge, to finally allow himself to be the person he was meant to be. He kissed her until she was weak in the knees and forgot that she was in Haven House. “I love you,” he whispered again.
“I love you, too,” she said, finally saying the words that felt so right.
“Oh my God, Allie are you insane?”
Allie groaned and set her forehead on Ethan’s shoulder. Her sister.
Ethan slowly turned around to face Dani. Max was standing beside her, scowling. “Dani, before you go attacking me, you should know I fixed everything. This place isn’t closing.”
Dani didn’t say anything for a moment, and Allie waited for some smart-ass comment, but it didn’t come. Max was looking at her, clearly not knowing what to do. Finally Dani spoke. “Well, good. I’m glad you figured it out…” Her voice trailed off for a second, and Allie caught the faint quiver in her sister’s chin. “I’m…you came through for Allie, and she needed that. You. She needs you.”
Ethan broke out into a grin, and Allie was shocked when her sister ran up and gave him a hug. “And good move coming in here with gifts.”
Ethan laughed, pulling back. “Yeah, I figured the gifts might go over well.”
“I want you to know I’m really happy Ethan didn’t turn out to be a total douchebag,” Dani said.
Allie nodded, “Thanks. Me too.”
“And it’s cool that he did all this, like the gifts and stuff. I think he wrapped them himself because I see bunched up tape all over the sides.”
Allie laughed. “Yeah, but he gets an A for effort.”
“You know I’m still standing here, right?” Ethan asked.
“I, uh, think I’ll go open presents,” Max said awkwardly. “Allie?”
Her heart squeezed at the sound of Max using her name for the first time. She reigned in her feelings and nodded.
“I’m glad things worked out for you guys.”
“Thanks, Max.”
He shrugged and left the room.
“I’ll be back in a second,” Ethan said, kissing her. “I want to make sure those gifts get distributed properly.”
“Ethan’s really cool,” Dani said, after Ethan left the room. She was arranging her long hair over one shoulder and then running her fingers through it. Allie eyed her sister. Something was up.
“I’m glad you approve.”
Her sister gave her a distracted smile, and Allie could see she was hiding something.
“And I’m really happy you guys are together again.”
“And?”
Dani let out a sigh. It wasn’t her usual theatrical sigh. This one seemed genuine, and her lips were downturned.
“Hey, Dani. Tell me, what’s up?”
“Nothing.” She looked down at her feet. “I don’t want to have to go back to mom’
s, you know? But I will, I mean, like, if Ethan doesn’t want me around.”
Allie felt tears at the back of her eyes. Dani never showed vulnerability. “You’re my sister, and if you think I’d just ditch you—”
“You’re family, Dani.” Ethan was standing in the doorway, his brown eyes filled with tenderness as he looked at her younger sister. “You stay with us, even if I have to get another job to support your shopping habits.”
Her sister smiled slightly and looked over at him. “I don’t want to be the loser mooch that you’re forced to support. Though if you are having financial difficulties, it’s probably due to the fact that you totally overpaid for this place.”
He laughed. “I think I’ll manage, and we can’t exactly kick you to the curb. You’ve gotten used to a certain lifestyle, and I’ve gotten used to having you around.”
Her sister crossed her arms and jutted her chin out. “Yeah, I guess I keep you guys young.”
Ethan grinned. “If I had a little sister I think I’d want her to be a ball-breaker like you.”
Her sister broke out into a grin. “My sister has turned you into a sap.”
He shrugged. “Maybe, but that’s okay. I think I’m ready.”
Ethan waited for Allie to get her coat. They were going home, and he couldn’t wait to have her alone. He hadn’t slept in days, but he felt alive, and so damn good. Maybe that’s what happened when you made the right decisions and people you actually loved surrounded you. Feelings weren’t overrated. Huh.
“Yo, Ethan?”
Ethan turned around to look at Max. The kid looked better, less like a delinquent and more like a typical teenager. “I wanted to say thanks for the iPad. That was pretty cool of you.”
Ethan shrugged. “You’re welcome. Glad you like it.”
“Allie had said we all get Christmas presents here. That was cool. I didn’t know what to expect when I came here, you know? Like, there’s lots of rules and shit, but it’s better than where I came from.”
A lump formed in Ethan’s throat. My God, he was becoming a giant sap, maybe even as big as Jackson now. “Don’t forget to come by my office if you still want that job.”
The Billionaire's Christmas Proposal (Billionaire For Christmas #2) Page 16