Another update!  WOOT!  
By the way, there will only be one more chapter after this, which I am planning to write up today too!  Enjoy!

Chapter 13:  I Think I’m In Love
 
Adrienne wasn’t sure how long she stood in the yard, in her nightgown, kissing the green-eyed man.  But, she knew one thing; she was falling in love all over again.  This would break Billy’s heart.  One that realization came to her mind, Adrienne pulled away quickly.  She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.  “I’m so sorry,” she said quietly.  “I didn’t mean for this to happen…”  

Billie Joe raised his eyebrows.  “For what to happen?  You mean coming out and kissing me, don’t you?  Why are you ashamed of that?”  

“Because,” Adrienne said, not meeting Billie’s eyes, “I think Billy loves me.  In fact, I know he does.  Knowing that I kissed you will just kill him inside.  I don’t want to hurt him.  He thinks I love him too.  And, well, I did…until I saw you outside.  I was just drawn to you all over again.”  

Billie Joe mimicked Adrienne and lowered his head.  He felt tears sting the corners of his eyes again.  “I shouldn’t have come,” he whispered.  “I know it.”  Soon, his shoulders rocked with uncontrollable sobs.  “It’s all my fault.”  

Adrienne’s head snapped up, only to see Billie’s head down.  “No…no,” she said soothingly, placing her hand on his back, “this is not your fault.  I will talk to Billy today.  Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”    

Billie Joe’s eyes slowly met Adrienne’s brown ones, and Adrienne planted a small kiss on his pale nose.  With that, she walked across the yard and returned inside the kitchen.  She opened the door slowly, and carefully, incase Billy was around, which he was.  She found him pacing the kitchen floor, thinking hard about something.  Once he saw Adrienne, his eyes lit up.  

“Oh Adrienne,” he said, rushing over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, “what happened outside?  Who was there?”  

In his arms, Adrienne stiffened up and pursed her lips together.  Sensing that something was wrong, Billy released her and stepped several steps backward.  The puzzled look on his face told Adrienne he was very confused, and in need of an explanation.

Billy asked Adrienne again.  “What happened outside and who was there?  Tell me…please.”  Adrienne nodded slowly, carefully making her way to one of the table chairs.  She sat down, suddenly feeling horrible.  She gestured for Billy to take another chair and sit across from her.  He quickly strode over to a chair and sat down.

After a few moments of silence, Billy became impatient.  He used his hand and slapped the table to bring Adrienne out of her non-talking trance like state.  Adrienne quickly looked up at the man sitting across from her.  She didn’t want to talk to him; he seemed so much like a stranger now.  She recalled just several minutes ago when she was back inside the kitchen and her arms were around him, and she wouldn’t dare let go.  Now, Adrienne didn’t even want to be around him.  

“I’m sorry,” Adrienne said, “I should tell you what happened outside.  You have a right to know, because I don’t like keeping things from people.”  Billy raised his eyebrows, just as Billie Joe had outside.  

Adrienne sighed and decided to get it over with.  She would just tell him now.  If he got mad, he got mad, there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it.  “Okay,” she started, “here is what happened.”  In about five minutes, she told Billy that it wasn’t just anyone outside, it was he ex-husband, and how she had fallen deeply under his spell.  She finished off by saying “I think I’m in love…all over again.”  

Billy tore his eyes away from Adrienne’s.  He felt like someone had just shot him in the heart.  The news was so hard to hear.

“Are you going to say anything?” Adrienne asked, worry in her voice.  

“I knew this would happen,” Billy whispered, his voice slowly rising.  “I knew that since the first day we met, I would love you, and never stop.  But, then you told me about Billie Joe, and I had my doubts about you.  Whenever you talk about him, your eyes glaze over and your face hardens into something mean, but there was still some other emotion I couldn’t read, something deep.  Today, I realized what that was.  All along you’ve loved Billie Joe, but neither you nor me could really face it.”

Adrienne pushed her hair back behind her ears.  “I suppose your right” she started, “I have loved him all along, but it took awhile for either of us to realize it.”  

“I don’t suppose anything,” Billy said.  “You do still love him, and you no longer have feelings for me.  All these months of studying your face and your eyes, I realized that in your heart, I would only come as second best.”

“I’m sorry,” Adrienne muttered, but no matter how quiet she said it, she meant it.  She just broke a man’s heart, and she didn’t know how to respond.  

“There is no need to apologize,” Billy said sadly, standing up from the table.  “You told me how you feel and I accept it.  I can’t do anything about it.”  

He turned his back on Adrienne and slowly and pitifully made his was towards the front door.  Ignoring Joey’s question of where and why he was leaving, Billy left, and slammed the door behind him.  Adrienne could hear his car in the driveway start, and then drive away.  

Several minutes later, Billie Joe came walking through the door.  As if sensing his presence, Joey came running from the living room and into his father’s arms.  Adrienne smiled weakly at her son as he embraced with his father.  Joey loved Billie Joe so much; it was hard for him to not see him on a regular basis.  Adrienne didn’t want to keep them separated, and now she needed Billie Joe more than ever.  She waited impatiently for the two to part, and then she rushed into his arms.  Adrienne couldn’t control herself, tears fell from her eyes as she laid her head on Billie’s shoulder.  What she’d told Billy was true, no matter how much it had hurt him; she was in love…all over again.      

Here is the last chpater!  Thanks to all of you for reading and your comments.  I appreciate all of it so much!  And, in case you were wondering, there will be no sequal.  

Chapter 14: A Happy Ending

“So,” Adrienne said, “That’s what happened.  Billy just walked out the door.”  Just like on the first day Adrienne arrived, Steve and Maggie’s jaws dropped.  Adrienne had just finished telling Steve and Maggie about her and Billy’s discussion.  He had left, and Adrienne knew she would never see him again.  

“And he just left?” Steve asked, scratching his head.  “Are you sure he’s not coming back?”  

“Positive,” Adrienne said, sipping her coffee that had been given to her.  “But, I think part of me will miss him, you know?  He was really a great person.  But now that Billie Joe’s back, I just don’t see how we could have stayed together.  It would have been very awkward.”

Maggie set down her mug of coffee and cleared her throat.  “Adrienne,” she said, “are you sure Billie Joe is okay now?  I mean, it’s only been four months.”

Adrienne nodded and smiling.  “Yes, I’m sure.  I have full confidence in him, because I love him.  He said things would be better for us and much nicer.  I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, and I think its right that we are together.  On another note, he loves Joey so much.  I couldn’t keep them apart.”

Speaking of Joey, the front door opened and Joey came walking proudly inside, carrying a small plastic bag.  His smile was wide as he made his way over to his mother.  “Look mommy,” he said, holding the plastic bag in front of Adrienne’s face, “I got a fish.”  

Adrienne’s eyes met Billie Joe’s who was standing in the doorway.  Adrienne smiled.  “I see that,” she told her son, “what have you named her?”  

“I named him Speedy and it’s a boy,” Joey said matter-of-faculty.  

“Oh really,” Maggie said, walking over to Joey to examine his new pet.  “How can you tell?”

“I learned on the Crocodile Hunter,” Joey said proudly.  “I don’t remember how you tell.  But, it’s a boy.”  Maggie nodded and chuckled as she looked at the dark blue fish swim around.  

“Do you have a glass bowl or a tank to put him in?” Adrienne asked Steve.  Steve nodded and gestured for Maggie to come help him look.  

Billie Joe walked over to Adrienne was sat down on the couch next to her.  He took her hand and intertwined it with his.  They were a family again.  Adrienne looked at Billie Joe and smiled.  “Why did you buy him a fish?” she laughed.

“Joey wanted a fish, so I bought him one,” Billie Joe said, as if that explained everything.  “But Joey,” Billie said, “We can’t carry Speedy in the car.  I think we have to leave him at Uncle Steve’s house.”  

“Why would we leave him?” Adrienne asked Billie Joe.  “We live here.  We can see him anytime we want.”  

“True…” Billie Joe said, smiling again.  “The thing is, I want you and Joey to come with me.  Back to California.”    

Two weeks later…

“I’m going to miss you,” Steve said as he pulled Adrienne into a hug.  “Really, it’s been nice having you stay.”  

“I’m going to miss you too,” Adrienne sniffed.  “We’ll come visit you over the summer, I promise.  All three of us.”  

“Yeah,” Steve nodded, “Maggie and I’ll be looking forward to it.  See you this summer.”  

Several more goodbyes were exchanged, and Adrienne left her brother’s house.  As she walked down the driveway to get to her car parked in the street, she thought about these last four months.  Everything seemed to happen so quickly.  Her meeting Billy, them falling in love, Billie Joe coming back, her taking him back, Billy leaving.  This was going to be unforgettable, everything that happened.  Enough tears had been shed to last a lifetime, or maybe two.

Adrienne knew maybe on a rare day, she might see Billy again.  Walking down the street or shopping in the store.  If she did, she would smile and go on.  He may never remember her, but she would remember him.  Even though her heart belonged to Billie Joe, and only Billie Joe, she could not forget the man whose heart she broke.  That was her one regret.  She knew she would never love Billy again, and how his heart must ache.  She would apologize, someday.  

But that was all in the future.  Many many years from now.  Right now, her focus was on Billie and Joey, nothing else.  

As she approached her car, Billie Joe pulled her into a hug and planted a loving kiss on her lips.  “Ready to go?”

Adrienne nodded and smiled.  “Let’s go.”

Billie took the drivers’ seat, Adrienne the passengers, and Joey the back.  Joey’s big brown eyes were soon closed, and sleep overcame him as the car took off down the Minnesota highway.  Silence filled the car.  

At an unusually long stoplight, Billie Joe pulled something out of his front short pocket.  Adrienne’s wedding ring.  “Oh, Billie,” Adrienne said smiling, “You kept it.”  He nodded and handed to the woman beside him.  She took it in her hand and made a fist around it to keep it safe.

“Maybe,” Billie Joe said hopefully, “We can put it to good use again.”  

Sleep tugged at the corner of Adrienne’s eyes, and she let her head fall back and rest on the back of the seat.  Blindly, she felt for Billie’s hand and once she found it, she held it in hers.  “Yeah,” Adrienne said sleepily, “maybe we can.”    

THE END        

yaaaaaaaaaaaay !
I LOVE IT!
Great story Faye !!

GREAT STORY FAYE!

I LOVED IT!

Thank you!

We can wait for Kristen and Sarah to read it, but once they have done that, Chelsea, can you move it to the finished fan fics?

sure!

HUMANAHUMANAHUMANA
I saw you had it as "The Last Day (Finished)" and I started flipping out.
I loved it! Its sad to see it end but it was so great.

yes it was!!

*bawls*

Thank you so much!

Chelsea, I went ahead and moved this topic.  Kristen hasn't been coming on here, so when she does she can read the rest of the story here.  Is that okay?  You can move it back if needed.

no, that's alright!
It's the author's choice if they want to move it here or not.

Oh, ha ha, okay.  I thought it was the Admins. choice.  Okay, thanks.

your welcome!
as long as your a moderator you can move your stories.
but if you're just a member you have to ask the admin or one of the moderators to do it for you.
but you're a moderator so you can!

lol.  Okay, I'll keep that in mind.  Thanks.

You're welcome!