“I wouldn’t have come without you. I love my brother, but it would have gotten pretty boring here very quickly without you, and he wouldn’t have taken just me to all those places,” Audrey said, and they both laughed.

They had to be at the base by noon to watch him fly in formation in the navy demonstration they were putting on that day. People were already lining the beaches in anticipation. Will had told them just where to go on the base, and two of his friends were supposed to join them and look after them.

They got to the base on time, and met up with Will’s friends, and the formation Will flew in took their breath away. Will was the section leader and they were flying ten feet apart in Grumman F4F Wildcats. A tiny mistaken move or variation and all the planes would have plummeted together with tragic results. Lizzie was mesmerized, and Audrey was so proud of him as she watched. He was back with them an hour later, having put on an incredible show.

“That was quite something,” Lizzie said when he rejoined them.

“Just a little entertainment for the locals.” He smiled modestly and leaned over and kissed Lizzie on the cheek.

“You scared me to death,” she admitted. “That trick where you all looked like you were going to crash and then pulled out of it flipped my stomach over.”

“Mine too,” he teased her, “or it used to. We’ve never had an accident in any of my formations. Flying is the most exciting thing in the world . . . or it was, until you came along,” he said and she nodded. She felt that way about him too. It had all happened so fast, and she and Audrey were leaving the next day. He told her that night that he would try to get some time off at Christmas, or right after, to come to see her in Boston. “I’ll be counting the hours until I see you again, Lizzie,” he said, and kissed her passionately that night, before she left him and went back to her room, where Audrey was waiting. They were all packed and leaving in the morning for the flight to San Francisco. Will had promised to take them to the airport. It had been the most wonderful week of Lizzie’s life, and Audrey’s too. Her mother had given them the best vacation and graduation gift she could ever have imagined. Ellen had spared nothing for them. A week with her brother had meant a lot to Audrey too. They had only seen each other during brief, infrequent visits in recent years. A whole week with him had been a luxury she knew she would treasure forever. And Lizzie would too.