Biker's Virgin

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Moms and dads kiss, though, right? They do on TV. And Miss Allie is so nice, I wouldn’t mind if she was my mom since I don’t have a mom.”

“You do have a mom,” I said. “Everyone has a mom; that’s how we’re born.”

“I know, but I don’t have a mom who’s here. I don’t have a mom that I know.”

For a moment, neither of us said anything. Four, in my opinion, was still too young to really be able to comprehend the facts of this particular situation. It wasn’t a conversation that I was particularly looking forward to. Declan was as smart as a whip, but I still wasn’t ready to really get into the topic of his mother. It was a talk that we’d have to have someday, but I was hoping that day was way off in the very distant future.

“So,” he continued, “since I don’t have a mom that I know, and since I like Miss Allie so much, and it seems like she does want to be my mom, I was thinking that I might ask her. Do you think she’ll say yes?”

I tried not to smile. “I’m not sure if that’s how it works,” I said. “I don’t know if people go around asking other people to be their parents.”

“But I could try, couldn’t I? That’s what you and Grandma are always saying, that I should at least try.”

“It is good to try,” I said. “Even when other people are telling you that you can’t do it. Especially then. Unless it’s dangerous, of course,” I added quickly.

“I don’t think this is dangerous, though.”

“No,” I said, taking a bite of my sandwich. “I don’t think it is, either.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Allie

I was taking a break from working out in the garden, drinking a glass of cold lemonade, when my mother called.

“Good, I’m glad you answered,” she said. “I have something very important to talk to you about.”

“Okay,” I said slowly.

“We’re going to be driving down to Provincetown for the Fourth of July,” my mother said. “It’s been so long since we’ve been there! Would you like to go with us?”

“No, I don’t think so,” I said.

“Do you have other plans?”

“I don’t know. I’ve got the day off, so I’ll probably just take it easy and then maybe figure out where to go see fireworks or something.”

“You’re not going to go to a cookout or anything?”

“I don’t know, Mom, maybe. Though the last time I tried having a cookout, it ended up getting crashed.”

“Oh, stop it, Allie, we didn’t crash your party, for heaven’s sake. Why don’t you ask Cole what he’s doing?”

“Maybe,” I said. “He might have plans with his family; I don’t know. I might see what Amy is doing, one of the girls that I work with.”

“Well, you’re always welcome to come with us to P-town. It’ll be a lot of fun, you know. We all went there once on the Fourth, when you were in middle school I think. Do you remember?”

“Sort of,” I said, vaguely recalling a long drive to the Cape, and then crowds of people packing the narrow streets of Provincetown. They had shot the fireworks off from a boat in the harbor, and I always thought that was neat.

“Well, if you don’t come down for the Fourth, what about just a visit to the city? Taking Declan to LEGOLAND? That sounds nice, doesn’t it? I think it’d be really great if you guys did that. How is everything with Cole?”

“He’s good,” I said.

“You’re really very fortunate to have him as a neighbor. It’s not every day that you’re going to move somewhere new and hit it off with your neighb

or as well as the two of you seem to. I just... I can tell there’s something there, between the two of you.”

“He’s a nice guy, and we’re enjoying each other’s company.”