I still struggled with my luggage, and despite knowing that he desperately wanted to let a teasing smile grace his face, Billy kept his face serene.

"Hey, Denny," Billy greeted as we approached the plane. "How are the kids?"

"Good, good; how are Jackson and Viv?"

"Oh, keeping me busy." Billy smiled as he clapped a hand down on the pilot's shoulder. "This is Lily, and Lily, this is Denny."

"Hello, Lily. It's a pleasure to meet you." Denny tipped his hat as he spoke. "Tara is already on board if you two are ready."

"We sure are." Billy didn't ask this time. He grabbed my bag's handle and picked it up with ease. "After you." He nodded to the stairs.

I climbed up the stairs and was greeted by a smiling young woman. "Hello, I'm Tara. Welcome aboard."

"Hi, I'm Lily." I awkwardly smiled back.

"Hello, Billy. Good to see you. It's been some time since we've had you aboard."

"Yeah, the kids and the studio have kept me grounded. Will you be working on the tour?"

"I will," she confirmed.

"Well, you'll be sick of us before you know it." As he spoke, he tucked our bags in a closet and shut the door.

"I'll certainly get sick of you if you continue to do my job for me."

"Sorry; bad habit," he apologized. "Lil here would like half a can of room temp ginger ale poured into the flimsiest plastic cup you can find," he added.

"Okay." She looked between us with confusion.

I didn't offer a response; I just shook my head and stormed to a seat, where I plopped down and pouted.

"Would you like your usual?" Tara asked Billy.

"Yes, please make it two," he added before following my path and sitting in the seat facing me.

Billy adjusted the window and seat settings before setting his gaze on me. "Hey," he tentatively offered.

In a very childish way, I crossed my arms and evaded his gaze.

"I love you," he offered.

"I love you too," I said out of instinct.

He swung out a bear paw hand and drew up my feet, so they were in his lap.

"Do not tickle me," I warned.

"Yes, because I'm that much of an idiot that thinks tickling you is a good idea when you won't even look at me," he grumbled.

Instead, he pulled my sneakers off and rubbed my feet. It felt amazing, and I melted at his touch.

"I love you," he murmured again.

I sighed and met his eyes. "I love you too."

"May I sit next to you?"

"Will you still rub my feet?"

He let out a bit of a laugh. "Yes, I'll still rub your feet." He slid into the seat next to me and lifted the seat arm that separated us before swinging my feet to his lap again. "Is this all that bad?" He spoke in a low tone that I could feel as much as hear.

"It's just weird. Your normal is weird."

"This isn't my normal. My normal is getting up at 5:30 in the morning to make sure Viv gets to school on time and coming home to suffer through math homework with my kids. My normal is showing up at my mom's house the second the last snowflake falls to shovel her walk, so she doesn't do it herself. My normal is re-tiling a bathroom on the weekends."

"And your normal is buying a seventy grand car in cash on a moment's notice, flying in a private jet, signing autographs, and renting out an entire restaurant and bowling alley for a single date."

"For the date, Lil. I rented them for the date," he groaned.

"Billy, you've grown into this. I haven't. Let me adjust."

"I'm happy to let you adjust, but don't treat me like an asshole when I use the resources I have. Flying private today meant we got to spend the day with my family at Sunday dinner. I love Sunday dinner. Buying you that car means I'll sleep better knowing you're in the safest car around. Yes, people ask for my autograph, and honestly, I'm happy to sign crap if they aren't dicks about it. I'm lucky around here that people seem respectful. If I'm with my family and we're in the middle of something, someone rarely interrupts, but if I'm wandering a record store and someone wants me to sign something, that's fair."

"You have terrible handwriting," I added.

"Wow, you really can't be nice to me tonight." As he spoke, a laugh escaped him.

"I'm sorry." I felt bad. I didn't even know why I was such a pain. The plane didn't bother me much at all.

"Two teas and a half a can of lukewarm ginger ale in a shitty cup," Tara proudly presented. Before setting the drinks down on the nearby table and discreetly departing.

"Viv's soccer team made it to the state travel team finals last fall," Billy began.

"Yeah, you mentioned her playing soccer earlier. She sounds like she is quite the player."

"Oh yeah, she plays striker, of course." He let out a laugh. "The night before the big game, she had a major meltdown because Jackson took the slice of pizza with the largest bubble in the crust. There was screaming and tears. It was all very dramatic."

"I know where this is going."

"She didn't care about the pizza and wasn't mad at Jackson." As he spoke, he slung an arm around me.

"She was nervous about the game," I finished for him.

His brows furrowed. "Not just nervous. She was excited to play, proud they had made it that far, sad the season was ending..."

I nestled into his side and let my head fall to his shoulder. "You're a good dad."

"Going is going to be a lot, Lil. I know that. My relationship with your dad has caused me to have mixed feelings about it. I can't even imagine what you're going through. You can be mad, and you can take it out on me. But if I tell you I love you, keep saying it back. I need to hear it. I love you, Lil."

"I love you too, Billy. You're too good to me."

"Don't go saying things you'll regret." He smiled and let his lips brush across my temple. "Sit up and buckle up," he added as he pointed to the glowing seatbelt light.

I reluctantly lifted myself from him and buckled.

"I hadn't put it together," I admitted as Billy squeezed my hand as the plane started to roll. "I've been avoiding thinking about home."

"I figured," he shrugged. "Even though we had a bit of a gap, you're still the girl I memorized for ten years."

"Noted," I teased.

"Noted," he agreed.

"Billy, no matter what, I always love you. At some point, I'm certain you'll make me so mad that I'll forget it for a moment, but I'll remember soon enough."

"Mmhmm, any thoughts on what I'll do to make you so mad?" He bit back his teasing smile but couldn't hide his dimples.

"No, I don't suppose I know that right now."

As the plane ascended to the sky, I squeezed Billy's hand.

"You still hate to fly," he noted close to my ear.

"Mmhmm, you?"

"Yep, it doesn't matter how many times I do it; it never feels like I belong up here." He sighed. "Tim, on the other hand, is fine. You'd think he was sitting on the couch at home. He's good, though. He's gotten used to distracting me, so I barely noticed anymore."

"Mmhmm," I mumbled.

"You want to talk about what's going on there?"

"No, I do not," I definitively answer.