"You aren't really going to take it, are you?" Ann was stunned at her friend's announcement. "That would mean you would have to leave here; you would leave Oahu."
Sarah smiled at her as they walked down the beach along the water's edge. "I haven't said yes, exactly. I don't like the idea of leaving home but the Air Force has offered me a great opportunity to work at a base stateside. It would mean more money and more responsibility and it's a challenge I feel that I'm up to."
She didn't want to ask but couldn't help but wonder if Hank's budding relationship with Evelyn was influencing her friend's decision. Sarah seemed to sense her question because Ann never got the chance to ask. "This doesn't have anything to do with them. You seem to forget that I broke things off and as it turns out my suspicions were correct. Annie, this could be the job of a lifetime and I don't think that I should pass it up. Dad and Mama are all for it and Danny and Joe have given me their okay too." She laughed. "It seems that the only person I need to convince is you."
"Have you told Hank about it?" It was habit she knew, but Ann could have kicked herself for the question. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right." Sarah put a hand on her arm. "I haven't told him because it isn't his concern anymore. Besides, if I told him he might think I'm taking the job so that I won't have to see him with Evelyn."
"He asks about you and wonders how you are." Ann told her. "He still cares Sarah."
She looked a little uncomfortable as she nodded. "I know he does and I know he asks about me but he needs to stop doing that."
"Then you should tell him because I don't think that he'd listen to anyone else but you. I know that you haven't talked to him since you broke up with him but maybe it's time you did." Ann urged.
"I don't think so Annie." She shook her head firmly in the negative. "I said what I needed to say at the time and even though he didn't want to admit it, he knew that I was right. One of the reasons I took the job at Hickam and got an apartment off base was to put distance between us. It's really helped because I hardly ever see him and it's made it much easier to let go of what I felt for him. That was the hard part for me and it's time for him to let go of any kind of feeling for me if his relationship with Evelyn is going to work.
Sarah stopped for a moment and looked at Ann. "She's a nice girl and seems to care for him a lot. She deserves to have all of his attention and all of his feelings which means that there can't be any room for regret or guilt over what he should or shouldn't have done about us."
"So is it true that you're going to take the job at Travis?" Hank's voice seemed to come out of nowhere and startled the daylights out of Ann.
Sarah however kept her composure and when they turned around she saw Hank standing next to an exhausted Danny who looked as though he'd just run the Boston Marathon, and come in last place.
She stood her ground and faced her annoyed ex-beau. "I don't want to be mean about this but it's really none of your business where I choose to work. Whether I'm here or in California it's my decision and if my family doesn't have a problem with it then that's all that matters."
"Why does it have to be California?" He wanted to know.
"Why not California if that's where the job offer is?" She sighed. "Hank, I've only ever lived here and in Tennessee with my family. I've never had the chance to really live on my own like Danny was able to in Colorado and I'm thinking it's time that I did."
"This is because of me isn't it, because of what's been happening with Evelyn?" His frown got deeper and Ann looked at Danny who shrugged his shoulders. He didn't seem to have a clue as to what was going on inside Hank's head any more than she did.
Sarah however looked more than a little irritated at his comment but to her credit she remained calm. "As hard as this might be for you to understand Henry Metcalf, not everything I do is about you. The decisions that I've made since I broke things off have been in my best interest and not because I'm trying to get back at you or hurt you.
"From what I can tell, Evelyn seems to be a really sweet girl and it's not fair to her if you insist on worrying about me and keeping tabs on me because that's a part of you that isn't hers. She looks like a girl that you're pretty serious about and she needs to come first in all things."
Hank put his hands on his hips in frustration. "Ev knows how important you were to me and she understands."
"Well then, she's a bigger woman than I am because I certainly wouldn't understand. Nothing damages a new relationship worse than old ghosts do and as long as you insist on making me a part of your life, even in the smallest way it's going to damage yours."
"So you are leaving because of me."
Sarah seemed to sense that she was fighting a losing battle because no matter what she said, Hank was going to see it the way he wanted to. And it looked as if he were convinced he was the real reason Sarah might leave.
"Hank, you need to back off." Danny interjected. "Sarah got this job offer before she knew anything about you and Evelyn and she's been thinking about it for awhile. I want her to do it because I think living somewhere else other than here could be a great experience for her. She'll get to live in another part of the country and be close enough to come home more than I could.
"I also happen to think that she's right and that she's not your responsibility anymore. She's got Dad, Mama, Joe and me to do that for her and I'm sure we'll drive her crazy while she's gone." He grinned at his sister and she smiled back.
"It's not so simple for me and you know that." He looked at Sarah and seemed to plead for understanding. "No matter what you might think, you were never a casual thing with me. I didn't want to break things off but you didn't give me any choice and didn't give us a chance to work it out."
Her stance softened at Hank's obvious turmoil and she reached to grasp his hand. "Be honest and tell me that when I take your hand it feels the same way as when you take Evelyn's and tell me that you aren't happier with her then you were with me. Tell me that making love to her was." And he stopped her before she could complete her statement with a face as red as Ann had ever seen.
"But we never did." And without realizing it he gave himself away and it was Sarah's face that reddened in surprise. "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to know."
"I was only guessing about that." She pulled her hand away and Hank shoved his in his pockets. "It isn't any of my business anyway. But knowing that you've been closer to Evelyn than we ever were tells me that you're ready to make the full emotional commitment to her now. And in order to do that it means not worrying about an ex-girlfriend, no matter how much you cared about her."
"So tell me what I'm supposed to do." His voice caught and Ann couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
"Care enough to let me go, completely and say goodbye." Her eyes began to tear but she blinked a few times to clear them. "I never gave you the chance that day and looking back on it, I wasn't being fair. But I knew what needed to be done and I was afraid that if I stayed I'd let you talk me out of it, nothing would have changed and we would have both continued to be unhappy. But I promise that I'll stay this time so you can say goodbye."
"What if I don't want to?" He asked and sounded as lost as he did the day Sarah broke up with him.
Her voice was soft and Ann suspected that she was trying not to cry. "You have to because it isn't fair to the woman you love if you don't."
Her statement seemed to hit him like a broadside and he shook his head. "I'm a selfish bastard. You did the right thing because you knew me better than I ever suspected and you saw a situation that wasn't going to go away. My feelings for Evelyn would have kept developing even though I would have fought them and that would have put you in a position that you didn't deserve. You did the right thing and I just wish that I'd been half as brave as you to admit it."
She smiled at him and put her hand to his cheek. "You just did."
"Goodbye Sarah." He finally said and from the look on his face, he meant it.
"Goodbye Hank." Sarah answered him and couldn't seem to break the contact with him. Ann couldn't tell what she was thinking but Hank seemed to and he covered her hand with his that rested on his cheek.
"It's all right."
"You'll tell Evelyn?"
He shook his head. "I won't if you don't want me to."
She laughed and Hank looked confused. "I didn't mean it that way. What I meant is that you need to tell her because you can't keep secrets from her."
"I'll tell her." He promised and Sarah moved haltingly toward him.
"Thank you for caring for me so much, I'll always remember it." Her arms seemed to move hesitantly around his neck.
"Thank you for being so brave."
Danny caught her attention with a motion of his head to let her know they needed to leave Hank and his sister alone. She took the hand he held out to her and they walked away.
When they got far enough away Ann glanced behind her and saw Hank and Sarah, with their arms around each other. She couldn't ever remember seeing them in such a passionate embrace and couldn't help but think if they'd been more affectionate with each other, maybe things would have worked out.
But she immediately regretted the thought because as much as she cared about Sarah, Evelyn really was a better match for Hank and deep down she felt that Sarah always knew it.
"Come on Annie; give them a little privacy." Danny admonished her gently. "That's probably the first time they've really kissed each other and it's ironic because they're saying goodbye."
"Would it be terrible if I said that I have mixed feelings about this? I've known Sarah my whole life and I want her to be happy but I've never seen Hank happier than when he's with Evelyn." She sighed.
"It wouldn't be terrible because I feel the same way." His voice was reassuring as he let go of her hand and put his arm around her shoulders. "I love my sister, but we all knew that things weren't going well between her and Hank after awhile and I know it wasn't easy for her to end their relationship. But she's been much happier since then."
Ann put her head down on his shoulder. "Things weren't going well for us for awhile, but we managed to work through it."
His shoulder moved against her cheek when he laughed. "Our problem wasn't that we didn't care enough, it was that we cared too much."
She smiled at his observation and tried not to laugh. "When you put it that way, I can see the difference."
"But you're right about one thing though. We did manage to work through it because we know that what we have is worth holding on to and struggling to find a balance between what we can do and what we want to do."
Ann pondered that as they continued to walk. "You never did tell me if Evelyn made her flight all right yesterday."
"She did and with time to spare." He nodded in the affirmative. "Hank said it was really hard to let her go, but they'll be seeing each other when he gets home next weekend."
She straightened up and looked at him with curiosity. "I didn't know he lived in Chicago."
"He doesn't." Danny smiled. "He lives a few miles away in a place called Oak Park and I'm sure he's going to take advantage of that."
Ann couldn't help but laugh then. "He's known all this time that his family lived so close to hers and he never told her?"
"I don't think it ever occurred to him. Besides, if she'd known that sooner I don't know how happy she would have been about it."
"That's true." She had to admit.
"What's going through that head of yours Miss Ann?" Danny asked as he gently shook her shoulders.
"I was just thinking that things don't always work out the way we think they will." She began. "When you and Hank got here last year, he and Sarah were together and by all accounts seemed to be happy. You were still with her." She knew it was childish, but Ann just couldn't bring herself to name Danny's former girlfriend. "And I don't remember you being unhappier. Now Hank is with someone else and we're together."
"Some would say that it's the way it should have always been." He answered and without warning stopped and pulled her close to him. She was surprised by the passion in his unexpected kiss because he'd been so circumspect of late and while her instincts urged her to answer in kind to his persuasive caress, her conscience berated her as to what was at stake if she did.
It didn't stop her, however from putting her arms around his neck and kissing him back. It felt good to have him so close to her and to feel his strong hands roam her back. But when one of them wandered farther south than she knew it should have to pull her even closer to him, she knew that they had to stop.
But she didn't have the chance to say a word.
"You should be aware that you're becoming floorshow entertainment." Hank's cheery voice startled Ann once again and she pulled away from Danny. His face was flushed and looked at her with a rueful grin.
"I'm sorry Annie; I can't seem to help that sometimes." He took her hand and she smiled back because she knew darn well that he wasn't sorry. "So if you're here without my sister, it would stand to reason that she's gone home."
"To your parent's actually." He answered with a barely concealed grin of his own. "And I feel better than I have in a long time."
"Me too." Danny's grin turned absolutely wicked and Ann felt her cheeks warm. "So I'm guessing that the two of you have settled everything and now you can move on."
"We did and I can." He sighed. "Your sister is really something. And it seems as though she's pretty much made up her mind to go to California."
"Sometimes I wonder if maybe she shouldn't get a civilian job and surround herself with guys who aren't in the service." Danny looked at his friend. "She took a step in the right direction when she got a place to live off base and I'm hoping she'll do the same if she goes to Travis. As for you, it seems as though you settled things with Evelyn."
It looked as though Hank was trying not to grin but he couldn't stop a happy smile. "We did things a little backward; I know but now that we know where we stand with each other we can start dating and begin to build on what we've started. I'll be able to see her for a whole week when I get home and meet her family. She'll be able to meet mine and that will be the end of that." He laughed at his own joke.
"You're kidding, I hope." Ann frowned.
"I love my grandparent's a lot, but they've never had much of a sense of humor. Maybe because of that, my parent's try not to be too serious and my brother's are a bunch of practical jokers. I'm considered the serious one and you know how serious I am." He finished. "It might just be a little too much for her."
"Have you told your parent's about her yet?" She asked him.
"They know Sarah and I broke up and that there's a new girl in the picture but they don't know about Evelyn specifically. I'm going to call them tonight to tell them about her and that I want them to meet her. They were always sorry they never got the chance to meet Sarah but she and I could never seem to arrange a trip for her to come back with me. But with Evelyn just a few miles away, it won't be a problem."
"It's the way it should have always been." Danny glanced at Ann with a grin before he looked at his best friend. "I know how much you cared for Sarah, but Evelyn was always the girl you were meant to be with."
"You really believe that." Hank looked skeptical.
"Of course I believe it because Annie was always the girl I was meant to be with. She just had to grow up first." His grin widened because he knew she wouldn't be able to resist responding which of course, she did.
"Just for that you're not getting your Christmas present." She feigned indignation.
He feigned surprise. "You got me a Christmas present?"
Ann refused to be drawn in. "I guess I should take that to mean you didn't get me one."
"You already have me, what more do you want?" He laughed and she could see how much he was enjoying their banter.
"I don't remember asking Santa Claus for a gimpy combat pilot." She answered and Hank laughed out loud.
"She got you there Dan."
"She's got me whether she wants me or not." And his eyes sparkled. "And I know how much she wants me."
"In your dreams Lieutenant." Ann shot back.
"You seem to forget that I got you in my dreams." His voice was deliberately husky and she felt her face warm again, as he knew it would.
"All right you two; you're starting to make me blush here." Hank tried to sound serious and couldn't quite pull it off.
"Well, I wouldn't want to responsible for that so I think I'll head home and help Mama start dinner." She turned and started to head up the beach before Danny reached for her hand and stopped her.
"Not so fast Miss Ann, I'm not quite finished."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Not quite finished with what, baiting me?"
He pulled her back to him and he heard Hank sigh. "Well I can see that I'm not going to get you to finish your run."
"We'll finish it Hank. But I need to finish this first." Danny promised his former roommate as the expectant look in Ann's eyes mesmerized him and he leaned in to kiss her again.
"Oh brother." He heard Hank's stifled laugh and felt Ann's arms move not around his neck, as he fully expected that they would but around his waist. He also knew that if he let it happen, her hands would end up under his tee shirt and they really would become a floorshow for the entire crowded beach and his best friend to witness.
He pulled away just enough to look at her face and she was smiling at him. "And you think that I was trying to bait you? I nearly got an invitation."
Her face flushed and he felt her hands grasp his shirt. "If I were going to give you an invitation, you would have known it."
"Ann!" Danny heard the surprise in Hank's voice.
She glanced over Danny's shoulder at him and he saw her roll her eyes. "Henry Metcalf, stop acting like an outraged father. You know as well as Danny and I do that nothing is going to happen." And she glanced at Danny. "At least not in the middle of a crowded beach." She finished with a laugh before she let him go.
She was being a vixen and he hadn't realized how much he'd missed it.
He also knew that he wasn't helping things when he tweaked his friend with a laugh of his own and added. "And not in front of the Lieutenant."
"Touché." Hank seemed to relax because he grinned back. "All right, I'll put away my outraged father routine if Ann lets us finish our run."
Danny looked at Ann. "My ex-roommate is being charitable when he calls what we're doing running; I can still barely jog."
"Don't worry about it Dan, I'll get you back there. It's just going to take some time." He put a hand on Danny's shoulder.
"Well, time is the one thing that I have a lot of right now." He told then with a smile. "I've also been cleared to fly the P-40, so at least I can get back in the air. And if Annie trusts me, maybe she'll go up with me again."
"Just concentrate on getting your strength back and we'll talk later about my going back up with you." She said to him and kissed his cheek. "In the meantime, I really need to be going."
"That isn't much of a goodbye." He grinned at her and Ann smiled back.
"Goodbye Lieutenant." She answered before she turned away and walked up the beach toward home.
"You are a lucky guy, Dan." Hank commented behind him.
"Don't I know it. She's going to make a hell of an Air Force wife." He said without thinking and it took him a moment to realize what it was that he'd just said. He looked at Hank whose face held a look of shocked surprise. "Did I say what I thought I just said?"
"It wasn't exactly a declaration to propose, but it sounds like you're getting closer to the possibility of asking." He remarked.
Danny turned to his friend with a frown. "You don't think it's because I want her in my bed do you?"
Hank shook his head. "You know that there's more to it than just wanting to make love to her, it's about having her in your life on a permanent basis. You and Ann haven't hesitated to tell me how much happier I am with Evelyn and it's obvious to anyone who cares to look that Ann has the same effect on you. The fact is Dan; she's got you thinking about a lifetime with her and not a casual fling. If that were all you were after, you would have done something about it already."
Whether he realized it or not, Hank opened a door for Danny to ask about the unexpected turn of events at the squadron party. "So what about you and Evelyn? Neither of you are the type of people to have done what you did and not have it mean something."
"I teased her that when I got home we could have an encore." He grinned self-consciously and then grew serious. "We didn't plan what happened and I know you know that. Ev knows too that it wasn't a casual thing with me any more than it was with her."
"It's not something that you're going to start making a habit of, is it?" Danny couldn't help but ask.
Hank would have had every right to tell Danny that it was none of his damn business and he halfway expected his friend to say just that. But the defensiveness that he waited for didn't come and he was a little surprised.
"You know we won't, not that it's your business because that's not the kind of relationship I want with her anyway and she knows that. I want to spend time getting to know her better and not to get her into bed again but to figure out if what happened between us wasn't just a physical thing.
"It's going to sound corny, but I like the way her hand feels in mine and I like the way she laughs, especially when she knows that she shouldn't. I like the way she calls me Henry, because no one else does and how it feels to have her in my arms. There is so much about her that I already know, but it feels too that I've barely scratched the surface."
He's a man in love all right.
"That was quite the soliloquy Henry." He grinned for a moment. "From where I'm standing I don't think that you need to concern yourself that what happened was only physical. I think what happened was in part because the both of you refused to admit, for far too long how much you loved each other. It was only after you put yourself in the position you did on Friday and worried Evelyn half to death that those feelings found their way to the surface.
"I can't help but think that you and she are in the kind of position that my parent's were in when they ended up here. They were away from home and from their families and while they never regretted it, did something they would never have done if they'd been at home."
The possible consequences of what they'd done suddenly seemed to dawn on Hank and his face lost some of its color. "Dan, your mother got pregnant."
He tried not to sigh because Danny wasn't thinking about that when he mentioned it, which he relayed to Hank. "I was just trying to point out that sometimes things happen a little backward but it doesn't mean that what you did is any less meaningful."
"But you're going to wait." He pointed out.
"Our situation is different than yours because our families are here." Danny tried not to be defensive and it irritated him that he sounded that way. "And my parent's are bound and determined that we won't do what they did."
"They wouldn't have to know."
He shook his head. "If we went through with anything after we promised them that we wouldn't they would know. Annie and I are close to our parent's and we're always talking to them about what's going on in our lives. If we suddenly clammed up they would know that we were trying to hide something and it wouldn't take them too long to figure out what that was.
"The fallout of our making love, if we were foolish enough to go through with it would damage the relationship that we have with them and it would make us both liars. Not to mention that I would have Annie's father to deal with and he really would an outraged father."
"So you'll marry her before anything happens." He summarized.
Danny sighed. "Which brings me back to my slip of the tongue about her being an Air Force wife."
"It wasn't a slip of the tongue Dan and you know that it's not about sex either." It was Hank's turn to offer advice. "The more we talk about this it sounds to me like you're ready to propose and not because you want her in your bed, as you said. Your lives have been such a part of the other since you were kids and your relationship with her seems to be a natural extension of that. Now it's time to extend that even farther."
"I don't know Hank." He could feel a knot form in the pit of his stomach and wasn't sure if it was because Hank was right or if he wasn't ready.
"What do you say that we start casing some jewelry stores before I go home?" He seemed to read Danny's thoughts. "If you can't find a ring you think Ann would like, then you're probably right about not being ready. But if you find the ring that was made only for her, then I say you buy it and think about presenting it to her as a Christmas present."
The knot started to harden. "That's a week away!"
"I didn't say you had to give it to her, just consider it." Hank laughed and he didn't appreciate it. "If you aren't ready yet, at least you'll have the ring when you do want to pop the question."
It was all too much to comprehend. "Marriage?"
"You said yourself that Ann was the girl you were always meant to be with." Danny was reminded of what he'd said earlier. "And I think it's time you consider what that really means. In the meantime, we're burning daylight and not getting much done to get you back in running shape. So let's get stretched out again and finish what we started."
Hank gave him a lot to think about and as he stretched his sore muscles to put them back to work, Danny knew that his wingman was right. Somewhere along the line, Ann had become an important and integral part of his life and it was getting harder to see the rest of his life without her in it.
The question was, if he asked her would she say yes?