Page 50 of We'll Meet Again

“It really was kind of her,” Billie replied. She met his gaze again. “Can I ask…what became of your father?”

“Hard to figure out if you don’t know who he is,” he said.

She blinked, taken aback. “You mean, you really have no idea?”

“My grandmother said it was likely one of two men,” he explained. “The first was…the guy who stabbed me, actually. Sometimes, if Mom didn’t have the money, she would…well, she would pay with a different kind of currency.”

“Jesus…” Billie said under her breath.

“The other option was a truck driver she met at the diner she worked at,” he went on. “He was a kind man, apparently, but just passing through town. She didn’t know enough about him to find him after he’d gone.”

“Well, it must be him,” she said with a definitive nod. “No way you’re the son of someone capable of stabbing a child.”

He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’ve always hoped so.”

“Have you ever tried to find out?”

He shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t care which of them is my father.”

Her brow furrowed. “How do you mean?”

“I’m neither of their son,” he said, and nodded toward the picture of his mother. “I’m hers.”

The corners of her mouth turned up into a soft smile and he swore he heard her sniffle. “Can I give you a hug?”

“I really wish you would, darlin’.”

She cast herself into his waiting arms, tucking her head beneath his chin. That warm, vanilla scent washed over him from the top of her head. He rested his cheek there and took a deep breath, letting himself sag against her.

Ethan was surprised by the ease with which he admitted all of this. It should have made him feel as vulnerable as if she’d stripped him naked, but with Billie, it wasn’t. It helped that she approached it with curiosity and understanding. She didn’t see him differently now or put him back in the box of “poor white trailer trash” he had grown accustomed to. His last girlfriend - Sarah, of course - had actually recoiled at the story. Billie embraced him and told him his mother was beautiful. How had he gotten so lucky to find her?

“Thank you,” he murmured into her hair.

“What for?”

“Being so understanding,” he said. “My ex…well, when she heard the story, she told me to lie to her parents if it ever came up around them. She was real ashamed of my…history.”

She pulled away to look at him and blinked several times. “She…what the fuck?”

He bit back a smile. “I know, I should have seen that breakup coming from -”

“She seriously asked you to do that?”

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “She set a lot of expectations for me that I wasn’t able to meet.”

“Well, she sounds like proper cu-”

He cut her off by tugging her gently back into his arms as he chuckled. He didn’t like talking badly about his ex, even if Billie’s defensiveness was absolutely adorable. “That’ll do, darlin’.”

She rested her head back on his chest. He didn’t want her anger - not when he was so enjoying her tenderness.

“Thanks for being here,” he murmured.

She looked up and met his gaze. His heart did a backflip.

“Of course,” she said. “I’m relieved you even let me in, I wasn’t sure if you wanted to be alone or if -”

She stopped short when he tucked her hair behind her ear. “Now that I’ve met you, darlin’, I’m not sure I ever want to be alone again.”

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