Filling up the Virgin(158)

She clung tightly to him until the waves of euphoria washed over both of them, then they laid there on the couch, panting and covered in sweat. He held her even tighter after it was done, as if he were afraid that she would disappear, that she would leave him for another five years.

Eventually, she pulled herself from his arms. She wrapped a blanket around herself and got up, feeling awkward in the aftermath. Cole laid on the couch in a daze, looking like he was still woozy from his drinking the night before, combined with the exertion of sex. She looked down at him for a moment, the reality of what had just happened slowly settling in on her.

When Cole passed back out again, she laid the blanket back over him, then headed for the bathroom and climbed into the shower. The smell of sex covered her, and she didn't want that to be the first thing James noticed when she woke him up for breakfast.

Though as the hot water poured down over her, she found herself faced with the reality that she would have to tell her son something. What had just happened meant that Cole's presence there was more than just a friend stopping by for the night. She didn't know what exactly it meant, but she knew that it wasn't something she could simply brush off and ignore. She owed her son, and Cole, better than that.





Chapter 10



Cole woke up a few minutes after Amanda got in the shower. He looked around blearily at the unfamiliar living room. He was laying naked on the couch, covered by a blanket. Faint traces of morning sunlight shone through the sliding glass door that led out onto the balcony.

And there was a small child standing in the middle of the room, staring at him.

“Hi,” the kid said.

Cole sat up, pulling the blanket over himself to make sure he was covered. “Hey.”

“Who are you?”

“I'm Cole.” He gave the kid an awkward little wave.

The kid continued staring at him, clutching a Nerf football to his chest. “Are you a friend of my mom's?”

“Yeah,” Cole said. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Oh.” The kid looked around the room awkwardly. “Do you want to watch TV with me?”

“Sure.” Cole grabbed his pants off the floor while the kid grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. He pulled his pants on under the cover of the blanket so as not to flash Amanda's son. He didn't want to have any awkward conversations about just what he and the kid's mother had been doing on the couch.

He expected the kid to turn on cartoons, but instead he put on ESPN. There was a game later in the day, but for now the station was playing the early morning edition of SportsCenter. Cole finished getting dressed while the kid watched the sports commentary and the theories about how today's games would go. Cole's team wasn't playing until Monday night; he had an early morning plane ticket to fly back tomorrow morning, giving him enough time to sleep off any hangover he might get at the wedding tonight.

“You're James, right?” Cole asked. He was pretty sure that was the kid's name, though they'd never met before.

“Yeah.” James kept his eyes on the TV, mostly ignoring Cole.

“You like football?”

“Yeah.”

“What's your favorite team?” Cole slid off the couch and sat on the floor next to the kid.

“The Eagles.”

Cole made a face. Philadelphia hadn't been one of his favorite teams even before he joined the NFL. Though for a kid living in South Jersey, it was the home team.

“That's cool,” Cole said. “Think they're going to win the Superbowl this year?” Cole knew that wasn't likely to happen. Philadelphia had only been to a few Superbowls in its entire history. But there was nothing wrong with being polite if it was the kid's favorite team.

“I dunno,” James said. “I guess.”

They chatted for a little while about football, not that the kid had the greatest insight into the game. He said his favorite part was when they kicked the ball, and that he didn't like it when the guys in the striped shirts made everyone stop playing. Cole wasn't too fond of the constant interruptions by the refs himself, though it was a bit different when you were the one on the field, staring at a yellow flag.

“So how old are you, anyway?” Cole asked. He couldn't remember if Amanda had told him.

“Four. I'm gonna be five in March.”

Cole leaned back on his hands, thinking that over. Four, going on five. His one night with Amanda, before this morning anyway, had been five and a half years ago. And it had been in June, at Amanda and Michelle's high school graduation party. And he didn't remember using a condom.

He counted the months, doing the math on his fingers. It added up right.

Damn, he thought.

He looked the kid over again. He had a strong jawline, like Cole and his father. Blue eyes, just like Cole. He couldn't really be sure. It might have just been a coincidence. For all he knew, Amanda had been with another guy not long after their encounter together. It was possible someone else was the father.