She stopped, turned and looked at him. In her eyes he could see disappointment still shining there. Her mouth was tight and flat, and her spine was stiff. “What?”
He didn’t know what had gone wrong here, so he didn’t know how to fix it. That was an irritation, too. Looking at her now, he could see that though she was standing right there, she was miles away emotionally. But until she was willing to talk to him about what was bothering her there wasn’t a hell of a lot he could do about it.
“Are you going to be there when we make the new chocolates?”
Her mouth curved though her eyes remained the same—dark, closed off. “Of course I will. I want to see this through with you.”
“Good,” he said. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Sure, Gabe. Tomorrow.” Then she left and he wondered if this idea was going to ruin his and Pam’s relationship as surely as it would his and Ethan’s.
* * *
“They’re holding out for more money.” Ethan sat back in his desk chair a few days later and looked up at Sadie.
Her breath caught in her throat. Not so long ago, she’d been sprawled across that desk like the main course at a feast. And the memory of it sent a quick ripple of excitement along her spine. Hard to keep your mind on work when all you could think about was...
“Sadie? Are you listening?”
“What?” She snapped back. “Yes. Of course. They want more money.”
“I thought we were close to finalizing. The old man, he wants to sell, but his adult children are making him have second thoughts.” Ethan tossed a pen onto his desktop and pushed himself to his feet. “The lawyers, ours and theirs, are trying to hammer out a deal, but—”
“Why don’t you do it personally?” Sadie asked.
He shifted to look at her. “I don’t do the negotiating. That’s why I pay the lawyers.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “That’s the way we usually do it, yes. But Donatello’s might be different.”
“How?”
He’d tucked the edges of his suit jacket back and had his hands tucked into his pockets. He looked the epitome of the high-powered businessman. And yet, looking at him, she could see him as he was when they were together, and that sent heat waves rocketing through her body.
“Sadie?”
Wow, she really had to concentrate. “Okay, um, I mean that Donatello’s is a family business.”
“Yeah, I know. I just told you. It’s the kids who are fighting this buyout. They’re the ones demanding more money, and at the same time, telling their father not to sell at all.” He scowled fiercely. “If they’d just butt out, we could have this done. I don’t know why they’re being so difficult, anyway. We’re offering a fair price.”
Funny that he couldn’t see the similarities between the Hart family and the Donatello family. Richard Donatello’s adult children were fighting for their legacy, their own family’s traditions, just as Ethan was. As important as the chocolate company was to him, he should understand what the Donatello kids were going through.
“Right.” Sadie shrugged. “Well, you know how you feel about the Hart family business. We both know you would do whatever it took to keep this company thriving. So just for a minute, put yourself in their place.”
He snorted. “Not the same. Not by a long shot. Yes, Donatello’s has a great reputation, but they’re still a small, one-shop business.”
“Just how Heart Chocolates started.”
“A long time ago,” he pointed out.
Honestly, sometimes Sadie felt like beating her own head against a brick wall. It would certainly be more satisfying than trying to convince Ethan that he was wrong about anything.
“Donatello’s has been around for almost fifty years.”
He frowned.
“And it’s successful enough that you want to buy it.”
“Well, yes,” he argued. “Because they have a great web presence, an excellent location in Laguna and their customer list is phenomenal.”
“All good points,” she said, wondering why he still wasn’t getting it. Really, was it possible that once you reached success, you actually forgot how it had happened? “What I’m saying is that the Donatello chocolate shop is where yours started out a hundred years ago. Hardworking. A family. Building a reputation.”