Tami felt like Mr. Taylor was watching her again during church, though it might have been her imagination. She abandoned her father at the church door after services and went to the fellowship table, where Eric was filling a coffee cup. "What does your dad think of you dating me?" she asked.

Eric blew on the coffee, and the steam rose and curled in front of his hazel eyes. "I don't think he thinks about it much at all." He took a small sip. "You meet all the criteria, so I'm allowed. Besides, he's too busy worrying about getting Taylor's to meet certain benchmarks so he can sell it for a profit in June."

"He's still selling it even though you aren't taking the tuition money for A&M?"

"Yeah. He's looking to buy a different bar in Dallas. My mom wants to be near my sister when I leave for college."

Tami could understand that. Perhaps Mrs. Taylor found the prospect of being completely alone with her husband a tad too much to bear. Then again, she had married the man. Tami wondered why. "I'll probably be in Dallas for college."

"You did apply to TMU, right?" he asked, stepping out of the way of the Warner twins, who were scurrying about the well picked-over table in search of any remaining sweets. One of the boys grabbed the last brownie, and the other chased after him shouting that his brother must share.

"Yes," Tami said. "But I really don't expect to be admitted. I think I should hear back from UNT and UT-Dallas soon."

Eric looked into his coffee cup. She wondered what he was thinking, if he thought it was too much trouble to maintain a Dallas-to-Austin long-distance relationship. But if his parents and sister were in Dallas, he'd have all the more reason to visit there often.

Tami hoped this relationship would last into college. "Austin is only a three hour drive from Dallas," she told him.

He nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Houston is a lot farther from Rankin."

"Oh." So he was thinking of Lisa dumping him shortly after he moved. Tami took his free hand, the one that wasn't holding the coffee, and squeezed it. She was about to offer him some reassurance, but the sound of laughter interrupted her.

They both turned to see Eric's mother talking to Reverend Hayes. The church crowd had mostly thinned out by now, and apparently all the handshaking had been done, as Tami's father was no longer at the doorway but in the middle of the foyer.

The Reverend laughed again, and then Mrs. Taylor laughed too. Meanwhile, Mr. Taylor was standing to the side, his back to them both, his hands clasped behind himself, reading – or pretending to read - something on the bulletin board.

"Well at least they're getting along," Tami said, and just as she did Mr. Taylor turned and said something to Eric's mother.

"I better get going," Eric said. "My dad's got that look in his eye, the one he gets when he's tired of waiting for her to be ready to go." He kissed Tami's cheek quickly. "See you at school."

[Sunday Evening]

Tami was slicing her corned beef brisket when her mother said, "What were you and Janet flirting about in the foyer today, Edward?"

"What?" the Reverend asked.

"Uh oh," Shelley said. "Sounds like Daddy is in troub-le."

"I wasn't flirting with her," he insisted. "How absurd. I haven't flirted with a woman in over twenty years."

"You certainly don't have to tell me that." Mrs. Hayes buttered her cornbread with a slap slap and then a turn of the knife.

"You're looking beautiful today, my dear. That dress is very becoming on you. Is it new?"

"It's three years old, Edward."

The Reverend picked up his sweet tea and sipped. Then he put it down. He looked at his daughters. "Help me out here."

Shelley laughed.

"She's a very attractive woman," Mrs. Hayes said, "Janet. She's a good match for her husband in that regard, at least, I suppose. I mean, he's positively handsome. He looks like some kind of leading man who's just stepped out of a black and white movie."

"Yes, but then he opens his mouth and ruins the effect," the Reverend said.

Mrs. Hayes put down her knife. "But Janet doesn't ruin the effect when she speaks, does she? She's charming, isn't she?"

The Reverend smiled. "This is quite amusing, my love. The last time I recall you being jealous was in December of 1965."

"What happened in December of 1965?" Shelley asked, her blue eyes twinkling with delight.

"That was when Irene Collette threw herself on your father under the mistletoe at that church in Dillon," Mrs. Hayes told them.

"I wouldn't say she threw herself on me."

"No, you're right, Edward, just her lips."

Tami chuckled. "Daddy got kissed by a parishioner?"

"Is that why you left the church in Dillon?" Shelley asked.

"No," Mrs. Hayes answered. "That church was a mess in a lot more ways than Irene Collette. There was something funny with the books, and I'm pretty sure the secretary was having an affair with one of the elders."

"The pianist was also sleeping with the assistant pastor," the Reverend.

"Wait, weren't you the assistant pastor?" Shelley exclaimed.

"I was the pianist," Mrs. Hayes told her. "Your father thinks he's being clever."

"That church was a mess," the Reverend said. "I tried to clean it up."

"What happened?" Tami asked.

"Some people don't like positive change," her mother told her. "But the whole church eventually imploded, and the congregation scattered, just like your father warned the elders it would. And we moved here to Rankin."

"Does Irene Collette still live in Dillon?" Shelley asked.

"I'm sure she does," Mrs. Hayes said. "And I'm sure she's on her third out-of-wedlock child by now."

"Linda," the Reverend said, "the quality of mercy is not strained."

"I'm merely stating facts. And what does that mean?"

"It's Shakespeare."

"What were you flirting with Mrs. Taylor about?" Shelley teased.

The Reverend pointed his fork at her. "First of all, I was not flirting. Second of all, she told a very funny joke. Now finish this fantastic corned beef brisket your mother cooked. She's a superb cook. It's but one of her many talents and virtues." He looked at their mother with a slight smile.

"Keep working at it," Mrs. Hayes told him.

[Monday Evening]

Tami leaned over the counter by the cash register. Eric's eyes flitted left and right, and he must have been confident no one was watching, because he kissed her, ever so quickly. But then he stood straight again. "What can I get you?" he asked. "You need a refill?"

"Were you flirting with that brunette?"

"What?"

Tami had been sitting at a table in the corner of the coffee shop, studying. That same college-age girl who she had seen flirting with him a few weeks ago was back. She'd taken an awful long time to order a single coffee and a cupcake.

"The one you gave your last cupcake to?"

"Nah." He shook his head.

"But she was flirting with you," Tami insisted.

"I can't be held responsible for that." He smiled. "Are you jealous?"

"Not in the least," Tami insisted.

"You're cute when you're jealous," he said, and leaned over the counter and kissed her again, a little longer this time.

She pulled away. "I am not jealous. You know who is jealous, though?"

Eric shook her head.

"My mom. Of your mom."

"What? Why?"

"She thinks your mom was flirting with my dad after church yesterday. When they were laughing."

"Oh, come on. My mom's like that with everyone. She's always smiling and laughing and talking to people."

"She's not like that with your own father, though."

"Well, yeah," Eric agreed, "but that's because my dad's…he's not a kidder. He doesn't joke around. Ever."

"That must be weird. Even my mother jokes around sometimes." Tami thought there could not be two more different married people than Eric's parents.

"Was your mom actually upset by that?" Eric asked with surprise.

Tami shook her head. "No, I think she was just teasing my dad."

"Yes, ma'am, may I help you?" Eric asked over her shoulder. Tami turned and saw the customer standing there, smiled apologetically at Eric for blocking up the line, and slipped away.

[Tuesday Morning]

"Jack won't even let me give him a blow job," Kimberley said. She was sitting next to Tami on one of the benches in the main hallway. They'd run into each other at the office, where they'd both been sent by their respective teachers to deliver the attendance to the secretary, and neither was in a hurry to get back to class.

Across from them, over the front doors, hung the banner, "Rankin Tigers – 1984 State Champions!" The calendar had clicked over to 1985, though, and it felt like a new era to Tami. They were almost halfway to 1990. Where would she be in 1990? A college graduate, a psychologist maybe? Would she still be with Eric?

"I'm pretty sure Eric would happily let me do anything to him I want," Tami said.

"I told you he'd be horny as hell at this point."

"He's been good, though," Tami said. "I told him I want to take things slowly, and he's totally following my lead."

"I wish Jack would follow my lead. He says oral sex is sex, and he's not having sex before marriage."

"Well…it kind of is," Tami said. "I mean, it even has sex right there in the name."

Kimberley sighed. "I was hoping he'd say yes, and then there'd be a little tit for tat, you know. Why did I have to fall for an altar boy, Tami? Can you tell me that?"

"Because he's cute, and he's sweet, and he's athletic, and he's smart. And he speaks two languages fluently."

"Hey, that's my boyfriend you're talking about," Kimberley said with a smile. "Valentine's day is in two weeks. You and Eric doing anything special?"

"I don't know," Tami said. "He hasn't mentioned anything. I'm not allowed to go out late on school days anyway. We go out on Saturdays. How about you and Jack?"

"He's taking me to a dance at his church, which my mom, being the good Baptist that she is, finds really weird. You know the joke?"

"What joke?" Tami asked.

"Why are Baptists against having sex standing up?"

Tami shook her head.

"They're afraid it might lead to dancing."

Tami laughed.

"Ladies," Principal Manner said as he stopped in front of them. "Is there a reason you're not in class?"

"We were just resting our feet," Kimberley said. "We're headed back right now."