Plus One

Streets

She started her car and let it warm up a bit, while scratching Garth's ears. She hit call on her phone and listened to the ringing as she pulled off. "Here I was beginning to think you'd flake on me." Ethan's smooth voice filled her Jeep. "I would never. I told you I'd call you back and I meant it. You will learn Ethan James that I am a woman of my word." He chuckled lowly and she could only imagine what he was doing at the moment.

"How'd you know my middle name?" Anna rolled her eyes. "You're practically Portland, if not all of Oregon, royalty. Everyone knows you and that is what is so frightening about hitching my wagon to you. I feel like I'm signing away my right to privacy." Ethan shook his head. "You're overthinking it. I promise it won't be bad. There might be a little something on Twitter or other social media outlets, but it's not like some random paparazzi is going to jump out at you on a Starbucks run."

Anna turned onto the highway and chuckled. "You sound like a man whose had this experience before." Ethan sighed. "Yeah, it happened with Tiffany but I realized early on that she loved it. The attention. The headlines. Honestly, looking back I realize she was probably the one tipping them off. There were so many signs that she was not the one and I was too blind to see it."

"Why do you think that is?" Ethan took a beat to gather his thoughts. "I guess I was just trying to fit a mold I felt was created for me. I was the oldest son and following in my father's footsteps had always been the plan. I am lucky in that I like what I do, but...I don't know." Anna shook her head. "Don't stop. Please. You can always talk to me, Ethan." He heard the sincerity in her voice and smiled. "How was dinner?" Anna knew the moment had passed and she hated it.

She wanted him to open up to her. She wanted to know that he still felt free to share his deepest thoughts like he did the night they truly met for the first time. "Dinner was fine. My sister and I got into a little tiff, but she apologized and all seems well. Oh, my Dad wants us to give him a grandchild." Ethan began choking on his saliva. "What?!" Anna couldn't help but laugh heartily as she pulled into her neighborhood.

"Don't die over there. I told him it wasn't happening anytime soon." She watched her garage close before getting out with her cellphone glued to her ear. She wrangled Garth and got into her warm home. She was in her room undressing with the phone on speaker in no time. "Do you want kids?" He asked her as he laid sprawled out on his bed. Anna sighed as she stripped down to her panties and threw on an oversized shirt.

"I do. I want a big family just like mine with 5 kids and a dog to play with Garth." Ethan's eyes bugged out. "You want five kids? Whew! I thought my parents were crazy for trying after twins." Anna chuckled. "Do you want kids?" A beat. "I wouldn't mind having a boy and a girl. One of each is all you need." Anna shook her head as she laid back against her pillows. "I don't know. We'll agree to disagree."

Ethan smiled as he thought of a game his sister used to play. "We should play that old game that told you what you'd have when you grew up." Anna laughed heartily. "Do you mean MASH?" Ethan laughed along with her. "Let's play!" He heard her move around a bit before settling. "Okay. Mansion. Apartment. Shack. Home." Anna wrote across the top of the page. "I want 5 kids and you want 2. We need 2 more numbers."

Ethan tapped his lips. "Put down 3 and 4 as good compromises." Anna nodded and wrote them down. "What else are we writing down?" Ethan asked trying to think of other things. "What we want to do career wise?" Ethan paused. "You don't like what you do?" Anna didn't know how to have this conversation with her actual employer. "I do. I really do, but haven't you had a dream of doing something else that you really love. A siren song of career choices."

Ethan knew exactly what she meant. From the moment he had his first beer at 13, Ethan knew he wanted to own and operate his own brewery. He wanted to craft beers with his brother and give people happy experiences while drinking his creations. "What would your dream job be?" Anna laughed to herself. "A comic book artist." Ethan smiled at that envisioning her at a desk drawing while surrounded by illustrations. "What about you? If you didn't have to be the magnificent sales executive that you are now, what would you be doing?"

He didn't know if he should tell her. The only people that knew about his dream were Eliza, Lars and Ezra. "What do you think I would do other than sales?" Anna sighed and pretended to think on it, but she already knew the answer because he told her that first night almost two years ago. "You're sociable, even though you probably don't think so. You have a way of making people have a good time, which is an admired quality in any business owner."

Ethan listened intently. "I could see you running a restaurant or bar or something like that. Somewhere where people can come and get a good drink and maybe some grub and have a fun time." Ethan was in shock. She didn't come right out and say own your own brewery, but she might as well have. Moments passed and he still hadn't said anything. "Ethan, are you there?"

He coughed before humming a yes. "I...I wanted to open up my own brewery since I was a teen, but life happened and it's just not feasible now." Anna was very perceptive. She had always been like that since she was a kid. She knew his decision to leave his dream in the dust had to do with Ezra. "I think that's an awesome dream career and one you shouldn't give up on. It's going on the paper. We need two more career choices."

"Vigilante." Ethan offered with a chuckle causing Anna to laugh loudly. "I hear my girlfriend has a thing for them." Anna smiled widely. "She does and don't think you're not going to watch Green Arrow with me the next time you're over." He agreed to it with a smile. "I guess I'll put cartoon animator. It's another dream job I thought of having when I was younger." Anna looked over the paper and drummed her pencil. "I think that's good enough. Give me a number so we can see what our future looks like." Ethan told her 3 and listened as she crossed away.