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What if I don’t want it to end here? I wanted to ask but didn’t.
He didn’t let me respond. He kissed me again. This time he pulled me close and let me feel that he definitely did not want the night to end here, either. His arousal only made my hormones race into overdrive. One arm was wrapped around his neck and I was tousling his hair; I don’t know what my other hand was doing. I was out of control. He held the back of my head and wrapped an arm around my waist.
We jumped when the front door opened and we heard Kyra’s panicked voice. “Oh, gosh, Mom!” The door slammed shut.
A feeling of dread washed over me. “Well, um… right” was all I could manage to squeak out.
Ray chuckled. “Yep,” he mumbled. He backed away slowly. “Good night, Cass.”
“Good night, Ray.”
My heart danced.
Chapter Six
The next Saturday, I sat in the bleachers at the recreation center once again watching Max and his team practice. Kyra was at dance practice. She did not want me to watch since she was concentrating her energy on her recital that night. I would not see her until she appeared on stage. Cathy, the mom I met at Max’s last game, waved to me. I waved back, and she climbed her way up the bleachers to sit next to me.
She was breathing heavily when she said, “Hi, Cass.”
“Hi, Cathy.” I smiled.
“So.” She took deep inhalations and exhalations in an attempt to catch her breath. She dug into her large purse and pulled out a bottle of water. She took a huge swig, then admitted, “I’m not going to lie to you. I gossip. Okay, I gossip a lot. Way more than I should. I can’t help it. It’s in my blood. My mom wrote the gossip column for the town paper back in the day, so it’s not my fault. But I never lie to my friends. I consider you a friend even though we just met.”
I squinted at her. “Um, thank you. I think.”
She waved her hand. “You’re welcome.”
She took another swig of water.
“I hear you had a date with the captain.”
I immediately felt uneasy, but at the same time, I felt the familiar butterflies in my stomach that appeared whenever I thought of Ray. Ray and his kiss. I sighed.
“By the sigh, I’m taking that as confirmation.”
“Yes, I did,” I admitted.
“Well.” Cathy moved closer and glanced around to see if anyone was within listening range. She began to talk in a whisper—well, as low as one could in a gym with squeaking tennis shoes, bouncing basketballs, and coaches yelling. “You need to know a little bit about Ray’s past.”
My shoulders slumped. “Do I have to know right now?” I wanted to keep the happy memory of Wednesday’s date a little bit longer. I wanted to believe that love was still possible, that age didn’t matter, that Ray was like fine wine—better with age.
“I think you do.”
“What is it?” I asked.
Cathy touched my shoulder and explained, “Ray is a womanizer.”
Of course he is. That’s the kind of men I seem to attract, right? I didn’t say a word. I just stared at Cathy, waiting for more, because why wouldn’t there be more?
“See, his oldest son was engaged, and, well, Ray slept with his son’s fiancé.”
My eyes widened, and my mouth dropped open.
I felt my heart harden a bit. A little wall was beginning to build around it. But another part of me wanted to believe there was more to the story, that there were several versions of one story.
“How do you know this?” I managed to ask.
“Oh, everyone knows it. It’s why Ray doesn’t talk to Junior. They haven’t spoken to each other in years. They had a very public argument a couple of years ago, and then Junior just up and left. No one has seen him since. Well, except his brother, of course. You know his brother is getting married soon. Bless his heart.”
