Page 15 of We'll Meet Again

Ethan’s face flushed, mostly because they were right, he did think those things applied to Billie. But there was something more. “I dunno. Just got a feeling about her.”

“Had to be some serious feeling going on,” Hector joked, bouncing his eyebrows suggestively. “You tookwaytoo long to get your boots, bro.”

The guys all laughed and clapped Ethan playfully on the back.

“Nah, but seriously, Ethan,” Luka said after shushing everyone. “If you’re interested, you should go for it.”

“You think so?”

“Absolutely,” Artem interjected. “It was terrifying to ask Larysa out when I first met her, but I’m so happy I did. Now we’re a family, and in a few months, we’ll have our son. I wouldn’t have any of that if I didn’t take a chance.”

Ethan smiled. Then Israel nodded toward Jordan.

“What do you think, Captain?” Israel asked.

Jordan swallowed his sip of whiskey and looked hard at Ethan. “You’re a striker, Knight. Shoot your shot.”

Chapter 5

Ethansatstraightupin bed. Beads of sweat rolled down the back of his neck and over his forehead, but most of his skin was already sticky with it. He took a deep breath to ease his pounding heart, but that didn’t help a lick; it continued to race in his chest. He threw the covers off his legs, and the cool air provided some relief. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to push the dream to the back of his mind. That was where the memory usually stayed anyway. But his mother’s scream kept ringing in his ears. With a shake of his head, he got out of bed and padded out to his kitchen for some water. The dryness in his throat was the easiest thing to correct.

It was the worst day for this. He had his first match with Stanmore in a couple of hours. But of course that wretched nightmare came back to haunt him when he was least prepared for it. As he took a couple gulps of water, his free hand floated absentmindedly to the scar on his abdomen. It was such a small thing - slight discoloration, and a measly three inches wide - but he often felt it looked like a neon sign in Vegas. None of his teammates asked about it, to his relief, but they all had their share of scars. Exchanging horror stories would take another level of friendship. They just weren’t quite there yet. He wasn’t sure he ever would be.

He checked his phone, which told him it was just past one in the morning. Not too late to call Betty, he reasoned. Unless she was heading out on one of her usual Friday night dates. Suddenly, the distance between them felt even greater than the Atlantic Ocean. He was a day ahead of her already.

“Hey, sweetheart!” she chirped after two rings. “What’s going on?”

His heart twisted at the sound. God, he missed her. He cleared his throat. “I’m doing okay, just needed to…”

“Ethan, honey, are you alright?” she asked, sterner now. “I know you’ve got a big game today, but that’s no reason to be up at -” she paused, and he could picture her checking her watch. Well, her second watch. She wore two now, one with her time, and one with Ethan’s. “Great balls of fire, Ethan! You better get in bed or you’ll be too weak to whip a gnat!”

He chuckled, and some of the edge of the dream wore off. “I will, I just…couldn’t sleep.”

“Bad dream?” she asked. With all that water and hours between them, she still clocked it faster than he thought.

“Yeah,” he admitted.

“Snowy woods or the scar?”

“Scar,” he told her. The snowy woods dream hadn’t bothered him in a while, which he preferred. At least he knew where the dream about his scar came from.

“Who’re y’all playing today?”

“Crystal Palace,” he said, grateful she’d changed the subject. She always did. It was the one tactic his therapist suggested of working through this that she was capable of. “It shouldn’t be too bad. Our guys are good.”

“Are they being nice to you?”

“Most of them, yeah. This one guy - our left winger - he’s not taking too kindly to me, but apparently he was close to the guy whose job I took, so…I guess I understand.”

“Well, I don’t!” she said indignantly. “What’s not to like about you?”

“You may be a bit biased, Grandma,” he said, laughing quietly.

“I’m being entirely objective,” she insisted. “Besides, it’s not like they took that first guy out behind the shed and shot him, they can still be friends.”

At that, he full on laughed. “I guess you’re right.”

“I’m always right,” she said. She paused for a beat. “Are you meeting…anyone else over there?”

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