Chapter 15

Around 6:30 the next morning I was waiting for Jessica at a coffee shop that was at the halfway mark on her run. When she saw me she quickly looked away and ran for a few seconds then stopped. She waited for a few seconds and then turned around to walk towards me. Once again she went past me and ordered a drink at the window. I tried to say something but then she held up a finger.

After she finished her energy drink she slowly said, “Okay now we can talk.”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me he’s not mine.” I said.

She took about ten seconds to answer, “It’s a possibility that he is. I’m not too sure. At one point in our relationship I knew that what was going on between us couldn’t last forever. You were best friends with my daughter. I started seeing new guys ... And even sleeping with them. I used protection though. And I was shocked with myself when I found out that the guys that I had slept with all resembled you in a lot of ways.” She laughed. “Do you want to know how I discovered that little fact out?”

I shrugged, “Sure. How did you find out?”

“It was shortly before Courtney told me that she was a lesbian. One day she told me she wanted to talk. We were sitting in the living room and she was looking all serious. I felt as if she were the parent and I were the child. It was that serious. Then she blurted out asking me why I was dating a bunch of different guys that looked like her friend Erik.” She froze for a moment. With the look she had on her face I could imagine what she looked like when she was confronted with that question. “I did something stupid and told her that I had been going out with guys that resembled your dad.”

“Are you going to tell me you slept with my dad?” I asked unsure if I had wanted to know the answer.

Right away she said, “That’s one line I never crossed. Not knowingly at the time anyways. Despite my flirting with you and my invitations for you to sleep with me after you brought Elena home I’d never want to sleep with a married man.” She looked away from me and in a hushed voice she said, “Except one married man.” Then out loud, “But there are only two men who could actually be the father of my little Sam. I’m not sure I can say who the other man is though.”

“Listen forget why we came here. About what I asked on the phone last night you don’t need to tell me...” A thought entered my mind when I said that. “Constance was never very good friends with Courtney. Yet she went over to your house yesterday and spent a lot of time there.”

“Oh God.” Jessica started to cry.

“My uncle Carson?” I asked. Jessica nodded. I added, “He was married at the time they lived here.”

She cried even harder. When she was calm enough to speak she said, “I didn’t know that at the time. Whenever I’d see him with you or your family he was either alone or with just Constance. I felt so stupid when he told me he was moving away with his wife and daughter.”

“That bastard. He lied to you and used you like that.” I growled.

Jessica put her hand on my shoulder, “It wasn’t like that. It was actually the other way around. I seduced him and told him I didn’t want to know anything about his past or current relationships. I told him that I was just using him for sex. So I could get over a man I shouldn’t have feelings for. I ended up having sex with the both of you on the same days most of the time. So it could be either of you that’s the father of Sam. I never wanted to check though. I was too afraid too.”

“Why?” A dumb question I know.

She gave a half laugh and half scoff, “On one hand I’d been having sex with a married man who happened to not be my husband, and on the other hand I had been having sex with a boy who at the time I became pregnant was sixteen and a half. Neither one of those would sound good explaining to the person doing the checking. God I’d still be in prison. And if they found out about me having sex with your Uncle I’d just be called a slut. A homewrecking slut. The only thing good that came out of this besides Sam was the fact that my husband who had left me years before had found out about me getting knocked up had finally signed the divorce papers.”

I wrapped my arm around Jessica and she calmed down a bit. It was a risky move but I didn’t know what else to do at the time.

Once she was calm I asked, “You want me to join you as you finish your run?”

She shook her head no, “Not today. But I wouldn’t mind a ride home. That was a lot of drink and we spent a long time here.”

I laughed, “Okay let’s get moving then.”

Half way home Jessica said, “You want to know something crazy?” I nodded. She continued, “After Sam was born I realized that I was getting old. But I didn’t want to be done having kids. So I had plenty of my eggs frozen. I went for as many times as they’d let me get my eggs extracted. They’re now all in safe storage.”

That was more information than I ever expected. We didn’t speak after that until we got to her place.

I pulled into her driveway and asked, “Does Courtney know about you freezing your eggs?”

“No she doesn’t. I’m waiting for the right time to tell her. Maybe when I’m Eighty or I’m on my deathbed. Maybe I should have some of my eggs brought out of deep freeze. Since it’s unlikely I’ll be getting any biological grandbabies from Courtney.” Jessica stated.

When I walked in the door I saw my entire household was in the living room. And they all went silent.

“Uh oh. That can’t be a good sign. Last time I came in here and everyone went silent was when all you ladies were talking when Dad and I moved Elena’s and my stuff into the house. What’s going on?”

My dad stood up and walked over to me, he placed a hand on my shoulder and said, “A few different things actually. Only a couple that we have enough time to talk about now. I’ve thought it over son. I give you permission to do whatever you want with the theater. I’ll call up my lawyer and have him change the deed to the place to be in your name. Later on you can decide if you want to keep both theaters or let me keep the one near your school.”

I hugged my dad, “Thank you dad. You’re the best. I won’t let you down.”

“Don’t you mean ‘We’ won’t let him down? Since the theater will be both of our’s.” asked Elena.

“Of course.” I said and then kissed my Elena. I had to concentrate on not kissing Maxine the same way too. I turned to my dad. “What else has been going on? You said you only had enough time to talk about two things.”

“Well your mom, Zoe hasn’t been feeling well for a few days. She wanted me to take her and Elena to the hospital in a couple minutes. Maxine is going to be going to a friends house so it’s up to you to house sit. Because I’m waiting on an important call. Is that okay?” my dad said.

Of course the call my dad had been waiting for came about two minutes after they left. And it was about a video game he had ordered for his Nintendo Switch. I had been expecting something more important than that.

After I hung up the phone I turned to Maxine and I was going to ask her something when I saw that she was standing in front of me completely naked. My jaw dropped and after she kissed me so did my clothes.

I lost track of how many times she came but I let loose inside of her twice. We were catching our breaths when the phone rang. I ran over to the phone and answered, “Dad? What’d you find out about mom? Oh. Okay. I’ll let Maxine know. Yeah they called. It came in. Okay I’ll do that. Tell everyone I love you all. Bye.”

“What was it? Is my mom okay?” asked Maxine.

I was surprised that Maxine was already dressed. Dang she was fast. I had looked at her not even a minute before and she was completely naked. I was about to mention that when I saw that her under garments were still on the floor.

I was grinning for a moment picturing Maxine walking around naked under her clothes then I said, “Everything’s fine with mom. They’ll tell us what’s going on when they get home. In the meantime they’ll be spending a few hours out running errands. They want me to go do some stuff for them too. I’ll take you to your friends now if you want.”