A smile comes across my lips as I read the text message from Dan.

I’m just waking up, sleepily from the exertion from the night before. My entire body aches, since I haven’t had much time to be athletic, and Dan and I used our bodies in ways that I’m not used to.

The light is barely peeking in from behind the curtains, but other than that the room is dark and stuffy.

I’ve got to do something about this heating system, I think to myself. It always makes the air in here feel stale. Well, maybe when the business is doing better I’ll be able to afford something more.

I know that Scout will still be asleep in her room. Unlike other children and their parents, I’m always up before her. I need to wake her up every morning, no matter what. I imagine she’d sleep until noon like a teenager if I let her.

So Dan wants to invite the two of us to the game?

I’ll admit that last night I became very, very worried about the possibility… well, the necessity of Dan finding out that Scout is his daughter.

I feel horrible about this, and the sick, heavy feeling is still in my stomach. But it’s not going to go away until I tell him. Well, tell them both. They’ll be reunited, and if things work out, I can already picture the smiles on their faces as they finally really become dad and daughter.

But so much can go wrong.

My heart is starting to pound, beating quickly, as I think about everything that could happen. Dan could become furious with me, and Scout too, for that matter.

But I have to tell him. I simply have to.

I lay in bed for a few minutes, just gazing at Dan’s text, a flood of different emotions still flowing through me—anxiety, joy, expectation… everything under the sun.

Finally, it’s time to get up and make the coffee.

After a few minutes alone, I head over to Scout’s room to wake her up.

“Wake up, honey,” I say, gingerly patting her head.

“I don’t want to go to school today,” says Scout, frowning as soon as her eyes open.

“Why’s that, honey?” I say.

She shrugs her shoulders in an exaggerated way. She must have seen it on TV somewhere. It looks pretty funny, and I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

“Come on,” I say. “Let’s get you some breakfast. And, I’ll tell you what, if you go to school all week, there’s a special surprise on Friday for you.”

“What’s that?” says Scout, her eyes already wide at the possibilities.

“A friend invited the two of us to one of his football games,” I say. “An old friend…”

The rest of the morning, Scout won’t stop peppering me with questions, the way young children do. She wants to know all about this friend, and what he does. She’s fascinated by the idea that he’s on TV, and that we might be on TV if we go to one of his games.

“It’s good to get you out of here,” I say. “It’ll be good for you to go somewhere new with me. You’ve never been to Philadelphia before.”

“I haven’t?”

I laugh. “You’d remember it, I think,” I say. “It’s a big city, with a lot of people. There are going to be a lot of people at the game with us.”

“Everyone in Philadelphia?”

“Not everyone,” I say, chuckling a little. “They wouldn’t all fit in the stadium.”

I drop Scout off at school and head over to the pool to get started on the workday. I try to push Dan out of my mind in order to prepare for the work day ahead, but I really don’t see the point of this mental exercise. As of yesterday, there wasn’t anyone on the schedule for today, so upon pulling up to the parking lot, I just expect a day of cleaning the pool to keep busy.

But as soon as I enter, Dan’s mother is waiting for me, looking impatiently at her watch.

“You took your time, didn’t you, dear?” she says, a somewhat nasty look on her face.

“This is my normal time,” I say, trying to sound professional. “After all, I had to drop my daughter off at school.”

“Oh, what a shame,” says Mrs. Cambridge.

“Excuse me?” I say.

“Oh, it’s just that I was hoping Dan and you might get married.”

I don’t know what to say, but fortunately a very real choking fit (it feels like something is caught in my throat) saves me from having to respond. Little does Mrs. Cambridge know that I was dropping her granddaughter off at school.

“Well,” I say, finally recovering. “Why don’t you get changed and we can get started? How’s everything feeling today?”

“Quite a bit better, actually,” says Mrs. Cambridge.

I know this is the most I’m going to get in terms of a thank you. She’s not one to sing the praises of anyone, that’s for sure.

I get changed myself, after she’s done, and then I help her into the pool. We do many of the same drills and exercises as yesterday, with a couple minor variations that I think will help her regain mobility. Her hired helper waits patiently in the waiting room, flipping through old magazines and watching football videos on his smartphone.

“So Dan left this morning for Philadelphia?” I say, when the session is finally over, and I’m helping Mrs. Cambridge out of the pool.

“He left last night, dear,” says Mrs. Cambridge.

“Last night?”

“It shocked me too,” she says. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you?”

“No…” I say.

“I don’t want to know about the personal business between you two,” says Mrs. Cambridge. “Let’s just leave it at where it is now, shall we?”

I appreciate her more old fashioned take on this sort of thing. This is exactly the thing you don’t want to get stuck having to explain to your lover’s mother.

Is he my lover, though?

I think back to the text. Sounds like Scout and I will visit him in Philadelphia, as long as he’s still up for it, and hasn’t forgotten about me already, now that he’s back in the big city.

But I know there was something there, something powerful that binds us together. I could feel it in his body last night, on his lips when he kissed me, and in his eyes when he gazed into mine.

The rest of the day passes uneventfully, without any more clients, so I spend my time cleaning the pool, and trying not to think about Dan too much. But in the end I spend all my time day dreaming about him, about last night, about his body…

I spend plenty of time worrying too, about what will happen when I finally get up the nerve to tell him about Scout. Who knows when that will be though, since the more I think about it the more it seems silly and even foolish to break the news so early to him. Maybe I should wait until later, when things are going really well between us. That way he won’t be able to get mad, to be upset…

But he would have every right to be furious with me. If the tables were turned, and somehow I had a child without knowing it (hard to imagine from a woman’s perspective, I know, but bear with me), I’d be devastated and beyond distraught if I were to find out later. I can’t imagine how he’d feel if I told him…

Maybe it’d be better not to tell him. Maybe he’ll just meet Scout and like her so much that he’ll adopt her, the two of us marrying and living happily ever after, with Dan never knowing the truth.

I go back and forth on this issue so many times in my head that by the end of the day I feel sick to my stomach, and it’s not just the smell of the pool cleaning products that’s doing it to me.

I pick Scout up from school, fix her dinner, and the two of us watch about a half hour of TV before I put her to bed.

“You’ve got to rest up,” I tell her. “We’ve got our big trip coming up.”

“I’m not sleepy at all, though,” says Scout, but it’s not to my surprise at all when she falls fast asleep less than five minutes later, her little child snores coming up from her pillow and filling the room.

In the kitchen, I pour myself a small glass of wine and continue to watch the TV for another few minutes in an effort to distract myself, before turning it off in boredom.

I’m only sitting in silence for a couple minutes when my phone rings.

“Hello?” I say, smiling to myself because I already know it’s Dan on the other end of the line.

“You never got back to me about Friday,” says Dan, his voice taking on a mock serious quality.

“It’s a definite yes,” I say. “Scout’s really excited.” I tell myself that I’m just going to have to pretend for a little while that I’m not worried about Scout and Dan, and that whole situation.

“Good,” says Dan. “I’m glad.”

“You sound really tired,” I say.

“I am,” he says. “Practice was torture. Coach wanted to punish me for taking the time off.”

“Didn’t you tell him you were helping your elderly mother?”

Dan laughs. “That sort of stuff doesn’t cut it with Coach,” he says. “He just doesn’t care.”

“Sounds like a sweet old man,” I say.

Dan laughs.

“It’s good to hear you laugh,” I say.

There’s a pause on the other end of the line.

“That was really fun last night,” says Dan.

“If that’s what you want to call it,” I say, laughing. “I was hoping you’d describe it in… I don’t know, more sensual words.”

“Well,” says Dan. “There are a lot of ways I could describe it. I’ve been thinking about it… about you all day. I couldn’t get you off my mind.”

“That’s the kind of talk I like to hear,” I say. “Keep going, why don’t you?” I’m trying to make a joke, but Dan takes me seriously.

“I’ve been thinking about your beautiful body,” he says. “And, well, there was something special. You know what I mean? I really feel like there’s some kind of real connection between us?”

“I know what you mean,” I say. “I felt it too.”

There’s a silence on the other end of the line.

“I can’t get you off my mind,” says Dan, again, at least for the second time this evening. “I keep thinking about your body.”

“What’s it making you do?” I say, trying my best to be coy. Of course, I’m wondering whether his cock is as rock hard as it was last night, and whether or not he’s touching himself. “Are you alone?”

“Yeah,” says Dan. “I’m at my place. What about you?”

“I’m headed to my room,” I say. “I’m the only one awake in the house.”

I head into my own bedroom, and close the door behind me. I make sure to lock it. The sound proofing is good in here, although I’ve never really had an opportunity to seriously test it. I’ve never had a man like Dan in here to really test it with.

“I’m completely alone,” I say, into the phone. “I’m all yours.”

“What are you doing?” says Dan.

I giggle. “I’ve never had phone sex before,” I say.

“Oh?” says Dan, acting surprised. “Is that what we’re doing?”

“You know damn well that’s what we’re doing,” I say. “Now tell me, do you have your hand on that big cock of yours?”

“Not yet,” says Dan. “Maybe you could tell me how to do it.”

“How many times have you jerked off in your life and you still don’t know how to do it?”

“I just need some help,” says Dan.

“I bet I’ve given you plenty of help already,” I say, giggling. I never talk like this, but with Dan, I find that it’s easy. It comes out naturally, as if there’s nothing to it. “You probably jerk off to me all the time.”

“It’s true,” says Dan, somewhat gravely. “For the last six years…”

I inhale sharply. I never would have imagined the guy I was fantasizing about all these years, the guy I was longing for, the famous football player… that he was jerking off to me, fantasizing about fucking me.

“That’s so hot,” I say. “Now unzip your pants.”

I can hear Dan’s breathing increasing over the phone and I can almost make out the sound of his zipper coming undone.

“It’s out,” says Dan.

“Take it in your hand,” I say. “And slowly stroke it. And think about me. Think about how good I felt last night.”

“That’s so hot,” says Dan. “Are you touching yourself?”

“Not yet,” I say, my fingers posted right at the edge of the waistband of my panties. I’m wearing my pajama bottoms, my panties, and an old t-shirt without a bra.

“Slide your hand down there,” says Dan, his voice deep and commanding.

I do as he says, and my hand slips down underneath the elastic waistband and I touch myself. I can tell that I’m ready.

“Now massage yourself,” says Dan.

“Are you playing with your cock?” I say.

“Yeah,” says Dan. There’s a slight pause. “You got a laptop?” he says.

“Of course,” I say. “But I’m not interested in watching porn if that’s what you’re about to say. You men are disgusting, always watching porn…”

Dan laughs. “I was going to suggest we video chat,” he says. “I’ll text you my user name.”

“See you in a second then,” I say, glad that he can’t see me right now, blushing at my mistake.

Half a minute later, my laptop is open on the bed, and Dan’s face appears on my screen. I turn my own video chat on, and Dan gets a look at me in my t-shirt, without any makeup.

“You look ravishingly beautiful,” he growls, his voice hot and heavy and deep.

“Thanks,” I say, blushing again, and this time he can see me. “Now give me a good look at that monster cock of yours.”

Dan doesn’t blush, of course. Instead, he grins at me, and changes the position of his laptop so that the camera view shows his whole body.

His pants are unzipped and pulled partially down. His cock is truly massive in the camera, thick and long, with a slight curve, his big head looking like it’s threatening to burst. Dan’s big strong hand is gripping his cock lightly.

“I want you to really stroke that cock for me,” I say.

“First you’ve got to show me what you’re up to down there,” says Dan, smiling at me, perhaps a little wickedly, a little mischievously.

I gingerly move the laptop so that it shows my whole body.

“You don’t care that I’m in an old t-shirt?” I say.

“You’ve never looked hotter,” says Dan.

“What about last night?”

“Well… maybe not never,” he says.

I giggle.

The thoughts of last night drive me into more of a frenzy. The sight of Dan’s cock, too, is driving me closer to the edge.

“You’ve got to take off your pants and panties,” says Dan.

I gingerly slide them down to my knees.

“That’s better,” says Dan, a slightly greedy tone to his voice.

He’s really stroking his cock fast now, sliding his fist up and down it quickly. I can see his abdominal muscles tensing. His shirt is off now. His arm muscles are bulging. He has a look of intensity in his eyes.

Dan’s staring now at me, at my breasts, which I expose by lifting up my t-shirt and showing my braless breasts.

His hand is a blur now on his cock.

I’ve got one finger inside me, moving in and out easily, and one finger on my clit.

The initial super-sensitive period has faded, and I’m really moving my fingers quickly now, my breathing rapid.

I’m about to come, staring at his huge cock. He’s thrusting now, into his fist. His breath is heavy. A moment later, his cock explodes, his cock head erupting and his come shooting up, load after load.

I come upon seeing it, the orgasm exploding through me.