Avery spends that night tossing and turning, her sleep filled with nightmares.
Luke is closing in on her.
Ethan is still asleep on the couch when Avery climbs wearily out of his bed, slipping downstairs.
She sees two men in white clothing stretching clear plastic film across the windows.
Then she heads to the bar.
There’s a hodgepodge of glassware.
Most of it is coated in dust.
She gets to work washing it.
To pay Ethan back for his kindness.
While she’s working, she overhears the painters talking.
Painter 1
You know who owns this place, right?
Painter 2
As long as his check clears, I don’t care.
Painter 1
Dude. Did you not SEE the owner?
Painter 2
No. Why? Someone I’d know?
Painter 1
It’s Ethan Buchannon.
Painter 2
Damn, really? The quarterback from Texas?
Painter 2
The year they won the whole shebang?
Painter 1
Yeah. No one has seen him in years.
Painter 2
It’s weird that he’d pop up here.
Avery casually wipes down the glassware.
Then she leaves the room, heading toward Ethan’s office.
She opens his laptop and clicks on the guest log-in.
Then she navigates to Google, where she plugs in his full name.
The screen is flooded with photos of Ethan as confetti rains down on him.
He’s in a blue-and-yellow uniform with his teammates surrounding him.
She clicks on another photo.
It brings her to an article in Entertainment Weekly.
Avery reads the article aloud, whispering under her breath.
Avery
Ethan Buchannon, heir to the billion-dollar Buchannon Industries, celebrates with his teammates as they win the National Championship, 43 to 8.
Avery
Ethan is a favorite for the Heisman, having led his team to an undefeated season.
Avery sits back in her chair.
The puzzle pieces click together.
Ethan isn’t some humble bar owner.
And the heir to a billion-dollar fortune.
Ethan
What are you doing?
He stands behind her and sees the article she’s reading on her phone.
Avery
That your family is worth billions?
Avery
That you were a shoo-in for the first pick of the draft?
Avery
And you spent the last couple of days helping me paint an old bar?
Avery
Why would you even do that?
Avery
Why do you live in a tiny one-bedroom apartment above a dilapidated bar?
Ethan points to the image on the laptop.
Ethan
I’m not that guy anymore.
Ethan
I don’t want to be him.
Ethan
I’d paint a thousand crappy bars before I ever went back to being that guy.
Avery
What the hell happened?
Avery
You listened to mine last night.
Ethan
You really want to know why I’m here instead of in New York with my family?
Ethan
Or maybe in whatever city for the team that would’ve drafted me?
Ethan
Why I’m hiding out in a town with a population of six hundred?
Avery
Yes. YES. I want to know.
Ethan
I’m here for the same reason you are.
Ethan
I don’t WANT to be found.
Ethan
I guess this town has a way of drawing in the people who are running from their past.
Ethan drags out a chair and sits down across from Avery.
Ethan
Yes. I grew up as Ethan Buchannon, the golden boy.
Ethan
The one who would take over Buchannon Industries.
Ethan
And yes, I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth.
Ethan
Everything handed to me.
Ethan
Every straight-A, even when I didn’t earn it.
Ethan
Do you know what that does to someone?
Avery
Honestly? No. Not a clue.
Avery
It’s so far from my reality…
Ethan
It messes with you.
Ethan
It makes you think you’re entitled to everything.
Ethan
It makes you waltz through life without thinking of the consequences.
Avery
You won a college football championship.
Avery
You must’ve had some kind of work ethic.
Ethan
Football was the only thing I had to work for.
Ethan
Everything else was handed to me on a silver platter.
Ethan
The girl on the nightstand? Yes.
Ethan
You weren’t the only one who got engaged once.
Avery
It didn’t work out?
Ethan meets Avery’s eyes.
Ethan
We loved each other. But I didn’t deserve her.
Ethan
Because I was a selfish, entitled asshole.
Ethan
She called me one night.
Ethan
We’d made plans, and I blew her off.
Ethan
Because that’s the kind of asshole shit I did back then.
Ethan
I went out with the team instead.
Ethan
She needed a ride home.
Ethan
She asked me. Over and over.
Ethan
But I was with the guys, and I didn’t listen.
Ethan
The party was so damn great, I didn’t want to leave, even when she begged.
Ethan
I figured we’d meet up later, and I’d smooth things over, just like I always did.
Ethan
I had to have my cake and eat it too.
Ethan
So she got in the car with someone else.
Ethan
They wrecked. His blood alcohol was three times the limit.
Ethan
He was just a classmate, someone she barely knew.
Ethan
But she had to trust him because I wasn’t there.
Avery
You couldn’t have known what would happen.
Ethan
Right. But I did know she needed me, and I blew her off.
Ethan
Because that was who I was back then.
Ethan
That was the shit I did.
Ethan
I didn’t know until she was gone how much she meant to me.
Ethan
I just couldn’t get over her.
Ethan
I’m still not over her.
Ethan
But I had to make amends. Somehow.
Ethan
I left everything behind.
Ethan
I enlisted. I left and served my country and disappeared.
Ethan
It was the only thing I could possibly do.
Ethan
Four years, and now I’m out.
Ethan
And I’m hiding here, and it’s just as raw as it ever was.
Avery
What does your family think?
Avery
About you leaving football? And the company?
Ethan
I haven’t spoken to them in years. Since I left.
Avery
They don’t know where you are?
Ethan
No. And if I have my way, they never will.
Ethan
I’m done with that life.
Ethan
I’m done with everything it represents.
Ethan
I don’t think you get it. That life I had? It destroyed her.
Ethan
And I won’t let it destroy anyone else.
Avery
I mean, I ended up here because it was the last one at the end of a tank of gas.
Avery
Why’d you choose it?
Ethan
My bunk mate, on my second tour – he grew up here.
Ethan
We talked about it a lot on those blazing hot afternoons.
Ethan
He used to tell me about the big cedar trees and the shadows.
Ethan
He was killed by a roadside bomb.
Ethan
When I got back stateside, I figured I’d pass along my condolences to his family.
Ethan
Make sure they knew how proud I was to serve beside him.
Ethan
Turns out his dad owned a bar and wanted to sell it.
Ethan
So I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Avery
Maybe things were meant to turn out this way.
Ethan
It’s a lovely sentiment, but that would mean Callie was meant to die.
Ethan
And I refuse to believe that.
Avery
I’m sorry you lost her.
Avery
I know what it’s like when you lose someone important to you.
Avery
What it’s like to take someone for granted.
Avery
Until one day you wake up, and it’s the first day of the rest of your life without them.
Avery
I thought I’d grow up and get married in the same church as my parents.
Avery
That they’d grow old and become grandparents together.
Ethan
Does your dad know where you’re at?
Ethan
He must be worried sick.
Avery
That’s doubtful. He kind of lost himself when my mom passed.
Avery
I went to UCLA to study business.
Avery
I thought he’d be impressed with my degree and want me to join his real estate firm.
Avery
But it was like once I was out of sight…I was out of mind.
Ethan
When did you talk to him last?
Avery
A couple months ago.
Ethan
You should call him.
Avery
I will. Just not…not yet.
Ethan
Then promise me you’ll understand when I say I’m not ready to reconnect with my family, either.
Avery
How the hell did we manage to find each other, anyway?
Avery
Two people running from everything?
Avery
Hiding from everything?
Ethan
I don’t know. But I’m glad you walked in here a few days ago.
Ethan
Even if you did insinuate I wanted to run a strip club.
Avery
So what’s the plan, then?
Avery
Are we just gonna hide out here forever?
Ethan
Sounds like a dream come true to me.
Ethan tangles his hands into Avery’s hair, and the two kiss.
It starts out soft, almost hesitant, until Avery leans in, pressing her lips harder into his.
He groans, pulling her against him and deepening the kiss.
Avery wraps his arms around him, and he picks and carries her up to his bedroom.
They don’t care that the painters are still downstairs.
