A/N: "This is a part of a series of stories, but you can read it as a stand-alone. Each of these stories is meant to be readable in isolation, but, if you want to read them in the chronological order of events, they go like this:
Tami Taylor Is Always Right (between Season 1 and Season 2)
Back in the Saddle (Season 2)
How Did I Get Here (Season 2)
The Best Man Wins (Season 2)
Please leave comments! It's encouraging to know people are reading.
[1]
"There he is! There he is!" Mo McArnold called as he weaved through the cocktail crowd – the crowd that was drawn to celebrate his rich generosity – straight toward Eric.
Why had Tami made him come to this Mo-fest of a cocktail party anyway? It was one thing to be polite to Mo when she bumped into him at that grocery store, but to agree to this? What was she thinking? Eric had to play it cool though, he knew. That's what Tami expected of him. If he didn't, she would scold him for being jealous and small minded.
So he pretended to smile while Mo congratulated him on the State Championship. It was harder to smile when Mo congratulated him on his new daughter. "What the hell's it been," Mo asked, "about fifteen?"
Yeah, it was about fifteen years between when Julie was born and when Tami finally got pregnant with Gracie. Yeah, they'd had a lot of trouble conceiving the second time around. Eric supposed Mo thought he'd have done a better job at knocking Tami up. "Yeah, about fifteen," he said, and then realized Mo wasn't talking about his virility. He was talking about how long it had been since they had last seen each other. Although, it was closer to sixteen years ago when Eric had run into Mo at that San Antonio bar. Mo had been taking a business trip even then. Funny how Mo's business trips kept landing him in the same town as Tami. Well…two trips sixteen years a part. Eric supposed that must just be a coincidence. And of course Mo hadn't even seen Tami that last time.
"Red light!" Mo said with a broad smile.
Eric forced himself to laugh casually.
That laugh sounded natural, didn't it? Like he was having fun? He hoped it didn't sound like he wanted to wrap two hands around Mo's neck. "Ah, right, green light, I got ya."
"Hasn't changed a bit, huh?" Tami asked.
Well, at least she was half acknowledging that Mo was still an ass. She wasn't going to suddenly see new depths in her old boyfriend.
"You two look great," Mo told Eric. "Not as great as this one looks." Mo slipped his arm around Tami.
What the hell did McArnold think he was doing? That was his wife right there. His woman. The mother of his children.
Get your damn arm off of her. "Ha ha ha ha ha," Eric laughed. I want to slap you around. Just a little bit. "Ha ha ha ha ha."
"She looks good," Mo said.
"Yeah, she gets better looking every day." I know. Because I go to bed with her every night and wake up with her every morning. I get to see her naked. Me. Not you.
"She sure does," Mo said. "She sure does."
"Awww, sweetie," Tami said, brushing Eric's arm and giving him a warning look that said, Calm down, it's just Mo. Don't get worked up now.
He frowned at her. What did she expect? What good did she think could come of this?
Mo told them he had to go off in the helicopter, which was a relief to Eric, but then Mo said he was coming to the game Friday night.
"Oh goooood!" Tami gushed.
Eric couldn't tell if that was her fake gush. She was really good at the fake gush. She used it frequently on the boosters, but that sounded almost like she actually wanted Mo at the game.
"That's fantastic," Eric said. "That's spectacular." Had that sounded too sarcastic? Had the irritation come out in his voice? "I'll get you some good seats."
"You could sit with me!" Tami exclaimed.
What? What was she saying? She was going to sit with her ex-boyfriend – who, by the way, cheated on her – at his game? Was she really just volunteering herself to cozy up to Mo in the stands? Really?
Eric looked at her warily. Tami was a forgiving woman. It was one of the many things he loved about her, and God knew he'd had need of her forgiveness from time to time. But how could she welcome Mo like that?
"We'll sit together at the game," Mo said, and then he kissed her on the cheek. Kissed her. Like it was just some kind of casual nice-to-see-you goodbye.
"You bring 'em, hell," Mo told Eric, and then fake punched him on the cheek. Eric smiled tensely. He ran his tongue across his teeth to give himself something to do other than what he wanted to do. He'd had that fist in his face before. Twice before. He hadn't liked it.
Mo left them to climb into the helicopter.
"Boy I sure have missed him," Eric muttered.
Eric watched Tami watch Mo take off. Her eyes were full of girlish wonder, like they'd been that day she'd come for their first tutoring session at the car dealership, when she'd gazed around the showroom and run her hand over a sparkling new car. She was impressed. His wife was impressed with Mo McArnold. Mo and his fancy cocktail party, his real estate moguldom, his charity work, his taking off in helicopters.
Eric gritted his teeth.
[*]
Eric was tense as they drove home. He wished he wasn't so tense, because Tami was a bit loose. She'd plucked more than one glass of champagne from those circulating trays tonight. She was tilting her head back and forth to the music now. Then she turned down the radio. "Why was Mo saying fifteen years? Is his math that bad? It's been at least twenty years since he left Dillon."
"I…uh….I might of run into him in San Antonio once. Soon after Julie was born."
"Why didn't you mention it?"
Because he wasn't supposed to be hanging out with the guys at a bar that night. He was supposed to be home supporting Tami's sufferings with the colicky baby. Eric shrugged. "Thought I had. Hey, listen, why did you invite him to the game?"
"What do you mean?" Tami said. "He invited himself. He just said he was coming. And why wouldn't he? Who doesn't go to football in Dillon?"
"Yeah, but you didn't have to invite him to sit right next to you in the stands, did you?" Eric came to a stop at a light.
She turned and gave him her you have got to be kidding look. "Eric, I thought the passage of twenty-plus years would have matured you a little. You're not telling me you're jealous of Mo McArnold, are you?"
The light turned green and he rolled the SUV forward. "Of course not. I'm just saying, why do you have to be so chummy with him? He cheated on you."
"Oh, Lord, Eric, that was so long ago. That was a lifetime ago. Look how far he's come. No reason not to be friendly."
"How far he's come?"
"Well, you saw that – making that big donation. He's charitable now. He's generous."
"He was always generous. He always paid for the beer."
"So you can see some good in him," she said. "Then what's your problem with being friendly?"
"My problem is how friendly he was being with you. He didn't have to put his arm around you like that. And what's with the kissing goodbye?"
Tami shook her head. "Oh, Lord, Eric. Seriously? How long have we been married now?"
"About two decades. Give or take."
"Two decades. I'd think by now you wouldn't have to worry about some guy putting his arm around me." She shook her head again.
"It's not you I'm worried about."
"Lord, Eric. Good Lord! Mo doesn't have any designs on me. You know what? You sound just like he did when he and I were dating and you were just tutoring me and he was always suggesting you had a thing for me."
"Because I did."
"No you didn't," she insisted. "Not then. You thought I was nothing but a stupid slut for the longest time."
"By the time Mo was suspicious of me, let me tell you, he had reason to be. I don't know how you can be so oblivious, sometimes. Like you were about him cheating. I had to tell you he was cheating on you."
"No you didn't. You did not have to tell me that. I knew he was cheating on me. I knew that."
Now Eric shook his head. "I'm just telling you, I can see Mo's game plan as well as he could see mine."
"Jealous isn't sexy, you know."
"Yeah, what is?"
"Taking out the trash," she said. "Taking out the trash is very sexy."
When they pulled into the driveway, he ran to the garage for the can and rolled it out to the curb. Only after he'd done it did he realize it wasn't actually trash day.