If He Returns

Waiting for aircraft is part of her job. Waiting for a man was never going to be her life.Britain, 1943.At Blackmere Air Station, Nell Ashby plots patrol aircraft over the Atlantic. She knows how quickly an ordinary night can become a room full of people listening for engines.Then Flight Lieutenant Tom Arden's aircraft lands thirty-three minutes late.He walks into operations exhausted, with a bandaged eyebrow and an inconvenient sense of humour. Nell would find him easier to dismiss if he did not keep making her laugh.Tom repairs her bicycle, steals potatoes from her plate, and remembers when her shifts end. Nell agrees to one dance. He calls it a challenge. She calls it a limit.But between bad tea and walks through the blackout, he becomes the person she most wants to see.Tom is starting to think beyond his next patrol too: an afternoon in town, another evening with Nell, ordinary plans that matter far more than he expected.But he will not promise to come home simply because she needs to hear it.And Nell cannot make loving him less frightening by pretending she cares less.As empty places appear around Blackmere, the minutes they spend together become harder to waste-and the hours at the plotting table become harder to bear.Every departure asks her to let him go. Every return makes it harder.If He Returns is a slow-burning World War II romance filled with sharp banter, deep friendships, and the hope of a life beyond the war.