A/N: I hope people are still reading and enjoying this. Comments are very welcome! Please leave one.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"C'mon, now!" Tami complained. "Come do the tush push."

"I'm not doing any tush push," Eric insisted. "And frankly, considering how many beers you've had, I'm not sure you should be attempting it either." She'd thrown back quite a few, especially in the last hour. He was a little surprised she wasn't dancing on a table at this point.

Tami pouted. "C'mon now, Eric. Don't be a spoilsport!"

"Let me tell you something - I two stepped with you. I did the cowboy boogie. But I'm not doing any tush push."

"But you have such a nice tush." She slapped his ass and laughed.

"I'll do the tush push with you, Tami," Kimberley said, drawing up behind them. She'd visited with them for a while and then, to Eric's relief, disappeared back to her table of friends when the live music and dancing started. They'd crossed paths occasionally throughout the night, but for the most part Kimberley had left Eric and Tami to themselves. She'd been dancing with her friends and with the occasional man.

Tami put an arm around Kimberley's waist and strutted with her to the dance floor. She threw a parting glance back at Eric, saying, "Have fun watching, sweetheart."

[FNL]

"If I tell you something," Julie asked. "Will you promise not to tell my father?"

Uncle Dale jumped one of her checkers and took it. "No."

Julie was sitting on the living room floor, her legs under the coffee table, across from her uncle, who was on the couch. "My Aunt Shelley always says yes."

"Well your Uncle Dale makes no promises," he said. "But if it's not something your father needs to know, I won't tell him."

"There's a boy I like at school."

"Oh, well, he definitely doesn't need to know that. Not yet anyway."

Julie moved a checker forward. "He's totally cute."

"Well, that's important," Uncle Dale said. "Cuteness is a key criteria in determining the worth of a young man."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"Not at all. You're in 6th grade."

"What does that have to do with it?"

"Well I'm guessing you're not looking for a life partner just yet."

"Are you?" Julie asked.

Uncle Dale laughed. "It's rude to point out to unmarried adults that they're unmarried. I'm sure your mother has told you that."

"I'm just saying….my Aunt Shelley is totally single. And I know you think she's way too young for you, but you're both adults now."

Uncle Dale jumped another one of her checkers. He wasn't losing on purpose, the way a lot of adults did. "I last saw your aunt at a family Christmas dinner your parents hosted when you were about five." Julie couldn't remember where they were living when she was five. Abilene, she thought. Or maybe that was when they were in Lubbock. "She was an adult then," Uncle Dale continued. "Twenty-two I think. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure she and I would be….intellectually compatible."

Julie was aware that her uncle was implying that her aunt was stupid. She understood what adults were saying more than her peers did, but that was owing more to an intellectual than an emotional maturity. Intellectually, Julie was 15. But emotionally, she was still just 11. "My Aunt Shelley is a lot smarter than people think. And what do you want?" she asked. "A rocket scientist?"

"I'd love a rocket scientist. But I'm already seeing someone. She's not a rocket scientist, but she does have a Ph.D. in linguistics. "

"Oh. I didn't know you had a girlfriend. You could have just said that from the beginning. What's linguistics?"

"The study of languages."

"Can you get a job studying languages?" Julie asked.

"You can, but they're few and far between. That's probably why she's a translator instead." Uncle Dale glanced at his watch. "10:05," he said. "I promised your mother."

Julie sighed. "I wish I could have stayed to dance with them. I'm the only one taking dance lessons, after all."

[FNL]

Eric relaxed against a wooden pillar, his arms crossed over his chest, as he watched his wife and Kimberley dance. He supposed it was better that they were getting along than that there should be any jealous tension between them, but he wished they would not hang out together at all. He was glad to be able to observe from a safe distance.

Tami was doing fairly well with the tush push, considering how tipsy she was. Eric's face broke into a smile as he admired her.

A man in a black cowboy hat paused next to him and raised a beer bottle to his lips. "You hittin' both of those?" he asked.

"What?" Eric stood up straight.

"I said you hittin' both of those?"

"I would never hit a woman."

The man in the black cowboy hat laughed. "No, I mean… I bet they make for a good threesome. I'd love to have them both back at the shack if you know what I mean. Are they sisters? And – hello." He was looking over Tami now. "Nice ass."

Every nerve in Eric's body tensed. "Hey! That's my wife's ass you're looking at right now."

The man was staring straight at it. "Well, she's putting it out there, isn't she?" He tilted his head sideways.

Eric, with all the strength he could muster, resisted the urge to take a swing at him, went onto the dance floor, grabbed Tami's hand, and tugged. He waved at Kimberley as he did so. "You have fun now. We have to get going. Nice seeing you again."

Tami protested the entire time he dragged her toward the door. Finally she worked her way loose from his hand just as they were about twenty feet from the exit. "I want to dance, Eric!"

"You've had a lot of beers, Tami. I have to work tomorrow. You have to work tomorrow."

"You called a cab already?"

"I'll call one outside."

"What? Why are we leaving when you haven't even called a cab yet?"

He stepped forward and kissed her passionately. She was startled, but it had the intended effect and silenced her protests. "Because I'm madly in love with you, babe," he said when he pulled away, "and I want to make out with you in the moonlight until the cab comes."

Really he just wanted to get her out of the honky-tonk and away from the gaze of black cowboy hat man, but he knew she liked romantic professions, especially when she was drunk.

"Awwwww! How sweet!" Tami took her cowgirl hat off her head and put it on his. Then she covered her mouth with her hands and bent forward giggling.

He plucked the hat off himself and led her outside and called the cab. They kissed sloppily against the side of the building until the cab came, but Tami kept having to break their kisses to giggle. On the ride home she turned to him, kissed his cheek, put a hand on the front of his jeans, and squeezed. He jerked her hand away and looked abashedly toward the driver.

She tried it again.

"Stop!" he hissed, pinning her hand down on his knee. "We're in public."

"Spoilsport," she muttered and then giggled.

Later, when Eric guided Tami through the front door of their house and down the hallway, Dale was sitting in the arm chair, reading. He glanced up from his book and smirked as they passed.

Tami turned back and asked, loudly, "Did you know your brother was a spoilsport, Dale?"

Eric ushered her to their bedroom. She fell backwards on the bed, arms outstretched, and laughed. He unzipped her cowgirl boots, one long, quick tug for each, and yanked them off.

"Why are you doing that so fast?" she asked. "Do it slow and sexy like you usually do."

"Tami, you need to sleep, babe."

"You don't want to fool around?"

"I do. I just don't want you to pass out halfway through."

"Spoilsport."

He got her situated under the covers, and she rolled on her side. "The room is moving," she said.

"I'm not surprised."

He leaned down and kissed her cheek. "I'm gonna leave a glass of water by the bed. And a bottle of aspirin."