“Hey you, how did the meeting go? Are you the new It Girl to Be Seen?” Zhay teased her baby sister Chloe.

“I am the new It Girl, dear sister; so let’s go out tonight and toast my success.” It had been a longtime since the Daniels sisters went out and had a good time. Chloe knew that Zhay would go through her usual excuses, but she wasn’t going to entertain her refusals today.

Zhay groaned, “I can’t tonight babes, I am having dinner with Ethan.” She moved the phone from her ear knowing that Chloe’s screams and shouts of disapproval would certainly burst her ear drums. To her surprise there was nothing. “Chloe, are you still there?” Zhay asked looking at her phone to make sure that the call hadn’t dropped.

“I’m here.” Was Chloe’s cool response.  “Did you hear what I just said?” Zhay asked. Chloe responded yes but offered nothing further. “And?” Zhay asked now pacing her office. “And…what?” Chloe countered, “What do you want me to say?”

“Something, I don’t know anything.” Zhay was trying to remain calm; she didn’t want to get into another argument about Dax, with Chloe.  “So you are having dinner with Dax, where?” Chloe responded with fake enthusiasm. “Cubana.” Zhay gushed, already conjuring up all of her possible outfit choices.

“Ok well, enjoy; we can celebrate another night….”  Chloe offered in an attempt to end the conversation. “Chloe, please I need you to be happy for me; don’t do that, don’t rain on my parade. Dax and I only want to meet and talk, finally; nothing more.” Zhay promised.

Chloe knew that she was being hard on Zhay, but she just felt so helpless watching her sister suffer through her depression and then struggling through her recovery. She wanted to be happy for her sister because she knew that Zhay loved Dax so much, but she couldn’t watch her sister go through another setback in her recovery if this “reunion” did work out well.

“Listen Zhay, if this is what you want, then I am happy for you; but I have to tell you that I am worried about the timing of this whole let’s talk thing. Don’t you find it odd that he wants to talk now that he’s been served with divorce papers?” Zhay knew that Chloe meant well, but still she wanted her support on this.

“Yes, but he was so adamant about us talking and Chloe he says that he doesn’t want a divorce, he wants us back.” Zhay barely finished before the tears started crawling down her face. “I love him, Sunny and I want this work.”

 “I know you do, and I hate to be such a Debbie downer, I just worry about you that’s all. I don’t want you to be hurt, if this meeting does work out they way you want it to.  Hey why don’t I come over and help you get dressed. It’s been a while since you’ve been out on a date.” Chloe teased, trying to lighten the tone of the conversation.

Zhay laughed lightly, “Thank you, I just have one more patient to see and need to finish a few things; then I am on my way home. So give me an hour or so.”

“Perfect that gives me enough time to go through your closet and hopefully find something that I like on you…. you know what I‘ll just bring some things over. You’ve lost so much weight, your sexy clothes won’t fit right.” Chloe uttered more to herself than Zhay.

“My sexy clothes?” Zhay laughed, “See you in a few.” She smiled a genuine smile, Zhay was feeling good. She was no longer feeling anxious, but a bit excited about seeing Ethan tonight. Good thoughts she told herself as she headed out of her office to see her final patient of the day.

***************************************************************

“Are we sure that he is still in there?” Harper asked Mason again. He wanted to be 100 percent sure before he called Rosie to give her an update.  Mason confirmed with the crew that managed to evacuate the building after the first blast that Dax was not among those being treated by the EMTs.

Harper made the dreaded call and hoped that Dax would be found alive. “Rosie, I’m here and Dax… Mason is certain that Dax never made it out. Yes, his car is still here. OK. I’m not leaving until….until.... I’ll call as soon as I know something.” Harper was still in shock.

***********************************************************************************

“Hi Rose, have you managed to track down Ethan?” Barron asked, trying to sound nonchalant only for the benefit of his client. He was fuming that both Dax and Harper had not turned up for lunch. “And has Harper fallen into the abyss as well, we started lunch without them.”

“Barry, there was…..you need to um, I’m not sure how…Ethan…?” Rosie sniffled. Immediately Barron tensed up, she was crying, “What’s wrong sugar?” Barron asked.

“There was an explosion….at one of Mason’s sites and…..” Barron sat straight up at that, “a building collapsed…Harper is there and…they……they think that Ethan is trapped inside the rubble.” Rosie barely got out.

“What?” Barron screeched into the phone, drawing the attention of the other patrons. Rosie repeated all that she knew and details of the rescue plans thus far. “Tell Harper and Mason I’m on my way.”  A thousand thoughts and images of Dax flashed in Barron’s mind.

“Listen, David I’m sorry to cut lunch short but, Ethan maybe hurt at one of Hampton-Grey’s worksite. There was some kind of explosion, so I need to….” Barron started but couldn’t finish.

“Go, make sure that Dax is well; please just, let us know that he is ok.” David stated, hoping that it was nothing serious. But he too knew that an explosion of any kind wasn’t good.

***************************************************************

The valet brought Barron’s car around; he got in but didn’t drive off right away. His thoughts were all over the place. He prayed that Dax wasn’t severely injured; his thoughts drifted to their earlier conversation and he hated that their last exchange ended in an argument.  He paused to calm himself. He started to dial Alise, but stopped; he would call her when he knew exactly what they were up against. Hoping that he gathered enough strength to face what waited for him, he eased his BMW into traffic and headed to the construction site just a few miles away.

Rosie sat at her desk, monitoring the lasted developments of the tower collapse via live reports on CNN. Anxious to hear any news from the scene, she picked up the phone twice to call Harper but didn’t. Then it occurred to her that perhaps, she should call Zhay but decided against it. She didn’t want to alarm her if, Dax was found ok at the scene. She was sitting there praying that that truly would be the case.

**********************************************************

Once Barron neared the construction site he was awestruck by the complete chaotic nature of the collapse. The towers that he had driven past this morning were no more, reduced to nothing more than steel and concrete debris, possibly trapping his son in their falling furor. He parked in a nearby lot, that appeared to be a make shift command center for rescue personnel. Every where he looked there were emergency response vehicles. He immediately called Harper, who provided him with their location. Barron steeled himself for anything, but hoping that he wouldn’t have to make that phone call to Rosie and Alise.

Harper sat in stunned silence as Mason continued to bark orders. The heavy equipment on loan was now on site and in use. They were hopeful when they initiated the rescue efforts as they dug out 7 members of the crew from the main tower entrance. But their glee was short lived when the engineers advised that they needed to scale back the use of the heavy equipment; due to the issue of the area becoming too unstable to support the additional weight.

“Dax came out, as a favor to me and walks into this shit. He knew something was wrong; and so did I.” Mason mumbled more to himself than to the others in the room. Harper knew that Mason was about to lose his shit; he had been blaming himself for the accident, though everyone had been trying to assure him that Dax and the other men would make it out ok. But they both new that time was ticking for all of them still trapped.

Just then Barron entered the make shift war room, where all the top rescue personnel were meeting to re-strategize and evaluate their options. Mason rushed over to speak with him, barely holding it together.

“Mr. Daxton, this is all my fault, Dax was here as a favor. He knew something was wrong in fact he was going to call you out to get your opinion. He taught me better, I didn’t follow through with my own thorough investigation; Dax always advised me to know all the players on the team and because I didn’t he…..those jokers out of Houston are going to regret the day the day they decided to screw with me.” Mason rambled on.

“Son, listen” Barron took Mason by the shoulders attempting to calm him down, “this isn’t your fault. The most important thing right now, is rescuing the others. Don’t worry about Harmon Brothers; they are going to regret the day that they messed with the Daxtons.” Mason hung his head absorbing what Barron had just said. “Now where are we in the rescue efforts? It has already been what, 4 hours since the towers collapse?” Barron questioned.

Mason relayed all the details of the rescue efforts and introduced him to everyone present. Barron spoke with the engineers to get their take on the situation and began making calls of his own to some of his contacts.

*********************************************************

Before pulling out of the parking lot, Zhay listen to the message from Adam and tried to call him back. The call went straight to voice mail and she made a mental note to try reaching him again later on tonight or early in the morning. She knew that he would be worried about her and wanted to let him know that she was ok.

*********************************************************

“So the cowboy called you all weepy and shit, begging you not to divorce him huh?” Chloe asked as Zhay changed into yet another outfit, relaying the details of her earlier phone conversation with Dax. “Serves him right for the way he’s been treating you.”

“Why do you still call him ‘the cowboy’?” Zhay laughed already knowing the answer to that. “And he wasn’t weepy, just….I don’t know……humble.”

“Come on, Dax humble? And you know why I call him the cowboy.” Chloe laughed. Zhay laughed too and smiled as her thoughts drifted to that afternoon when she first met Dax.

“She seems a bit smitten with you, Zhay. Do you still ride?” Erin Grey asked watching Zhay brush the horse’s mane.

Erin and Zhay had become fast friends in Medical School and always took time to catch up with each other; vowing never to let life get in the way, they opted to spend long weekends enjoying whatever city the decided to invade; sampling everything that the city had to offer. This year since Erin was in residency at Jackson Memorial in Miami and Zhay was at University Hospital in Durham, they decided to meet somewhere in the middle, Atlanta. Erin figured she could kill two birds with one stone; visit with her family and catch up with Zhay. The ladies decided to spend a few days in the city and sometime at the Grey Family Ranch.

“I do, but not as often as I’d like. Amira is gorgeous. She is an Andalusian, right?” Zhay asked still petting the dark brown horse with the shiniest coat she’d ever seen.

“Yes, she is and for an opening bid of a mere $20,000; she can be all yours. She is the grand item up for bid in this year’s charity auction.” Zhay turned towards the person who’d just uttered that tidbit of information and couldn’t stop the   laugh that escaped upon seeing Mason.

Erin rolled her emerald green eyes shook her head causing her long auburn tresses to sway and took to laughing at her brother too.“What the hell are you wearing?” Erin asked Mason as he entered the stalls.

“What? It’s my party clothes, I’m the resident rancher; I have to look the part, pearl shirt, six shooter, spurs and all.” He offered, drawing attention to his feet encased in ostrich skin boots, dusting off his chaps, and making sure that the lasso that was tied to his waist was still in place.

“You look ridiculous.” Erin teased, wiping an errant tear from her right eye; she and Zhay were cackling so hard they both teared up a little.

“Well I have it on good authority that chicks, dig a strapping cowboy.” Mason remarked tipping the brim of his exaggerated frontier cowboy hat.

“Only the mindless twits that you seem to attract would ‘dig’ this get up; it screams bleed my pockets dry because  not only I’m I an easy target, but the biggest loser at this party.” Erin choked out between giggles.

“Laugh if you want too sis; but I know what the ladies love.” Mason said winking at them and picking up a bale of hay, moving it to another stall. “Did you want to take Amira out for a trot?” He asked Zhay, ignoring Erin, while shifting saddles and blankets around the stall.

“Could I? I mean if she is up for bid…I don’t want to spoil her for showing or anything.” Zhay wanted to take her out but not at the risk of injury. She knew that Mason held the annual BBQ every year at his family’s ranch to help raise money for the Starlight- Starbright Foundation and each year they ended the party by auctioning off a grand item; this year it was Amira.

“No, it’s cool, you can trot her around the corral if you want or Joe can take you out to the pasture.” He nodded towards the corral and then screamed for Joe, the ranch hand to saddle Amira for Zhay. Zhay jumped at the chance to ride on Amira but insisted that they only trotted around the corral.

The siblings continued to rib each other and groom the other horses while Zhay was out on her trot. They talked and caught up on each other’s lives, until they heard the heavy fall of footsteps entering the stables. Turning to see who was joining them in the stables, Erin dropped her head in exasperation.

“Oh for fucks sake, not you too Dax?” Erin screeched at her brother’s friend, throwing up her hands.  Mason immediately went over to greet his friend. The men exchanged pleasantries and complimented each other on their outfits; all the while completely ignoring Erin’s witty comments regarding their choices.Walking over to her brother and his friend, Erin perused Dax’s Wild West get up. “What is this rodeo clown day at the Grey Family Stables?” 

“What? I’ll have you know that this is the latest in Wild West cowboy chic, hot off the runways of Wyoming.” Dax smiled, pulling on the lapels of his charcoal frock coat, adjusting the black Sunday-go-to-meeting tie and smoothing down his crimson brocade vest. He was also sporting the requisite tight jeans, snake skin boots and 10 gallon hat.“You look like an extra from Dr. Quinn Medicine woman.” Erin snickered, “I swear you and my brother….” Erin exhaled nosily.

Just then Zhay returned from her trot and entered the stables still seated on Amira. She was still cooing over the animal when she noticed that someone else had joined their mini pre-party in the stables. In a word, the man was simply striking; trapping her with his beautiful sea green eyes, he watched her every move. The new arrival was gorgeous, with his movie star good looks, hint of stubble sprinkled along his jaw line; tall and lean exuding pure maleness and oh so sexy. He knew it too, evidence by the arrogant smirk on his face. He knew Zhay was checking him out and he was enjoying it. 

“And who is this little filly?” Dax asked appraising both the horse and the rider. He stood there taking in Zhay’s effortless beauty. Beautiful earthen toned skin, blessed with sparkling cognac eyes, luscious, kissable lips, capped with a crown of soft dark brown waves. Stunning.“Her name is Amira.” Was the haughty reply that Zhay tossed to the handsome newcomer, tapping the horse on the head.“Amira. Beautiful name, she is a princess of a horse.” He agreed, moving to pet her. “But I was referring to you, lovely.” Dax grinned, much to Zhay’s annoyance.

“Oh my god…do those lines really work on women?” Erin voiced wrinkling her nose at Dax, “That was the cheesiest shit that I’ve ever heard, that’s it I’m done.” Walking out of the stables mumbling that she couldn’t take anymore of Mason and Dax’s bullshit, she called to Zhay for them to go find Chloe and get ready for the party.

“Here darlin’, let me help you down.” Dax offered, helping Zhay off Amira. “Ethan Daxton at your service, but you beautiful may call me Dax; all of my friends do.” She took his hand eased off the horse being careful not to spook her.“Well Ethan, when I’ve come to regard you as a friend, I’ll be sure to remember that.” Zhay winked at him. After thanking Mason again for letting her ride Amira, she caught up to a still amused Erin, who was heading to the house to get ready for the BBQ.

Dax laughed at her response as she sashayed out of the stables. Nice, he thought; appreciating her lovely physique, home to curves in all the right places. Damn it her name. She didn’t give it to him.“Fuck me Mason, who is sexy chocolate and where have you been hiding her?” Dax uttered as his eyes followed Zhay’s disappearing form down the path to the ranch house.

“Oh no! No...No….no…Zhay is off limits, she is a good girl; not like the um…worldly women that you and I spend time with.” Mason exclaimed shaking his head ‘no’, walking out of the stables and heading to the newly erected bar built special for the BBQ.

“I think I’ve just been insulted.” Dax stopped, clutching his heart. “Are you implying that I’m not good enough for Zhay? Is that her name?  Zhay. Fuck, that’s sexy. “No. I’m not implying, I am stating.  Dr. Zaire Daniels is most certainly too good for you.” Mason stated in earnest. “She and Erin are buddies from med school.” “Brains and beauty? Zaire……” Dax smiled. “Sexy name, hottest thing on two legs that I’ve seen in a very long time. It doesn’t get any better than that. Oh I’m in love.”

Dax sighed. “How come I’ve never met her before?“She and Erin usually take their annual girl’s trip on the road, but this year they decided to hang out in Atlanta.” Mason continued, stopping to talk to the staff ensuring that all of the arrangements for the party were to his liking. “Is she dating anyone?” Dax questioned, smiling at the possibility of wooing the charming doctor.

“Leave her alone, Dax, I’m serious. Zhay isn’t the kind of girl you hunt for sport; she is loving and caring and she only deserves in-kind; she is long-term, only you, wife material.” Mason warned.”I mean it. I’ve come to love her as a sister and I will protect her honor just like I would Erin. Even from you.”

“Now I really am insulted.” Dax stopped walking to look at his friend to see if he was serious. Mason wasn’t smiling he meant every word. “I swear to you, my intentions are honorable; I just want to get to know her. That’s all.” Dax threw his hands up in mock surrender.“Well you’ll get no help from me.” Mason stopped to hold Dax’s stare, “If you want to get to know Zhay, you do it on your own; and you damn well better be sincere. However, as your friend I won’t mar your um…good intentions. But if you do anything to hurt her, I will take it personally.” Mason cautioned, walking off without waiting for a reply from Dax.

Hearing Chloe’s continued laughter shook Zhay from reminiscing on that day.  

“Come on he’ll forever be the cowboy, who could forget, meeting him at Mason’s Memorial Day BBQ; he was wearing that silly cowboy hat and frontier coat with those snake skin boots. Oh and how could I forget those tight ass Wrangler jeans that he had on, who knew that they still made them?” Chloe could barely get out through her fits of laughter. “He looked like Kenny Rodgers from the Gambler.”

Zhay threw a discarded dress at her sister but Zhay couldn’t help it, she started laughing too, “It was a ‘How the West was Won’ themed party, and if I recall correctly, we both were similarly dressed. You’re just mad because Dax’s lizard skin boots were hotter than yours; besides his butt was starring in those jeans.”

“Perhaps….” Chloe demurred, but continued laughing at the image of Dax in his cowboy get up. “I must admit, though he looked and acted like a cowboy, I mean staking his claim on you and all; he turned out to be a walking contradiction. He was all heart. Not to mention that he only knew you for a few hours and bought you a freaking Andalusian. I mean who does that? Buy a girl he barely knows a horse….?”

Zhay smiled, “Dax, that’s who. He’s was such a flirt and show off bidding on that horse because he knew I fell in love with her. Besides he was just trying to impress me, luckily for him I was somewhat interested. Though when he gifted me Amira it didn’t hurt his chances, to ah…..get to know me better. Zhay smiled. Oh and for the record, his outfit was 10 times better than Mason’s get up.”  Both sisters broke out in a fit of laughter remembering Mason’s rodeo cowboy garb.

“I’m glad that you two are going to talk and try to work things out. I miss you both.” Chloe got up and walked over to where Zhay stood in front of her mirror and gave her big sister a hug.  It had been a while since Zhay had a reason to smile and Chloe was genuinely happy for her. A perfect photo opportunity she thought as they looked at their reflection in the mirror.

“Gosh we’re some pretty people.” Chloe dead panned and they both broke out into another round of giggles. Zhay tried on another dress and Chloe cranked up the music. “What about this one?” Zhay asked twirling around so that her sister could see the black jersey tube dress from all angles.

“Does it say, I miss you lover please come home or take me in the parking lot right now?” Zhay asked looking for some accessories to match.

 Chloe quirked an eyebrow at her, “Do you want him to take you in the parking lot?” she smiled at her sister and picked through the remaining clothes on the bed. Zhay blushed but didn’t answer. “Hmmm, you need a dress that screams, hot & sexy sophisticated wife; but I can still be a little skank on the sly.” Chloe advised.

“A skank on the sly?” Zhay laughed. “Yes!” Chloe insisted. “If it were me, the dress that I’d be wearing would scream a whole lotta skank…no scratch that; a whole lotta slutty and just enough wifey; show Dax what he’s been missing all these months.”

“But I’ve lost so much weight; my sexy is definitely not back yet.”  Zhay chided, looking at her almost nonexistent butt.

“True…” Chloe teased, “But you can borrow some of mine; we’re about the same size now; if you exclude those melons that you haul around. Here try this on.” Chloe teased pointing to Zhay’s chest, “You didn’t lose any weight there.”

Zhay punched Chloe on the arm for her comment but took the hot pink Claudia Pegus halter styled wrap dress with the deep v in the front and admired it; looking at the color against her skin, it was perfect. It was exactly what she wanted, sexy, flirty but still sophisticated. “This is perfect! But what about my um… little bit of slutty?”

Chloe laughed and fished a pair of Ana Locking python strappy stilettos and the matching clutch out of her arsenal and handed them to Zhay. “Now try them on, so we can figure out what to do with your hair.”

The sisters continued dressing Zhay for her date, oblivious to the chaos that was unraveling just miles away.

****************************************************************

“Mason, this is the statement that PR has prepared for the new conference.” Jenna handed her boss the file and then scurried away.

Mason made a mental note to apologize to Jenna as well as his entire staff. He was slowly succumbing to the pressure and had been lashing out to more than one person on staff today.  He tried to calm his thoughts and read over the press statement but his thoughts would return to Dax. Mason was grateful that Barron had stepped in and essentially took over the rescue efforts.

Barron, Dax and Harper were in China a few years ago during that country’s deadly earthquake. Due to the nature of their business they were asked to survey damage and offer possible clean up solutions. Drawing on that past experience, Barron outlined a concise plan aimed at rescue and recovery while removing debris that would help stabilize the site.

“We assure you, that our efforts are still focused on the rescue of our construction crew.” Mason responded as he answered yet another question from the reporters at the press conference.

“Mr. Grey, how many men are still unaccounted for?”

“We have accounted for all of our crew, but if you are asking how many men are still trapped, then that number is 13.”

“And after approximately 6 hours you are still holding out hope that the men are still alive?”

“Without speculating too much, we think that due to the way in which the towers collapsed the men may be trapped inside with air pockets.”

“So you have determined that this was a collapse and not a blast or an explosion.”

“Again, I am not going to comment on what caused this incident until we are confident with the findings of the investigation. Thank you everyone.”

Mason left the press conference amid the flash of cameras and still questioning reporters.  He was relieved to learn that Barron and the others had made great progress while he was being grilled by the press like a slab of ribs. He was actually feeling hopeful; he didn’t want to admit it but initially he had actually begun to fear the worst.

Harper and Mason left the trailer to give Barron some privacy to call Alise. Barron knew that she was beyond fearful, that they would face the unavoidable; the critical injury of their son or worst, his death. He sat for a few minutes thinking through all that had happen during the day and was too overcome with emotion to hold it in any longer. He cried tears of joy, sorrow and fears for the unknown. He spent the past few hours seemingly on auto pilot because he knew that he needed to maintain a clear head to help rescue Dax and the others.

“Sir,” Harper quietly interrupted his thoughts, “The EMTs are prepping him for transport, and they want to know if you’ll ride with them to the hospital.

“Yes, of course.” Was the whispered response from the ever unassailable, Barron Daxton.

“I’ll let them know and will meet you there; I’ll call Rosie as well, she was anxious about his condition.” Harper advised.

“I’ll call her; I……..I need her…um… to work on a press release before it gets leaked to the media.” Barron supposed, still holding his cell phone in hand.

“Of course.” Harper agreed and left Barron to compose himself and make his calls.

*******************************************************

 “What are you thinking about?” Chloe asked noticing that Zhay zoned out for few minutes as she added a few more curls to her hair.

Zhay gazed at her reflection in the mirror and thought about what she wanted from this meeting with Dax.  “I was just thinking that in a few minutes, Dax and I will finally sit down and talk about us; finally decide if their can still be an us. I’m so scared, I miss him so much.” Zhay confessed practically on the verge of tears yet again.

“Oh Sunny, I know. I know how hard this past year has been on both of you. But I firmly believe that Dax still loves you.” Chloe assured reaching in to give her sister yet another hug; she couldn’t imagine the anxiety that she was feeling after not seeing her husband in months.

“Oh Chloe, I still love him; after everything that we’ve been through this last year, my heart still beats for him.” Zhay confessed with a sad laugh, “Lame I know especially after the way he has treated me.”

“No, not lame; honest and endearing.” Chloe assured, fluffing her hair and putting the finishing touches on Zhay’s make-up.

Zhay smiled at Chloe. She had been such a big help in her recovery. She practically put her modeling career on hold, opting only to take jobs that kept her away from Atlanta for a few days; so she was in place to drive Zhay to her doctor’s appointments and providing her with company in their big, lonely house.

She checked her reflection in the mirror and couldn’t believe the transformation, she looked gorgeous. “Wow Chloe, you do fabulous work. I am all layers of hotness.” Zhay admitted with little modesty.

“Damn right you are, the cowboy is going to swallow his tongue when he sees you tonight.”

Zhay stood up from her vanity and walked over to her full length mirror, “So, um you’re sure that this outfit is ok right. I mean I look sexy but not slutty right? The dress is enough but not too much? Chloe laughed, but assured Zhay that she did in fact look amazing.

“OK you, you need to get going; you know traffic sucks right about now and you don’t want to be late.”  Atlanta traffic was an institution. It just might be the only place where rush hour traffic lasted well into the night.

Zhay checked her watch, gathered her clutch and wrap and headed downstairs, “Oh can you…” before she could finish, Chloe had already grabbed the leash to take Toodles, her beloved Pomeranian out for her nightly walk. “Thanks babes, I owe you one.”

“No problem. Um, Zhay, are you ok to drive? I know that it has been a while since you’ve driven at night? Chloe asked, walking Zhay to her car. “Yes, I’m fine. Thanks for everything. I’ll call you if I need anything. I promise. Wish me luck.”

With that Zhay got into her car, zipped down the drive way and out of the estate; both excited and nervous about having dinner with Ethan.