Filling up the Virgin(153)

Michelle's mom greeted her at the door and led her inside. She found Michelle in the living room, going over last-minute wedding plans. She set aside a catalog when Amanda walked in, getting up and taking both of Amanda's hands in hers.

“Oh, thank God you're here,” Michelle said. “The florist is rushing to get all of the arrangements together at the last minute, but he's pushing me to decide on the bouquet. I can't decide if I want to go with something more traditional, or pick something a little more exotic.”

“Umm, okay,” Amanda said. She didn't know the first thing about flowers, but she let Michelle drag her over to the couch so they could sort through the catalogs. She offered the best advice she could, though it mostly involved her saying that the first choice looked nice and the second choice looked nice and the third choice looked...nice as well. Michelle didn't even seem to notice her noncommittal answers, picking out whatever she liked regardless of what Amanda said.

“Listen,” Amanda said when there was a brief pause in all the talk about flowers. “I needed to talk to you. About the wedding.”

“Why?” Michelle asked. “Is something wrong? Please don't tell me there's something wrong. You have no idea what I've gone through planning this thing on such short notice.”

“No, it's not like that.” Amanda squirmed in her seat, not sure how to bring the delicate subject up. “It's about—”

“Cole!”

“Yes, how did you....?”

Amanda trailed off when she saw that Michelle was looking across the room at Cole. He walked in carrying a case of wine. “Hey, sis,” he said, setting the case down on the table. “They only had one case of the Zinfandel left, so I picked up a couple of cases of this rosé stuff. They said it tastes the same. I've got the rest out in the car.”

Michelle went over to check on the wine, frowning as she read the label. Cole smiled awkwardly at Amanda and gave her a small wave. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” Amanda said. She tried to avoid making eye contact. She had come here to talk about Cole, not to talk to him. She wasn't sure how to bring up the situation with him there in the room.

“I need to call the distributor,” Michelle said, pulling out her phone. “They promised me they had four cases set aside for me.”

She stepped out of the room to make the call, leaving Cole and Amanda alone together. Cole stood there with his hands in his back pockets, looking like he wanted to talk. Amanda sighed. “Thanks for the ride home,” she said.

“Yeah, no problem.” Cole sat down on the chair across from her. “I'm always happy to help out a friend, you know that.”

“Are we friends?” Amanda frowned at him.

“Well, yeah.” Cole shrugged. “I mean, I used to give you and Michelle rides all the time, back when you two were in high school together. It's no big deal.”

Amanda shrugged and looked away.

Cole leaned forward. “Listen...you know I wanted to call you, right? I mean, I asked Michelle for your number. But she...”

Amanda nodded, still not meeting his eyes. “She told me.” She still wasn't sure how to feel about the knowledge that Cole had actually tried to get back in touch with her. It made it harder for her to be mad at him.

“Look, maybe I can make it up to you,” Cole said.

“What do you mean?”

He reached over and took her hands in his. “Let me be your date to the wedding.”

She started to shake her head, a hesitant look on her face.

“No funny business,” Cole said, giving her a pleading smile. “I promise. I just think we owe it to each other to have the chance to catch up. Make up for what happened. Just like old times, right?”

Amanda thought about it, not sure what to say. She wasn't sure they had any “old times” to rekindle, really. She had just been a foolish teenager with a crush on her friend's older brother. The one night they'd shared together had been amazing, but it had still just been one night.

She looked into his eyes and was stunned by the thought that he looked just like James. She had seen the resemblance before, but it was something else to be sitting so close to Cole, looking right into his eyes, and realizing how much they were alike. It made her voice catch in her throat.

“Please?” Cole asked.

Amanda sighed and hung her head. “Yeah,” she said. “I guess. Sure.”

“Great,” Cole said, grinning. He got up, pacing excitedly around the room. “It'll be great. Just you wait and see.”

Amanda watched him, thinking of her son. Their son. Though she knew she could never let them meet. It would be too hard for her to bring Cole to meet his son, without telling him about their connection. It would break her heart.