Chapter 7
Early Saturday morning, Amanda had a shift at her second job, running a cash register at a local supermarket. It was grueling to be there so early in the morning after working a double the night before, but she didn't have much choice in the matter if she wanted to keep up with her bills. She was consoled by the one perk her second job had: she had a stool behind the register, so she could sit instead of being on her feet all day. It was a small benefit, but with how bad her feet were still hurting, it was a blessing.
Her shift finished at noon, leaving her with the rest of the day ahead of her. She wanted to go home and spend some time with her son, since she had barely seen him over the last few days. But before going home, she felt like there was another stop she needed to make. After her encounter with Cole the night before, she felt like she needed to go talk to Michelle about the wedding.
She took a bus to Michelle's parents' house, where Michelle and Blake were staying for the weekend. She had rarely been to the new house since they moved to the wealthier part of town. It was the sort of neighborhood where Amanda felt completely out of place. All of the houses were huge—not quite mansions, but close to it—and every driveway had a BMW or a Mercedes or some other fancy luxury car. Most of the people who lived in that area were doctors, lawyers, or finance professionals. Michelle's family stood out as not belonging there in the least. Her dad was equipment manager for the high school football team, and her mom was a nurse. They could never have afforded such a nice house on their salaries. Though from what Amanda understood, Cole had paid for it all.
Michelle's mom greeted her at the door and led her inside. She found Michelle in the living room, going over last-minute wedding plans. She set aside a catalog when Amanda walked in, getting up and taking both of Amanda's hands in hers.
“Oh, thank God you're here,” Michelle said. “The florist is rushing to get all of the arrangements together at the last minute, but he's pushing me to decide on the bouquet. I can't decide if I want to go with something more traditional, or pick something a little more exotic.”
“Umm, okay,” Amanda said. She didn't know the first thing about flowers, but she let Michelle drag her over to the couch so they could sort through the catalogs. She offered the best advice she could, though it mostly involved her saying that the first choice looked nice and the second choice looked nice and the third choice looked...nice as well. Michelle didn't even seem to notice her noncommittal answers, picking out whatever she liked regardless of what Amanda said.
“Listen,” Amanda said when there was a brief pause in all the talk about flowers. “I needed to talk to you. About the wedding.”
“Why?” Michelle asked. “Is something wrong? Please don't tell me there's something wrong. You have no idea what I've gone through planning this thing on such short notice.”
“No, it's not like that.” Amanda squirmed in her seat, not sure how to bring the delicate subject up. “It's about—”
“Cole!”
“Yes, how did you....?”
Amanda trailed off when she saw that Michelle was looking across the room at Cole. He walked in carrying a case of wine. “Hey, sis,” he said, setting the case down on the table. “They only had one case of the Zinfandel left, so I picked up a couple of cases of this rosé stuff. They said it tastes the same. I've got the rest out in the car.”
Michelle went over to check on the wine, frowning as she read the label. Cole smiled awkwardly at Amanda and gave her a small wave. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” Amanda said. She tried to avoid making eye contact. She had come here to talk about Cole, not to talk to him. She wasn't sure how to bring up the situation with him there in the room.
“I need to call the distributor,” Michelle said, pulling out her phone. “They promised me they had four cases set aside for me.”
She stepped out of the room to make the call, leaving Cole and Amanda alone together. Cole stood there with his hands in his back pockets, looking like he wanted to talk. Amanda sighed. “Thanks for the ride home,” she said.
“Yeah, no problem.” Cole sat down on the chair across from her. “I'm always happy to help out a friend, you know that.”
“Are we friends?” Amanda frowned at him.
“Well, yeah.” Cole shrugged. “I mean, I used to give you and Michelle rides all the time, back when you two were in high school together. It's no big deal.”
Amanda shrugged and looked away.
Cole leaned forward. “Listen...you know I wanted to call you, right? I mean, I asked Michelle for your number. But she...”
Amanda nodded, still not meeting his eyes. “She told me.” She still wasn't sure how to feel about the knowledge that Cole had actually tried to get back in touch with her. It made it harder for her to be mad at him.
“Look, maybe I can make it up to you,” Cole said.
“What do you mean?”
He reached over and took her hands in his. “Let me be your date to the wedding.”
She started to shake her head, a hesitant look on her face.
“No funny business,” Cole said, giving her a pleading smile. “I promise. I just think we owe it to each other to have the chance to catch up. Make up for what happened. Just like old times, right?”
Amanda thought about it, not sure what to say. She wasn't sure they had any “old times” to rekindle, really. She had just been a foolish teenager with a crush on her friend's older brother. The one night they'd shared together had been amazing, but it had still just been one night.
She looked into his eyes and was stunned by the thought that he looked just like James. She had seen the resemblance before, but it was something else to be sitting so close to Cole, looking right into his eyes, and realizing how much they were alike. It made her voice catch in her throat.
“Please?” Cole asked.
Amanda sighed and hung her head. “Yeah,” she said. “I guess. Sure.”
“Great,” Cole said, grinning. He got up, pacing excitedly around the room. “It'll be great. Just you wait and see.”
Amanda watched him, thinking of her son. Their son. Though she knew she could never let them meet. It would be too hard for her to bring Cole to meet his son, without telling him about their connection. It would break her heart.
And more than that, she was worried about the effect it would have on James. He had never yet asked her who his father was. He was too young to really think about that sort of thing. But she knew that one day, it was a conversation she was going to have to have with him.
It would be easier, she was sure, if she could tell him a story about some vague father figure that had never been a part of his life. She could tell him about her high school crush, and how she'd spent only one night with Cole. How Cole had never called her again after that night. That would be easier than letting James get to know Cole, letting them develop some kind of relationship together. It would be so much harder for James to accept that his father wasn't a part of his life if that father was someone he knew, someone he had developed some sort of bond with. She didn't want to put him through that.
Michelle returned a few minutes later, but Amanda couldn't sit around any longer. She'd come here to talk about how to avoid Cole at the wedding, and instead she'd somehow agreed to be his date. The whole situation was too confusing. She made her excuses and left, heading for the bus stop so she could head home to her son.