Chapter 33 Risk Is Worth It
RISK IS WORTH IT
Ethan parked in the public lot, then walked the block to Nora’s apartment two weeks later.
It hadn’t occurred to him once that he hadn’t been inside her place. She hadn’t even said it, but he wondered if that played a part in the whole “he took care of all the time together” comment when they had their little disagreement.
She didn’t know he was coming just yet and he thought maybe he’d surprise her.
There wasn’t the security here that he had. He could get on the elevator and up to her floor, then knock on the door.
When he did, he heard her moving around, then could almost sense her behind the door looking through the peephole. Then she pulled it open. “Ethan. What are you doing here? Why didn’t you text me first to be ready?”
“Wow, nice to see you too, but I wanted to surprise you.”
He’d had a late meeting and didn’t spend last night with her. He hated that, but she didn’t want to be in his condo without him, and couldn’t get in either.
“You did,” she said. “Come in. You’re not parked out front are you?”
“No, around the corner. I would have walked, but then we’d have to walk back with your bag to my place and I figured you didn’t want to do that.”
“You could have said something this morning when we were running,” she said, laughing.
Both of them were up bright and early, meeting on the path by his place, then him running with her back to her place, him finishing on his own.
“Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise,” he said. “And I’ve got a few of them for you.”
“You do?” she said. “Now I’m excited. Come in. I’m just packing. You didn’t say what we were doing tonight.”
“Going to the island,” he said.
“Oh,” she said, frowning. “Are we doing something with your family?”
“Nope. We are staying at my parents’ house by ourselves and no more questions. You’ll find out when we get there.”
She sighed. “Okay. Well, one more question, do I need to pack any special clothing?”
“No. We won’t be leaving the house.”
She pursed her lips. He could see she was biting her tongue to not ask more. “Let me show you around. Not really much to see. Your primary suite is about the size of my entire apartment.”
They were in her living room, a single couch against a wall, the TV on a stand across from it, a small table and four chairs took up more space going to the kitchen on one wall.
The basic, skinny fridge, tiny dishwasher, and equally tiny stove and oven, a few upper cabinets and a long one-cabinet pantry.
He’d passed the bathroom when he walked in. Didn’t need to look in to see it’d be a tub unit with a single vanity.
“If this works, then it does,” he said. “Lots of people have a studio smaller than this. At least you have separation to your bed.”
“I do,” she said. “Behind the wall, but it’s only a dividing wall there, no door or anything.”
He went to the entryway thinking it was a hall, but it wasn’t. You went right into her room, the bed against the wall, the closet on the other side giving her maybe two feet to get out of bed to get her stuff. A tiny dresser stuffed in the corner at the foot of the bed turned sideways.
There was a bag on the bed, the one she always filled with clothing for the weekend.
“This is tight,” he said.
“I know. It requires being very organized and neat. On the bright side, it doesn’t take me long to clean the place.”
He smiled while she threw her clothes in the bag, then picked it up and put it on the table, went into the bathroom and grabbed what she needed there. She’d been keeping a spare of everything at his place. Things he’d picked up for her so she didn’t have to bring them back and forth.
“You can start leaving some clothes at my place. If it’d make it easier for you. It’s only weekends.”
Because she still wouldn’t stay during the week, not comfortable with them going into work at the same time or leaving together.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Positive. I know you said you never lived with anyone before, but did you keep things at his place?”
“No,” she said. “He hadn’t wanted that. It always was just his place where I stayed.”
She said it as if it hadn’t bothered her, but he knew otherwise.
Or maybe it was because he’d feel that way.
In the few months he’d been with Nora, he had things she liked there. Foods, toiletries. Anything he could think of so she felt at ease.
Putting her clothing there, even if it was only shorts and T-shirts, was a convenience for them both. Not only that, but also a way for her to come easier, quicker, and more often last minute.
“Don’t think of it that way with me,” he said. “Do you?”
She shrugged and it was the only answer he needed. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not. Put extra clothes in your bag so they can stay at my place. I’ll wash them with my stuff. Workout gear too. Don’t suppose you’ve got extra running sneakers?”
“Sorry, just these.”
She picked hers up off the floor and put them inside the bag too. They always ran on the weekend together when she stayed the night.
He’d order her another pair to keep at his place, just like these or close to it.
He grabbed her bag when she was done. They left the apartment and walked to his car, then he drove to the ferry.
They were thirty minutes early for the next one to board, so they went to the coffee shop and got a drink, then sat outside rather than in his car.
This time of year a ferry left every hour, two running back and forth from Boston to the island. In the winter there was only one ferry running, every two hours, scheduling more around commuters for work in the mornings and evenings.
Once he saw they could begin boarding, they drove onto the ferry, got out and went to the deck. It was too nice of a day to sit in the car to ride over.
“I know the helicopter is faster, but this is nice. It’s relaxing and pretty. Maybe it wouldn’t be if it were windy or raining.”
“No,” he said. “It’s not. We did it all the time as a kid.
Before Egan started his charter company, it wasn’t as easy to get a flight back and forth.
Not even a landing area. But once Egan knew what he was doing, my father was putting the work in getting it ready on the island so he was set to go.
It’s expanding a lot from his first helicopter. ”
“I find it so fascinating how much your family has not only grown businesses on the island but in Boston too. Most could sit back on their wealth, or even put it in the stock market rather than taking the risk in starting companies.”
“Risk is worth it,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Or that’s how I’ve thought of it. Trust me, everything we’ve done hasn’t always been successful. There are losses too. We just sold a company last year. One we’d had for about six years.”
“It was losing money?”
“Not losing as much as not doing what we’d hoped. Gave it a try, but it just held on. A company in Alabama bought and moved it down there. We walked away about even in the end and that is a win in my book.”
“Did those people lose their jobs or is it still operating here, but based out of there?”
“They were all offered jobs to transfer if they chose, but many didn’t.
Those things happen and unfortunately we’ve got to be prepared for it.
If you were working for me, you wouldn’t have had much to do with it, but we would have chatted some.
Part of the sale included that those employed in Boston were given good severance packages if they stayed until the very end and didn’t choose to move. ”
“That’s hard to do because you don’t know how long it’s going to be before you find another job. Trust me, I know.”
“It’s a hard place to be, but it’s business. It happens all the time, but we try to be as fair as we can be.”
“Which is part of what I love about working for Bond Enterprises.”
“That’s what you love about it?” he asked, his arm slipping around her waist. She was looking around to see if anyone noticed them, but he’d already done that. They were only a few people on the deck and far enough away from them.
“I’ve got a great boss... most days.”
“Ouch, that hurt.”
“It’s true. You’ve been going through a lot of chocolate lately. Want to tell me why?”
Not really because it might cause another fight.
It wasn’t just work that was making him tense. It was his relationship with Nora and the watching over his shoulder, waiting for someone to point their finger at catching them and her to retreat rather than snuggle in.
If they could get it out there, they could move forward, but in the past two weeks, no one had even brought up her being related to Norris again.
“Just a lot on my mind,” he said. “It happens. Nothing to worry about.”
If she knew, she’d worry. That he was rushing.
That he was putting pressure on her.
That he was thinking of a future that maybe she wasn’t ready to hear.
Just because he felt behind the eight ball in life, didn’t mean she was going to join him in those thoughts.
She was five years younger than him. He didn’t even know if she wanted a family or when she’d want to start.
Maybe it was one of those conversations they should have had.
He loved kids. He wanted his own. A few at least.
If she didn’t feel the same way, he wasn’t sure he could continue, even loving her the way he did.
“It’s always something to worry if you’re feeling it. Or don’t you trust me to know? I mean, like I can’t know right away?”
She thought it was business related. And some of it was. “I tell you things when I can.”
“Okay. You’re good with us though, right?”
“I am. Are you?”
Her smile was almost as bright as the sun. “I am. I think we are getting there. I know maybe not at the speed you want, but I appreciate you giving me the space.”
Which was why he was holding it all in.
“If you’re happy, then I’m happy.”
Her head landed against his chest, she looked up and waited for him to lean down for a kiss. Something she rarely did with him in public, which said more than words could.