Rosa winced. “No, not that…but maybe once we were home you’d have second thoughts and—”
“I love you,” Billy said. “I don’t care who knows it. I’m respecting your boundary on this.”
“Okay.” Rosa nodded, trying to think of their options. “So, did you have any ideas?”
“Many, all of which cross your boundaries so…I’m asking you.”
They were nearing the line for security. People up ahead were bunching closer together. They’d soon be right beside the girls.
“Let’s talk about it on the plane.”
The steward passed down the aisle, stopping to check that everyone had their seatbelts on. The girls were in the same seats they’d flown out on. Billy and Rosa, however, had had to take different seats. A man in a suit, bulky and very busy with his laptop, filled the aisle seat, meaning Rosa took the window and Billy slid into the middle space. She glanced back to where the girls were, one row behind and on the opposite side of the plane. Without a word, she slid her hand across and rested it intimately on Rosa’s thigh.
“What are you doing?” Rosa hissed, lifting the offending hand back onto Billy’s own leg.
“They can’t see us,” Billy whispered. Rosa craned her neck and peered through the gaps in the headrests.
“Just…don’t get too relaxed about it.”
“Alright. I was just trying to show how I feel.”
Rosa turned and saw the hurt as Billy’s face tightened. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound annoyed about it. I’m just aware that our daughter is right there.”
“So, how are we going to do this?” Billy asked, before clarifying. “When we’re home?”
“I suppose we can utilise the time when Imogen is busy. She has piano and guitar lessons on Monday nights. She’s gone for at least two hours. But I do have to drop her off and pick her up. On Tuesday and Thursday, she has football practice straight after school. She walks there but I need to pick her up at eight.”
Billy grinned and fidgeted in her seat to fish out her phone from her pocket. The man beside her huffed when her arm moved against his as she typed.
“Sorry,” she offered, then smiled before opening her phone’s diary and filling in the details. “Okay, Monday between…”
“Seven and nine,” Rosa answered.
She typed the information in. “Got it…and then Tuesday and Thursday, all day until eight?”
“I mean, yes...I guess so, but we both have to work.”
“You work mostly from home, and I can clear my schedule here and there for a few hours at the end of the day.” She held Rosa’s gaze. “I don’t want you to think that this is all on you to find time for me, or that all I want is to sneak around, have a quickie, and leave. I want us to spend time together—maybe go and do something now and then.”
Rosa’s lips twitched into a reluctant smile. “I want that too.” She hesitated and then reached for Billy’s hand. “I just don’t want to mess this up again.”
“We won’t. I won’t let us.” Billy grinned excitedly.
“She’s got football on Sundays. Every other week is an away game and I don’t go to those. Sometimes there is a weekday game in the evening, and Fridays she tends to stay at Robbie’s if she’s not with you. But Saturdays, Robbie and Janka will stay at mine.”
“So, maybe we have lots of time to fit things in?”
“I think we can definitely try.”
Chapter thirty-seven
They landed on time and fought their way through baggage claim and out through security with everyone else using the airport that day.
When they came out into arrivals, Janka’s mum and dad and Robbie’s family were all gathered together and rushed forward to greet their kids.
“Thank you so much,” Janka’s mum said. “We missed her so much.”
Georgia quietly wiped away a tear when Pippa pulled Robbie into a hug. “Happy birthday, Immy,” she said, sniffing away the emotions. “Thanks for taking good care of her,” she said to Billy, and then smiled at Rosa.
