“I know,” I said, cutting him off. “That’s where we first ran into each other. M.J. and A.J. are roommates. What are the odds of that?”
“A.J.” I could tell that it hit him. “Your son’s name is Aleck, right?”
“Yes.”
“But he’s not a junior. Why do you call him A.J.?”
I stared at him. “You’ve always been smarter than the average bear.”
“Maybe you need to explain this to me, Kiss. What I’m thinking could not possibly be.” He sat up even further. “You told me that he wasn’t mine.”
“I lied to you, Aleck. He is your son.” For a moment, Aleck stared me down and I could see the pain in his eyes. “I realize now that I was wrong, but I was trying to do the right thing.”
“Do the right thing?!” He got loud then. “How could not telling me that I have a son be doing the right thing?”
“It’s okay if you hate me, Aleck. I have hated myself on and off throughout the years. It was never an ideal situation. Raising a child alone, him never knowing his father, me lying because it was a one-night stand.”
“But what about when you saw me in Dallas?”
“You were married. Like I said then, I could not be responsible for breaking up another woman’s home.”
“Does he know that I’m his father?” Aleck asked.
“No, he hasn’t a clue and I’m not quite sure how I’m going to tell him.”
“Who does he think his father is?”
“I told him that you died in an automobile accident before he was born.”
“Damn, Kiss!”
Aleck got up from the bed and started putting on his clothes. He had on boxers and a wife beater but was quickly getting into some jeans, a T-shirt and a pair of sneakers.
“We have to go tell him, right this second.”
“Mike took the two of them to the movies. I’m not sure what time it started but they’ve got to still be there.”
Aleck stood in the middle of the floor. “Does he look like me?”
“He looks like you spit his ass out. I was merely the vessel.”
Aleck grinned. “What’s he like?”
“Smart. Athletic. He has a full scholarship…for football.”
“What do you think he’s going to say?”
“He’s going to be mad, that much I know for sure,” I said, then immediately broke out in tears. “He’s going to hate me…just like you do.”
I buried my head into a pillow. I felt Aleck sit down on the bed and then he caressed the small of my back. “I do not hate you, Kiss. I love you. I’ve always loved you.”
“But can you forgive me?” I asked, even though my voice was muffled.
“I have to forgive you. Love is forgiving.” He continued to console me and his fingertips sent electricity up my spine. “I’m divorced. I told Janice about my feelings for you and she ended the marriage.”
“You shouldn’t have told her,” I said, sitting up and looking at him. “It was a good marriage.”
“It was a matter of convenience, not love. I went back to her, after Dallas, and tried to resume a normal relationship. But she was just a substitute for you, Kiss. Every woman that I have been with since 1987 has