Page 59 of Release Me

Chapter21

Ethan

“So, you never called to give me the details on your dirty little weekend,” Brandon says the second I pick up the phone.

I lean back in my chair, eyes on my computer screen and the notes I made during the long meeting I just had with my accountant. “Um, wasn’t ever planning to,” I tell him.

“Wow.”

“What?”

“It’s that serious, huh?” he teases.

I laugh, shaking my head a little even though he can’t see me. “Yeah, I guess it is,” I reply, knowing it already feels like way more than that. Just seeing her this morning made my day and I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d slept like shit last night without her in my bed. I missed everything about her, badly.

“Fucking knew you liked her,” he continues, and I can hear the smile in his voice.

“Yeah well, we’re keeping things on the down-low for a while, so it doesn’t blow back on her at work. I don’t want people thinking I’m taking advantage of her or whatever.”

“I get that,” he says. “People know who she is though, right? Like how much money her family has?”

My attention shifts from my computer screen. “What, how do you know that? You been snooping on my girl?”

“No, calm down, Ethan,” he says with a laugh. “She told us when she was showing us around.”

“Huh, okay and yeah, everyone in Tahoe knows who she is. It’s hard not to given this is where they first started the company,” I say.

“Well maybe that’s a good thing, because then people won’t think she’s after you for your money.”

“I know she isn’t,” I quickly say.

“Yeah, I know that now, obviously,” Brandon says. “But I know you’re worried about how things look, so…”

“It’s more the work thing,” I admit with a sigh. “I don’t want people thinking I’m taking advantage of someone beneath me or that she’s sleeping her way to the top or whatever other ridiculous shit people are going to think.”

“I’ll bet you do take advantage when she’s beneath you though, am I right?” Brandon teases.

“Oh jesus,” I say, chuckling. “What the fuck did you call me for, because we are not discussing that.”

Brandon laughs and I hear him typing on a keyboard before a ping alerts me to an incoming email. “I wanted to ask if you could go check this place out for me,” he says, as I open the email with a link to a house for sale. A house here in Tahoe.

“Shit, you’re thinking about moving?” I ask, excited at the prospect of he and I living in the same city again, especially with the idea I want to run past him.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “But Tracy loves it out there, we both do and at the very least I thought it might be nice for us to have somewhere to stay, somewhere permanent so it’s easier to visit, especially now you’re all loved up. I’m thinking of buying this for her as a wedding present.”

“Okay, shit, yeah, I’ll go check it out this week and let you know.”

“Thanks man, appreciate it. And keep it on the down-low please?”

“Will do,” I confirm. “Speaking of, I have a proposal to run past you too actually.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep, one that might actually tie in with your house plans.”

“Okay, hit me with it.”

I give him the shorthand version of the idea I got from Zoey, and then spent the morning chatting with my accountant about, regarding expanding but not really expanding. It involves repurposing some accommodations around Badger Creek and converting it into small chalets for more luxury long-term stays. The kind of places people want to rent for an entire season.

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