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I forced a smile. “What’s his name?”
“Aleck.”
“Yes?”
Kiss laughed. “My son’s name is Aleck, Aleck. I named him after you.”
Her grip tightened on my hand.
My mind started running rampant. Did she say that he’s seven?
“Kiss—”
That was when she glanced down, noticing my wedding ring. “You’re married?” she asked, yanking her hand away.
“Kiss, you walked out of my life…after one night. I needed someone to…to fill the void.”
She was visibly upset. “How long?”
“Just two years.”
“Oh…” That one word hung in the air like a thick fog.
Meanwhile, I will still doing the math in my head. “Kiss, is Aleck my—”
She shook her head adamantly. “No, he’s not. What happened between us meant a lot to me, Aleck. I enjoyed our time together and he reminded me of you…a little. Or maybe I just wanted him to remind me of you. I really wanted to be able to at least say your name on a daily basis, even if it wasn’t to you directly.”
I sighed in relief, or disappointment. I was not quite sure which emotion outweighed the other. There was no way that I would want a child of mine in the world and not know him, or have him know me. I decided that I was more disappointed than relieved. God, I would have given anything to have a baby with Kiss. Snap out of this, Aleck, I told myself.
“To answer your previous question,” Kiss said, interrupting my thoughts, “I work for a major property management company with offices in twelve cities along both coasts. I have to go back and forth to New York quite often.”
“Sounds interesting. At least you get to travel.”
“I used to travel with the circus year-round, Silly.”
I laughed. “Good point.”
“I only recently started to travel again. After I had my son, I wanted to be there for him; but I need to make a living now that I’m single…and this works.”
“Your parents watch him when you travel?”
“They pitch in, but I have a great nanny. He’s a wonderful kid!” Her face beamed with pride, making me feel even worse that he was not mine. After a long pause, Kiss asked, “So, what’s her name? Any kids?”
For a second, I had no clue who she was talking about; then I remembered. Janice. Janice and I met during a jazz festival in Richmond, Virginia, in 1992. We dated for a little over a year before deciding to settle down. She was a schoolteacher and I admired that. Kids had become serious behavior problems, particularly in public schools, but Janice was one of the few teachers who was totally committed to making a difference. She was from a large family in North Carolina but had relocated to the D.C. area to get her degree from Howard University. She was quiet, a homebody, and all she wanted to do was make me happy when she was not teaching. She volunteered for a lot of programs and I could not ask for a more loving individual in my life. Yet, sitting there with Kiss, all I could think about was being inside of her. I should have left…before it was too late. I should have told her that I needed to head to my gate so that I would not miss my flight. I should have done something else…something other than what I did.
KISS
“Did you forget her name?” I chided, after Aleck did not answer.
“What?” he said, coming back to reality.
“Your wife. Her name?”
“Her name is Janice. She’s a schoolteacher, from North Carolina.”
“What grade does she teach?”
“She teaches middle-school math. Grades sixth through eighth.”
