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“It’s upsetting to me that I can’t even have a conversation with you about this. I’m not trying to ruin your night, Mom, but yo
u call me up, wanting to know why I haven’t had sex before, and I’m just trying to shed some light on the situation for you, which you totally don’t want to hear about. And I get it—it’s not the most comfortable situation to be having. But guess what? It wasn’t the most comfortable situation to be in. And then for you two to just show up like that today, completely unannounced—”
“Everyone had a wonderful time! You’re making it sound like we crashed this party of yours and totally ruined it!”
“I wasn’t expecting to see you guys. And there’s a good reason why I wouldn’t just want Bill showing up at my house like that. And now you know it. Even if you don’t believe me.”
There was another long silence. “I think it’s time I get off the phone,” she finally said, her voice tight. “Goodnight, Allie.”
“Bye,” I said.
I put the phone back on the bedside table and lay back down, but there was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep now. I felt way too worked up. I knew she would react like that if I told her about Bill. That she’d deny it, make excuses, and ultimately, not believe a word that I was saying. I wondered, though, if she’d crawl in bed next to him tonight and lay there, wondering if there was a shred of truth to what I’d told her. I doubted that she would ask him about it, but then again, she might. And he’d deny it, and then they’d both forget about it, and it would be as if nothing had ever happened to begin with.
I got up. Outside, there was enough moonlight that it was casting shadows, though it wasn’t completely full the way it had been that night Cole and I had sat up by the lake. Still, there was certainly enough to see by. I grabbed a pair of running shorts and put them on, then slipped my feet into my shoes. I stepped outside into the cool night air, and I started to jog down the street. At the end of the road, I turned left and kept going. I’d been all ready to fall asleep right before my mother had called, but now sleep felt like it was miles away.
It was nice being out late like this, though, when there was no one else around. The few houses I ran by were either dark or illuminated by the bluish glow from a TV. As I ran, I tried to think of how I would react if I had a daughter and she told me something like that. I sure as hell wouldn’t tell her that I didn’t believe her or that she must’ve been making it up.
At the end of the next street, I took another left, which would eventually connect me with a little road that would take me back home. I sprinted the last part of the way, running so hard it felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest. But it also felt good, because it obliterated the rest of the thoughts from my mind. And then I walked for a minute, to cool myself down, and finally I felt as though I could go back inside and fall asleep.
There was a light on at Cole’s, a light in the living room, though it didn’t look like the TV was on. I wondered what he was doing in there, and part of me wanted to go up to the door and knock. But I didn’t.
Chapter Sixteen
Cole
“So, any luck in the getting laid department?” Ben had stopped by on his way home from work. Declan was in bed, and we were sitting out on the deck with beers. “Or are things still high and dry for you? You still wanting to call this bet off?”
“I’m taking my time with it,” I said. “Why? Are you getting nervous? Are you starting to realize that you are most definitely going to lose, and if you want to get your ass to any playoff games this year, you’re going to have to pay for it yourself?”
He laughed. “I never knew Cole Becker to be a man who took his time with this sort of thing.”
“Well, then, maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do, after all.”
“It sure as shit threw me for a loop when you originally tried to call this whole thing off because you were all concerned about her virginity,” Ben said. “That definitely isn’t the Cole Becker I know. The good doctor by day, the raving hedonist by night.”
I waved him off. “I stopped with all of that stuff a long time ago.”
“I know, I know. You’ve got a kid now; you’re all responsible and shit. But don’t you think that means you deserve this sort of thing more than ever?”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” I said.
“Some fun is what I’m talking about.”
“I’m having fun.”
“Are you?”
“Yeah. We’ve got plans to go to Moose Lake tomorrow, in fact. I’d invite you along, but I know you’re working.”
The thing was, the better I got to know Allie, the more I liked her. In fact, I couldn’t remember ever liking a girl so much. Was it because we hadn’t slept together yet? In the past, if I liked a girl even half this much, we would’ve definitely hooked up by now. And I knew I wasn’t just imagining this simmering tension between us that seemed to grow more and more intense with each passing day. It was hard to focus at work, it was hard to sleep at night, and I found myself wondering all the time when I was going to see her again.
I was sort of driving myself a little crazy, actually.
The good thing was, though, that when we finally did sleep together—I knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of when—that it wouldn’t just be to win this stupid bet. I didn’t even care about the bet anymore, but I’d let Ben think I did. If I’d been feeling bad about her losing her virginity in this manner, there was no need for it now because I truly did have feelings for her. More than just physical attraction feelings, too. Not that I was going to get into all of that with Ben. There were some things that he didn’t need to know about.
The next day, Allie came over in the late morning, we all piled into the car and went to the public side of Moose Lake, and the beach was already pretty crowded with people lying out on towels parked on beach chairs under umbrellas and kids digging by the water’s edge with plastic shovels and buckets.
“This looks like a good spot,” I said, and we set up the beach quilt and the chairs. Declan wanted to go in the water immediately. Allie said she was going to suntan for a little bit, so we went down and waded in. Declan dunked himself, then worked on dog paddling and frog-kicking. After he got tired of that, he asked if I would give him a ride, so I dove in, then swam up behind him and he climbed on my back, arms wrapped around my neck.
