Page 14 of Eternal Hoptimist

His smile turned mischievous. “Who’s stalking who?”

I laughed. “I’ve been here for nearly two hours. Guess that makes it you.”

“Mm. Sure, sure. But I was at the brewery before you.”

“Fair enough. Guess we can call it a draw. What brings you to Portland?” We moved out of the way of foot traffic.

“The brewery is closed on Mondays, so I came to town with Austin and Caleb. Caleb used to have a food truck at a pod that closed last year, and we’re visiting some of his friends.”

I wondered if that had been a project I’d worked on last year. If I remembered correctly, Caleb was the one who’d cooked the delicious food at New Year’s brunch. I was glad he landed on his feet and was opening a restaurant. A negative internal voice harped that he might be one of the few who’d continued his dream among those who lost their leases last year. I ignored that voice because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to do my job.

“Are you with the group hoping to buy the lot?”

My eyes widened. “Word travels fast.”

“Food trucks are a small community.”

“I’m a real estate attorney.” I didn’t offer more detail because I didn’t want things to go sour with him.

Ethan’s mouth formed anO. “So you know all about developers trying to buy land from people?”

“I do.” I couldn’t help my suspicion at the interest in his eyes.

He stared over my shoulder for a moment and seemed lost in thought. Though I’d only seen him twice before, it already felt weird to see him without his trademark smile.

“I’ll be in town through the evening. Do you have time to grab a drink when you’re off work? I’ve got an idea.”

I wanted to ask what kind of idea but only had a few minutes left to grab food and a rideshare back across the river to my office before my next meeting.

“Sure. I can be done with work by six.”

He suggested a speakeasy I’d wanted to try but hadn’t made the time and company to do so. Despite my suspicion, I couldn’t wait to spend more time with him.

* * *

I struggledto concentrate the rest of the afternoon while trying to figure out what Ethan wanted to talk to me about. He looked too serious for it to be a ruse to hook up. Maybe they were thinking about opening a second brewery location, and he wanted to pick my brain?

As I packed up, Hector came into my office.

“What are you still doing here?” I asked.

He hitched his small hip onto the edge of my glass desk. “Working, obviously.”

“I thought you had a life.”

He snorted. “On the weekends, sure.”

I laughed.

“How’d the property tour go today?” He rearranged my office supplies like a pest. He knew he could get away with just about anything since I couldn’t survive work without him. Or, in general, given how often he reminded me to eat lunch and drink water.

“Good. They want me to put together an offer.”

“Score another point in the race to partnership.”

I hummed as I sorted my folders for tomorrow’s meetings.

“You missed some fun today.” His eyes danced with mischief.

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