Page 109 of We'll Meet Again

At this point, he was fully prepared to pry open his chest and completely surrender his heart to her. It was in her hands anyway.

Tucking the photo into his shirt pocket, he reached over and cupped her face, gently wiping away the dampness on her cheek with his thumb. Her eyes - red and puffy, but hopeful - searched his as she sniffled.

“I love you too, Billie,” he said.

Relieved laughter burst from her chest. “Do you, really?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

With that, he kissed her. It shouldn’t have been possible to kiss with how widely they were smiling, but somehow they managed. Billie climbed onto his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself as close to him as she could while their lips moved in time with the tide.

“I missed you,” she whispered. “Fuck, Ethan, I missed you so much.”

“I missed you more,” he replied, holding her flush against him.

She pulled back to look him in the eyes again. “This is it, yeah? No more messing about, it’s you and me, right?”

“You and me, darlin’,” he assured her with a squeeze. Because who else could there possibly be after nearly eighty years of being apart? They were set in stone now. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Me neither.”

A sudden warmth on his face made Ethan look up. “What d’you know? The sun came out.”

Billie turned to look and the brightness so illuminated her skin, she was like a goddess. She grinned. “So it has.”

They were still kissing when the first vacationers arrived to start their days.

Epilogue

OneMonthLater

“Need any help with that?” Billie offered, nodding toward the plates Betty got down from the cabinet. “I’m not the best cook, but I can certainly set a table.”

“I’ll let ya,” Betty said, and handed them over.

Billie set them around the table, followed by silverware and water glasses. The past couple weeks here had been heaven. Ethan was wonderful, though she did see a bit of his temper when she told him what happened in Tony’s office. She only got him calm after assuring him Jordan came to her rescue in plenty of time, and she was pressing charges against Tony.

Betty was bewildered, but understanding about the connection they’d discovered. The three of them had spent nearly every day on the beach, relaxing and soaking up sun. Billie had never been so tan - London was so often covered in clouds and rain. Ethan still mourned the loss of his coach, but the gift of the watch comforted him. She often found him looking at it with a fond little smile.

Unfortunately, their last night in Carolina Beach had come. Far too soon, in Billie’s opinion, but Chelsea was ready to get Ethan started. The new season would begin next month, and he needed to be in top form.

To give them a good send off, Betty made one of Ethan’s favorite meals - a pot roast with green beans, potatoes, and carrots. She had it cooking slowly in the crock pot all day, and the whole house smelled like perfectly seasoned meat. Billie spent most of the day outside, not only to enjoy the last few hours of great weather, but also to avoid her stomach rumbling every time she passed the kitchen.

“Y’all got everything ready?” Betty asked.

“I think so,” Billie replied. “We’ll be able to check in on our phones, which saves us some time. Though we’ll still need to leave here around four tomorrow morning.”

Betty huffed. “I swear the way these airlines operate is fucked up as a football bat. Your flight’s not till noon!”

Billie chuckled, making a mental note to put “fucked up as a football bat” somewhere in her vocabulary. “Well, international flights always take longer to get through with all the extra security. And Ethan’s a bit fussy about being early.”

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me, honey,” Betty said as she took the lid off the crock pot, releasing a plume of steam, and she poked at the roast with a fork. “Speaking of which, where is he? This is about ready.”

“He’s outside, saying goodbye to Lula Mae.”

“Oh, for God’s sake.”

“I’ll go get him,” Billie said through a laugh.

---