“Yes. I don’t have a problem with it. I didn’t realize it’d be in helicopters and private jets.”
“That’s normally how I travel, depending on what is going on and where. The jet is owned by my father, my Uncle Scott, and Charlie Bond. So their kids use it also. Not often, but it happens.”
“I know some of the family tree. Not a lot, but my father talked of it when I was younger. Before moving here I did some research. Just thought it’d be neat to know since the Bonds are so much a part of Boston.”
“It can get confusing and overwhelming,” he said. “A good number of my family live in Boston, but the majority seem to be on the island now. Or at least splitting their time.”
“But not you? Do you own property there? And you can tell me to mind my own business. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. No. I don’t own anything there. I can stay at my parents’ place, which is massive and normally empty. Or I stay at the casino since I’ve got some stake in that.”
Her face flushed as she chewed. Good, she was thinking of that night the same as him.
“How often do you go to the island?”
“Not as much as I should or would like,” he said. “I went last weekend because my mother wanted us all together for dinner. I took the ferry over and that takes more time, but I think I needed to leave Boston behind too, so it was all good.”
“I’m ready to take it on, not leave it behind,” she said.
“That’s what I want to hear.”
15
UNSETTLED HER
Nora wasn’t so sure why Ethan was happy to hear she wanted to take on Boston.
She was lucky she could think of anything other than the fun she’d had walking the streets with him, eating lunch together, coming back to the Seaport District and exploring there, stopping at Levain Bakery for warm cookies not that far from her place.
Yeah, wish she didn’t know about the bakery. Or that it was only a two-minute walk.
Still longer than going to her fridge, so it wasn’t as if she was going to do it often, but she could.
“This was a great day,” she said. They were between his condo and hers. She could tell he wasn’t sure what to do. Or what she wanted.
“It was.” He looked at his watch. “It’s early for dinner, but if you’re up to seeing if I’m lying about cooking, I could do that.”
Every part of her being wanted to scream yes. The other part said they might have pushed their limits.
For too many years she listened to the rational side and now she was going to lean on the irrational, irresponsible one.
“Only if I can help.”
His smile spread across his face, the brim of his hat doing nothing to hide it, or the way his blue eyes tracked her every move, searching for a hint of what she might be thinking.
She rarely gave anything away. He’d learn that fast.
She was an expert at keeping her emotions under lock and key, her feelings sealed tight behind an easy, practiced calm.
But Ethan had a way of slipping past those walls. Of drawing things from her she hadn’t meant to reveal, things no one else ever had.
She thought she’d hidden herself well today. Still, she’d seen the flicker of confusion in his eyes and the hesitation that said he wasn’t used to being the one left wondering.
It should have given her the upper hand. If she was playing a game, but she wasn’t. She never did and never would.
But the truth was, nothing about how she felt around Ethan was familiar. He unsettled her in ways she didn’t know how to name.
Agreeing to dinner with him was just another example when she should have taken herself home.
