"It was my pleasure." She smiled at him. "Now let's see if I can wrangle my husband." She pat Billy's cheek before sweeping away from his side.

Goodnight was kept occupied for the better part of an hour before he managed to escape to the side, standing at the threshold between rooms and trying to catch his breath, as it were. Too many people, too many of them wanting to reminisce about things they had never experienced. And worse, a game of flirtation that he had absolutely no intention of following through with.

It wasn't hard to remember why he'd left in the first place.