“Oh yeah?” Callie asked. “Remember, Vi’s heart can’t handle too much excitement. You might want to tell me the rest later.”
“Callie! Nothing happened.”
Callie gave Vi a look. “Sure, Amy,” she said. “We both believe you.”
“Don’t you have a job to get to?” Amy replied.
“I assumed you’d want to come into the office with me,” Callie replied.
“I had thought about it, but I’m sure you have everything under control. I’ll stay here with Vi for a while.”
Callie placed her hand on Amy’s forehead. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”
“I’m fine,” Amy said, “just go before I change my mind.”
After Callie said goodbye, Amy sat down in the chair next to the bed and closed her eyes. Even though she wished that it had been under different circumstances, it was good to see how much Callie had taken control of the situation and handled everything so well. In the same way Vi had seemed older and frailer when Amy first saw her that morning, Callie now seemed more confident and in control. Maybe Ethan did have a point about letting go a bit and letting Callie take on a bigger role in the business. Then again, Amy didn’t want to admit that he was right.
Amy closed her eyes and tried to relax, but Vi asked her a question, “Why don’t you tell me more about that man of yours?”
Amy smiled as she thought about everything she and Ethan had done together over the weekend: the snowshoeing, the skiing, the extra-curricular activities in the hot tub and the bedroom. “He’s really something special,” Amy replied. “Charming and sweet and handsome.” She laughed as she started to recount the story of their hike with Hank. She told Vi about how Ethan had gotten too full of himself and how she had put him right back in his place. As she told her PG version of the weekend’s events, she began to wonder about something. She had spent the whole time worried that she might be falling for him. She hadn’t taken the time to consider the other side of the situation. What if Ethan were falling for her?
Chapter 15
After he returned from driving Amy to the plane, Ethan couldn’t fall back asleep. He just kept running everything through his head. The past few days had been incredible. Whenever he had been around Amy, he felt like all of his senses and emotions were heightened. Now that she was gone, he felt a hollow pit in his stomach.
He kept imagining her walking into the room and making some smart-ass remark before crawling back into bed and wrapping her arms around him. He wanted to feel her heat; he wanted to feel her reassuring touch. He wondered if she felt the same way. Things had really started to come together between them, and now she was gone. Had he missed his opportunity? Ethan wondered what would happen when he returned to DC. Would Amy pretend nothing had happened? He had to figure out some way to convince her that whatever they had between them was real.
After tossing in bed for a few hours, Ethan gave up on sleep. He pulled on some clothes and went down to the kitchen to make himself some coffee. He sat in the darkness and watched as dawn began to reach up from behind the mountains in the distance. As he sat in the darkness, he watched the headlights of an approaching car shine down the driveway. For a moment, he held half a hope that it was Amy, coming back with news that everything was fine, and she was staying for the remainder of the trip.
As the car stopped, Ethan watched the dark figure of the driver walk across the driveway toward the back door. The sky above was getting even lighter, and Ethan had no doubt who was approaching the door. He watched as the man unlocked the door and stepped inside.
“Ethan,” Logan said, walking across the kitchen, “you look like hell, man. Is there already trouble in paradise?”
“Family emergency,” Ethan replied. “Amy is back in DC. I’m tying things up before heading back to be with her.”
“Hey, man, whatever you say.” Logan shrugged his shoulders and grabbed keys off of the table. “You have a minute to help me with something? I brought your wife out snowmobiling when you were MIA a few days back. Hers ran out of gas on the way. I need a second to help me get it.”
“Sure,” Ethan replied. The sun had barely risen above the horizon, and he didn’t look forward to the cold, but he wanted to get away for a while to hash things out with Logan. There were a few words that he didn’t particularly want Hank to hear. “Let’s go.”
After Ethan pulled on a jacket and boots, he followed Logan outside and jumped on his snowmobile with him. As they rode out, Ethan held on to the back of the seat behind himself, and he wondered how Amy had sat when riding with Logan. Had she wrapped her arms around him? Had he wrapped his arms around her? Either way, he wanted to rip Logan off of the sled and tackle him to the ground. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.