Page 55 of Landing Love

“No,” he said, finishing the last of his buttons. “Quite the opposite. You see, I just married Ann Prince.”

“You what?” Pritchard stood there with his mouth hanging open.

Now that was the reaction he’d been hoping for. He couldn’t help but grin. “The day before yesterday, right after Hank’s wedding, we went to City Hall.”

Pritchard blinked at him and stared. Then his face broke out in a huge smile. “Congratulations, you crazy bastard! You and Hank in the same week. Must be something in the water. I’d better watch out or I’m going to find myself getting hitched too.” He threw an arm around Bill’s shoulder. “Bill O’Donnell is a married man. Imagine that! I guess this is the end of your wild adventures with ladies up and down the eastern seaboard.”

“About that…” Here it comes. Time to come clean. “I may have exaggerated my exploits. The truth is a girl I was seeing had a pregnancy scare a few years back. We were going to tie the knot, but she lost the baby and left me. Since then, I’ve been going home after a few kisses and leaving it at that. I said I did more because I thought it made a better story.” He paused. Pritchard was looking at him in confusion. “Ann convinced me to come clean.”

“I don’t understand. Are you trying to erase your storied history because your wife doesn’t approve? I saw you go home with those girls, O’Donnell.”

This was exactly what he feared.

“And I swear to you all I did was replace a lot of lightbulbs, fix a lot of leaky faucets, and steal a smooch or two.”

Pritchard raised an eyebrow. “If you say so, O’Donnell. I know your new wife is putting you up to this, so I’ll go along with it when she’s around. But you know I know the truth.”

Bill sighed. “Well, I tried. I have no proof to offer. You either believe me, or you don’t.”

At that moment, Thompson walked in. “Did you hear O’Donnell’s news?” Pritchard asked.

“No. What?”

“He married Ann Prince. Went to City Hall the day after Hawley’s wedding, the sly bastard. Now he’s trying to convince me not to let his wife know about his past exploits.”

Thompson came over and thumped Bill on the back. “Congratulations, you gangly buffoon! I thought Myrtle and I would beat all of you down the aisle, but boy was I wrong.”

“Thanks, Thompson. And I wasn’t trying to convince Pritchard to hide things from my wife. I was trying to come clean about what actually did and didn’t happen with those girls I took home.”

This was going poorly.

“He says he”—Pritchard paused to make quotes with his fingers—“‘only changed the ladies’ lightbulbs.’”

Thompson burst out in loud, raucous laughter. “Like hell you did, O’Donnell.”

“I’m serious,” Bill objected without much hope.

“You’re full of shit, and you know it,” said Pritchard, guffawing along with Thompson.

“That is some serious phonus bolonus,” Thompson said.

Bill shrugged and shook his head. “I tried, Ann,” he said to the ceiling. “If you gentlemen don’t mind, I have a plane to fly.”

And with that, he excused himself and headed out to his airplane.

21

Ann woke up in an unfamiliar bed, wondering where she was. It took her a moment to remember, but when she did, she rolled over to breathe in the lingering scent of Bill on his pillow. Her husband was away, but soon she would have him back in her arms where he belonged.

Lying in his bed, in his apartment, she felt his presence almost as strongly as if he were there. She shivered with pleasure at the memory of his touch, warmth gathering in her core at the mere thought. Covered in his blankets, she snuggled deeper and closed her eyes to enjoy the luxury of being surrounded by him.

Bill was so different from Roger. She shouldn’t be making comparisons, she knew, but she couldn’t help it. Roger was her first love, and she thought him perfection itself when they were together. Now that she had been with Bill, though, her horizons had been broadened. In the solitude of her revery, she could admit to herself that she and Roger never fit together as well as she and Bill, even if the very thought felt disloyal.

Roger always wanted to save her from having to do anything. He wanted her to quit teaching, even though they couldn’t afford it when they first married. When she took on tasks around the house that a man might do, he would get upset that she was overtaxing herself and insist on doing them himself. Bill, on the other hand, seemed to appreciate and value her independence, offering her options and help but never discouraging. Taking a year off for Junior didn’t make her fear she would never teach again, as it would have with Roger.

The way that Bill made her feel when he touched her was different too. She and Roger had a healthy and passionate love life, but with Bill, there was something more. Heat crackled between them whenever they were together, and he treated her with such sweet and tender devotion. Roger’s passion was a summer storm, sudden and torrential. Bill’s was a spring shower, long and lingering, bringing her to life, reviving her after a parched wait. With Roger, she felt like she was drowning in the fury of his need. With Bill, she felt awakened, made new.

And then there was Bill’s playful nature. Roger was always so serious. Even singing Gilbert and Sullivan, there was an undeniable earnestness to him. She always thought that made them well suited. They were so similar. But Bill’s joking and whimsical attitude towards her and life in general seemed to counterbalance her seriousness and bring out a side of her she’d never known existed. The love and laughter he offered buoyed her battered spirits as nothing else could.