PART 2
He opened the door to her house and walked her in. "Go change clothes and I'll fix you some tea."
"You don't need to baby-sit me like this. I can take care of myself."
"I know that better than anyone. But, just for tonight, let me take care of you."
She kissed him on the cheek. "What would I do without you?"
"Let's hope you never find out."
Tom had the tea on the table when Cassy emerged from her room. She was wearing his old college sweatsuit that was two sizes too big for her.
"I wondered where that had gone." He handed her a cup of tea.
"You left it here when you moved out. You move you loose. Mine."
She took her first sip. It burned going down. She set it on the coffee table.
"I always loved the way you looked in my clothes."
Cassy smiled. "You know what this tea needs? Some cookies." She got up and headed for the kitchen when she noticed the picture on the bookshelf. It was a picture of her and Dalton. She grabbed it and threw it hard against the fireplace. "I HATE YOU!!!"
Tom, startled by her actions, leaped up, gathered Cassy in his arms again and carried her back to the couch. She began a whole new batch of tears. Eventually the crying subsided into hiccups. After a few sips of the tea, all that was left was jagged breathing.
"I am so sorry this happened, Cass." They were lying on the couch with her head on his chest.
"Not as half as sorry I am." She got off Tom and sat up.
"Do you know what's worse than learning the man you're involved with is married?"
Tom a long drink of his tea, "I'm drawing a blank."
"Do you remember that weekend Dalton took me to Manhattan?"
"Sure. You were so excited. I don't remember you ever getting excited whenever we went out of town for the weekend."
"There is a big difference between Manhattan and your friend Ernie's cabin in the woods, Tom."
He stuck his tongue out at her. "I recall you had a wonderful time once you got there."
Cassy laughed. "Anyway, I just learned that while we were sipping champagne and ordering from room service, his wife was giving birth to his daughter."
Cassy could see the shock on his face.
"What? That lousy, cheating son-of-a.."
Cassy touched his cheek. "Tom. It's okay. I don't want to talk about it anymore. I just want to forget this night ever happened."
"That sounds good to me."
Guilt ran through Cassy like water. "Oh, Tom, I am so sorry. With all my carrying on, I forgot all about you and what you went through tonight."
Tom reached for the last cookie. "It's all right. Leah dumped me days ago and you were there for me so let me be here for you tonight. Besides, I can do better than a 'bleach blond silicon bimbo' I believe that was what you called her."
"She's been upgraded to a trashy bleach blond silicon bimbo. And you are right. You can do better than her. I'm starving. Those little sandwiches were nothing. How does a pizza sound?"
Tom stood up carried the empty cookie tin and cups into the kitchen. "A pizza sounds perfect as long as it has anchovies. You order while I change. I don't suppose you have any more of my clothes around here?"
Cassy laughed. "Bottom dresser drawer. Oh and Tom, you look excellent in that tux."
Tom smiled and did a model's walk to the bedroom. "Don't I always?"
"There will be no anchovies." Cassy yelled from the den.
One large pizza and a six pack of beer later, Tom and Cassy felt nothing but the effects of the alcohol. The pizza had arrived and it was half anchovy. Tom admitted that he called the pizza place after she did and changed the order. She fumed and fussed and eventually sat down to eat her
half of the pizza.
They were in the middle of watching an old black and white movie.
"Cass, how can you say that he's not hurting? Didn't you see the way he looked when he saw her kissing Spencer. It was killing him."
"If he loved her so much, why didn't he just tell her."
"He did."
"When?"
"That kiss in the park."
"That one kiss said everything? I don't think so. A kiss is just a kiss. It's dismissive."
Tom was surprised. "How can you say that? Don't you remember the first time I kissed you? It was in a park, too, as I recall. We had been jogging and it began to rain. We ran for shelter and while we waited out the storm under
that pavilion, I kissed you. You don't remember that?"
Cassy smiled at the memory. "Of course I remember."
"You looked so cute with your wet hair sticking to you and your clothes soaked. I had to kiss you. We stayed like that for a long time. Long after the rain stopped."
Tom reached for the last piece of pizza. "After that we went back to my apartment and spent the rest of the day in bed."
The memory jumped into Cassy's head. The way they just meshed together. Tom's face was replaced with Dalton's face and Cassy came back to earth with a jolt.
"Yeah well, that was a new experience for us. Today, it wouldn't have the same effect because we've been there and done that. We did divorce for a reason. With all this beer on the brain, I can't recall at this time what that reason was." Cassy lay down on the sofa.
Tom gave her a pillow. "Neither can I. But let's get back to that discussion. You're saying that a kiss from me now wouldn't have the same impact it had then?"
"Yes, that is what I'm saying, I think."
"I say we test out the theory."
Cassy sat up. "What?"
"The kiss. I kiss you and you tell me if it makes you go soft in the knees, the way it use to."
"Did you say 'soft in the knees'? Where did you get that?"
"From you. You told me so. On our wedding night."
"Tom, I had three glasses of champagne at our reception and another three later that night. You're taking the word of an impaired woman?"
Tom refused to let her talk her way out of it. "Anyway, are you up for the challenge?"
"The kiss? Oh why not. It's not like we'll remember any of this tomorrow. But, don't feel bad if your theory goes right out the window and.."
Tom's kiss hit hard. A quiver ran through her stomach . She told herself it was the beer and pizza she was feeling and not Tom's kiss.
Then why didn't she let go? Because as much as she hated to admit it, Tom was the best kisser she had ever known.
Finally Tom pulled away. He hadn't expected it to be so intense, to feel so strong.
"Cass?"
"Mmmm?" Her eyes were still closed.
"Cass?"
She opened them. "Tom. Um, that was nice. Really nice. Oh hell, that was one hell of a kiss." She pulled him back into her arms and tried to pick up where they left off.
Tom let himself be pulled but then common sense prevailed and he pushed away. "Cass, we can't do this."
"Why not?"
"Because this will lead to the bedroom and neither of us is in any kind of shape to be making a decision that we would ultimately regret in the morning."
Cassy tried to find a clear spot in to her head to think.
"You're right. I'm not thinking. We had way too much to drink and for that reason you are not driving home tonight. You'll sleep on the couch."
"Sounds good." Tom stretched out on the sofa. "This will be just fine."
Cassy stood up and covered Tom with the blanket. She went upstairs, changed clothes and lay down on her bed. She tried to sleep but she could still hear the TV on in the den. She grabbed her robe and headed back downstairs.
She saw Tom sound asleep exactly where she left him earlier. He looked so cute and gentle like that. She turned off the TV and began to collect the empty beer cans and the pizza box. When she returned from taking them to the kitchen she noticed that he had kicked his blanket off. It was an old habit she remembered well.
She had just finished tucking the blanket around Tom when his eyes opened. For the longest moment they just stared at each other. Tom's head came up as Cassy's head came down and the two friends connected. Without saying a word, they proceeded to make love.
The next morning they awoke in her bed and blamed it on broken hearts and beer. Neither one of them mentioned it again but there was a distance between them that was never there before.
Cassy stared down at her stomach, at the child conceived on that night. 'What am I going to do?' she asked herself again and again. Part of her was excited and the other part was scared. But both parts knew that she was not alone in this. This baby had a father and he had a right to know.
She phoned Tom and asked him to come over. She was about to change his life forever.
----------------
End of part 2
To Part 3