Page 34 of We'll Meet Again

She did not have time to express her sympathy for being neglected at such a young age before Rosa arrived with their drinks and began reading them the specials. But Billie could hardly focus. The more she learned about his mother, the more curious she was about the woman and what exactly had happened to her. Of course, since the interview, she knew that she had passed away, but Ethan was so reluctant to speak about her, and he was exceptionally careful with his words when he did.

“So, enough about me,” he said, after Rosa took their orders. “I wanna know more about you.”

She swallowed a sip of wine. “Like what?”

“Where’d you grow up?” he asked. “Here in London?”

“Yep,” she answered. “Not far from where I live now actually, and my parents are still there. My sister lives in Chelsea though.”

“You like it?”

“Sure,” she said with a shrug. “It’s convenient, it’s what I know. I’ve traveled to other places on holiday, but London has always been home.”

“Your sister, is she older or younger?” he asked.

“Older,” she said. “By eight years.”

“Shoo-wee, that’s quite the gap,” he said. “Which one was uh…”

“The accident?” she finished with a grin.

“Well, I wasn’t gonna say it like that,” he chuckled.

“It was me,” she admitted. “Sadly, I’m all too aware that I was the result of red wine and Valentine’s Day shenanigans.”

“Ooohh, they told you the story, huh?”

“Every year on my birthday.”

“Brutal,” he said with a solemn shake of his head.

“Tell me about it,” she said as she took another sip of wine.

“But it sounds like you’ve got a nice family,” he said.

“Yeah, I do,” she told him. “And of course my parents just adore their grandkids - my niece and nephew - and with them around, it’s never dull.”

“How old are the kiddos?”

“Liam is four and Grace is two,” she said. “So, full on terrors to their parents, but free entertainment for extended family.”

He laughed, a warm, deep sound that came from his chest. The kind of sound that wrapped someone up in its arms and swayed with them. Like soft music from a record player. That was Ethan’s voice.

“Kids are great,” he said.

“You want some of your own?” she asked.

“Someday, yeah,” he told her. “It makes me nervous since I didn’t have the best example growing up, but I think it’d be nice to have a family of my own.”

A picture suddenly appeared in her mind of Ethan with a child sitting atop those broad shoulders of his, joy on their faces and in their eyes. A man with that kind of heart would make a wonderful father. She wanted to press for more, but thought better of it.

Thankfully, Rosa swung by then with their food. When he thanked her by name again, she smiled wide. Billie was mid-bite when Ethan asked a question that made her set her fork back down.

“So, you really went out with Peter O’Riley?”

She groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

He chuckled. “I only ask because I find it so hard to believe.”

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