I got us the West Ballroom at the Vancouver Convention Center.”
Ethan stopped dead in his tracks. “What? How?”
I giggled. “It pays to know people—and to be relentless. I wouldn’t take no for an answer and I called in a couple of favors. The ballroom will be ours as of noon the day of the gala.”
He caught up with me again. “I’m impressed.”
I hid my smile. I knew it took everything he had to pay me a compliment when it came to business. “All that’s left now for the venue is securing the decor. I’ve been in touch with a couple of companies, and there’s one in particular I want to work with, but they’re stretched pretty thin. I might not be able to win them over, but we still have some time.”
“If anyone can do it, you can.”
Maybe I should have kissed him a long time ago if it meant he was going to be that accommodating and supportive.
I gave my head a shake. Nonsense, he’s still your rival. He’s still the guy you have to beat if you want to make partner.
“Who knew the pair of us would make such a dream team?” Ethan asked.
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself there, Collinder. We’re effective at our jobs, nothing more.”
Ethan and I continued wandering around the market, and by the time we’d seen all the vendors, I’d added a couple more items to my shopping bags, including some spices, cooking oils, specialty chocolates from Sweden, skincare from Germany, and two bottles of red wine from the Okanogan Valley.
“You did well for yourself,” Ethan noted as he glanced down at my bags. He held out a hand and offered to carry them for me, but I pulled away. He rolled his eyes but smiled. “I forgot. You’re an independent woman who needs no help from me. I just feel the need to point out that letting me carry your bags for you does not make you any less independent or fierce.”
“Please don’t say the word fierce again,” I groaned as I relinquished two of my three bags to him. I kept the lightest one for myself but he didn’t need to know that. “I’m just not used to doing things like this with other people, okay? Usually, I like to stay home and just—I don’t know—enjoy my own company, I guess. There isn’t usually someone there to offer to carry my bags.”
“Do you sometimes wish there was, or do you like it that way?”
Was he asking me if I liked being alone? I shrugged one shoulder. “I’ve never really thought too much about it because I have my work. I don’t need a man. I’m too busy with my career to give someone else the time and attention they deserve. I know I’m not in a place to date right now, so why bother trying to force something when your priorities lie elsewhere?”
“Fair enough.”
“What about you?”
He glanced over at me. “Do I like being single?”
I nodded.
Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose like you, I’ve always figured I don’t have the time to maintain a romantic relationship. But recently, I’ve started to wonder if that’s true or not. I see my brother moving forward with his life and I can’t help but want the same thing for myself. A family. A wife. And how am I supposed to earn those things when I’m too busy with work?”
“You have time.”
Ethan didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes. We walked in comfortable quiet, neither of us taking jabs at each other like we usually did. We came to a stop as a photographer dropped to a knee and snapped a picture of a couple kissing in front of the large Christmas tree beside the Olympic torch.
“My father used to take my mother here at the start of every Christmas season,” Ethan said softly. His eyes reflected the lights of the Christmas tree behind the couple. “It was how they used to kick things off. My mother always claimed it never felt like Christmas until my father took her on that special annual date. Us kids weren’t allowed to go with them, you see. It was their time. We’d catch up with them in the afternoon after school got out and the whole family would go up to Robson Square and go ice skating.” Ethan chuckled and shook his head. “My sister, Dana, used to complain endlessly about how much the skates hurt her feet while my brother and I skated circles around