Page 16 of We'll Meet Again

He almost rolled his eyes, knowing what she was after. She wanted to know if he had met a girl. And he’d barely been in London a week! Part of him wanted to tell her about Billie, but what exactly was there to tell? They had interacted a couple times, and he hadn’t really seen her since. In fact, he got the distinct impression she was ignoring him. She always looked resolutely away from his building when she went to work. Probably because she was embarrassed about what he’d seen in the boot room, which he didn’t care a thing about, but there was no way for her to know that. All he really had was that she was pretty, and she felt familiar somehow.

“Well…” he began, but trailed off again.

Betty gasped. “Youdid!”

“How’d you know?”

“Because if you didn’t you’d’ve just said no, flat out!” she shot back. “Who is she? What’s her name? How’d you meet her?”

He heaved a sigh. “Her name is Billie, she works in the legal department at the club, and we met when I went to sign my papers.”

“Have you asked her on a date yet?” she pressed.

“I haven’t really had the chance,” he said. “I want to, but…”

“But what?”

“I dunno,” he said. “Have you ever met somebody and felt like you’ve met them before? Like you know them better than you really should?”

It sounded stupid the moment the words left his mouth, but Betty wouldn’t judge. Well, not too harshly anyway. She had never been much of a romantic the way Ethan was. She hummed thoughtfully on the other end of the line.

“No, I can’t say I have,” she said. “Sounds like fairy tale stuff to me.”

“Well, she’s prettier than any princess I ever saw,” he blurted.

“Listen to you,” she teased. “Talking so sweet.”

He flushed and looked at the floor. This wasn’t a subject he brought up very often to his grandmother. Mostly because there wasn’t usually anything to talk about. Since Sarah, he had been on three dates? Four, maybe? None of them went anywhere. This was different, though. Every time he was near Billie, he never wanted the moment to end. He hoped chance brought them together soon, at least long enough to ask for her phone number. Then maybe they could see each other on purpose.

“I don’t know much about her, but I haven’t been this interested in someone since… I dunno, ever?” he said.

“Well, you be good to her then.”

“Of course. You raised me to be a good man, and I try my best to be that.”

“You are that,” she insisted. “But you were born with a good heart, honey. And if this girl is lucky enough, she’ll get to see it too.”

He started to protest, but he heard the doorbell ring on her end. “You got a hot date tonight?”

“Oh, Ethan, this man is gorgeous,” she said dreamily. “We met at the beach while I was out for my lunchtime walk.”

“Today?” he asked.

“Well, of course, honey, I don’t believe in wasting time!”

“I’ll let you go, then,” he said, smiling. “Good luck.”

“You too, sweetheart,” she said, voice gentler. “I’ll talk to you after the game, alright?”

“You’ll be watching?”.

“I always do.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too,” she replied. “Bye-bye, darling.”

She hung up. Thankfully, she had successfully shaken off the dream. The nightmare, really, and Ethan felt like he could return to bed. His eyelids were getting heavy again. But when he closed them, he had another dream. Nicer, but more vague than the nightmare. In it, he was in a field of golden yellow wildflowers, staring up at the blue sky. Billie lay beside him on the ground, her eyes finding his when she raised her chin. Something tore at his gut because he was leaving her. For what, he didn’t know, but it was breaking his heart. He woke more peacefully the second time, despite his alarm blaring, and he groaned. Now, he had to return to the real world, with only the cold and the match ahead of him.

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