“How would you know,” William asked as he pulled the cup from his lips just before he was to take a drink.

Jennifer blushed. Damn, she thought, I tipped my hand. “Just a feeling I guess.”

“You are probably right,” William continued. “After the game, when I saw her alone, I waited for the right moment and asked her to the dance. I thought my chest was going to explode when she said yes.” He wiped his forehead with a napkin. “I waked her to the school, and that is when I went for broke.”

“Really? Do tell,” Jennifer plead as though she didn’t know.

“I kissed her.”

“Oh my.”

“Yes, and I can tell you I have kissed women since, but no kiss has compared to the kiss that night. It was as if the world around us disappeared and time stood still. I tell you, I would trade my entire life to go back to that moment.”

Jennifer softly blushed again as she slowly nodded. She was remembering that moment again through his words and now starting to see the young Billy sitting in front of her. “Please. Continue.”

William took a drink. “That’s when I blew it. I left that night fully intending to come back to the dance. I was going to change, and we were going to dance. I had been saving up. Then I got home. It turned out that my Uncle Delbert from Kentucky was dead. It was a fatal farm accident. My whole family was going down to help with the farm as well as the funeral. I ended up staying in Kentucky and lived there most of my life. Because I didn’t know Jenny’s phone number or even her last name, I had no way of contacting her.”

Jennifer’s eyes watered up.

“I begged my family to hold off for just a few hours. They refused to budge. Family first. Period. Which I agree with. But I was only asking for a few hours.”

Now William was crying.

“I left that night for Kentucky about the time the dance would have started. I am sure that she had a great time without me. Was the hit of the party, or something like that.”

“No, nothing like that, “Jennifer answered now opening crying.

William pushed his coffee cup to the side and reached out to comfort her by holding her hands. “Why do you say that? Did you know Jenny? Wait, I just remembered her name!”