A/N: Sorry for the double update in one day, but I will be out of town this weekend and not updating for two to three days, so I wanted to go ahead and slap the next chapter up. Please review!

Chapter 38

On New Year's Eve, while Dale worked and Eric took Julie to the movies, Tami took the day off and met Cleo for shopping. She resolved to put the contracts out of her mind. She hadn't been able to discuss the matter seriously with Eric yet. She knew they had to, but she felt like she needed to get some distance and calm down first. He'd made the announcement so suddenly, without having said a word about the position for two months, even though he'd obviously been talking to people about it. Then he seemed simply to expect her to go along. She was angry about that.

Tami had read the contracts, three times. The JV coaching position was, admittedly, an excellent opportunity for Eric. She'd looked at real estate, and houses were indeed much cheaper in Dillon. Tami had even read up on the junior high Julie would likely attend. It had a selection of pre-AP classes, and although it did not look as rigorous as Julie's current school, it wasn't nearly as backwards as Tami had imagined. Still, she didn't want to move. Fort Worth had so much to offer. It was near family, and she could relate to the people here, in a city where there was Texan friendliness and strong community values but also opportunities to stimulate her mind.

"It's gorgeous," Tami said when Cleo came out of the fitting room in a white, sequined gown.

"Yes," Cleo said. "But a little low cut."

Tami took note of Cleo's modesty and recommended another dress from the rack. She emerged from the dressing room wearing that one and told Tami, "I love it. Simple, but elegant. I'm going to order this one."

"But you've only looked at three dresses," Tami insisted. She'd been looking forward to wedding shopping. Shelley didn't seem on track to ever get married, and Tami didn't have any close girlfriends who weren't already married. The idea of going through dozens of options and choosing something glamorous with Cleo had greatly appealed to her. "Take your time, Cleo. Look at them all. You only get married once."

Tami didn't realize the problem with what she'd said until she saw Cleo blink rapidly. "Oh Good Lord. I'm so sorry," Tami apologized. "I wasn't thinking."

Cleo smiled and shook her head. "I take no offense. It was my intention to only marry once. But sometimes life sends a second blessing."

Cleo had been married to her first husband for fifteen years. Tami had only been married to Eric for twelve and a half, and yet she couldn't imagine loving another man, certainly not enough to follow him to another country. But Dale was a good man. "We were so poor when we got married," Tami told her. "Eric had to borrow the money for the engagement ring from Dale. Dale also sent me a check to help with the wedding."

That would have been two years after Dale's engagement ended with Cindy. He'd saved up quite a bit for his own wedding. What had it felt like, Tami wondered, to share a small portion of that with his brother's bride? The envelope had been addressed only to her, and the check had been made out only to her. The card had said, Congratulations. Make my brother happy.

"I'd only met him once at that point," Tami said.

Cleo smiled. "He's a generous man. It's one of the things I love about him."

"I never told Eric about it," Tami confessed. It would have made him feel ashamed. It had humbled him enough to borrow money from his brother, but to be given it too? When he was expected to have signed a half million dollar contract with the NFL? "I just bought a modest dress, so Eric wouldn't be suspicious of how I could afford it. I put most of the money toward my college loans."

"You hid money from your husband?" Cleo asked.

Tami grimaced. "I'm afraid I did." And to think that a couple of months ago she had gotten mad at him for the same thing. Although, Eric was only her fiancé at that time. "I just didn't want him to feel – "

"- Men and their egos," Cleo said. "I know something about that."

Tami laughed. She looked wistfully at the rack of dresses again.

"Maybe we'll look at just a few more," Cleo said.

Tami lived vicariously through Cleo for the morning, as she selected dresses for her to try on, and Cleo showed them off to her, one by one. In the end, Cleo settled on that third dress after all.

[FNL]

"Why are you so grumpy, Dad?" Julie asked.

Eric had just pounded the movie seat down three times, and when it wouldn't fold to his satisfaction, insisted they move. Then he had grouched about the next seat. "I'm not," he insisted, his face set in a grimace. It was December 31st. He had now gone 133 hours without sex.

"Just chill and enjoy the movie."

He sighed. He should just "chill" and enjoy the fact that Julie wanted to go to the movies with him. Ever since she'd started middle school, she'd seemed to think being seen with her father was uncool, and she was always either at Maria's or at some extracurricular school activity. Daddy's little girl was pulling away. He kissed the top of her head, which she tolerated despite the public venue, said, "I love you, Monkey Noodle," and grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bucket she held. "Now what's this movie about again?"

"It's PG-13," Julie said.

That was all Julie cared about, that he had agreed to take her to a PG-13 movie. He'd protested at first, in line, when he'd seen the rating, but then she'd told him, "Uncle Dale already took me to a PG-13 movie last time he was here. But…then…he's totally cool. I understand. We'll just go to the PG one."

Well, Eric was at least as totally cool as his older brother. "We can do the PG-13 one," he'd told her.

As he'd bought the tickets, he'd heard Tami's voice in the back of his mind, saying, She's playing you, Eric.

He knew that. But sometimes, maybe it was okay if a girl wrapped her daddy around her little finger.

[FNL]

"This is so good," Cleo gushed as she dug into her enchiladas. "I've never had Mexican food before."

"Is this your first time leaving Egypt?" Tami asked.

"Oh not at all," Cleo said. "I've just never been to America before. My late husband – " She stopped and smiled. "I guess I'll have to start calling him my first husband. He was a guest lecturer at several universities, so I visited Israel, Greece, France, Italy, and Germany with him. My son goes to university in England, so I visited him there last year."

"I didn't even know you had a son!" Probably Dale had mentioned the fact to Eric, and Eric had never relayed the information. Eric frequently failed to relay information Tami considered newsworthy.

"I have two. They're 18 and 19. The youngest is at Cairo University. I was 20 when I got married. My husband was seven years older, already established. We wanted to start a family right away. Like you and Eric did."

Tami smiled. She thought it better not to mention that she and Eric weren't quite yet married when Julie was conceived. Of course, Cleo couldn't be too conservative. Tami was pretty sure she was having sex with Dale. And maybe her own first child wasn't precisely planned either. The math didn't leave much room. Perhaps Cleo's had been a shotgun wedding.

"Will your sons come to the wedding?" Tami asked her.

"Yes, if they can get passports and visas in time."

"Has Dale met them?"

"He's met my youngest. My oldest went to Oxford before I met Dale, and he hasn't been back to Egypt."

"But you said your oldest was 19? And you met Dale three years ago."

"He went to university early, at 16, like his father. Brilliant boy. Not that I'm bragging. But he is."

Tami laughed. "Will you have any other family at the wedding?"

"One of my cousins. She married an American six years ago, and she lives in California. But most of my family won't approve of the match. They won't like that I'm marrying outside of the Church. I'll be excommunicated."

"Excommunicated!" Tami was raised Baptist and Eric was raised Presbyterian. They'd gotten married at the A&M university chapel by an Episcopal priest, and they now attended a Methodist church. All of this denominational intertwining had seemed rather seamless and non-contradictory to her. "But why?"

"He's not Coptic. I can't marry outside the Church and remain a part of it. And converting would be a huge ordeal for Dale. He's attended several services in Egypt, at my request, the parts non-members are permitted to attend. He's read up on the theology. He's quite familiar with the Church. He's taken the time to think about it, but he doesn't want to join. He thinks it's far too conservative. I don't blame him. I was raised in the Church, and I attended to be a part of my family and my community, but I've always had my own issues with it. I'll miss certain aspects of it, the community, the beauty of the environment, the music…but there are things I won't miss, and I'll have Dale."

It struck Tami just how very much Cleo was giving up for Dale. Suddenly, a move to another town in Texas, just a four-hour drive from her family, didn't seem like quite as big a deal. "You really love him, don't you?"

"I do." Cleo smiled. "I don't even exactly know why. Yes, he's handsome and charming and ambitious, and he makes a good income, and he's intelligent and witty and a good conversationalist and a good lover, but it's not any of that. It's…je ne sais quoi."

"That's how I feel about Eric sometimes," Tami said. "I mean, he's handsome, romantic, reliable, faithful…He's smart, even if he doesn't show his intelligence as obviously as Dale. He's a good father, a good husband, and he's adorably goofy sometimes, with this cheesy sense of humor that makes me groan and laugh at the same time." Tami wasn't feeling so angry with Eric, now that she had begun to list his virtues. "He can be a surprisingly good listener when he wants to be, and he's determined and moral and has this conscience that's just so sexy. And yet, there's something more. There's something more even than all of that. Something that just…."

"…Je ne sais quoi."

Tami smiled. "In America we call it chemistry. It's not something he has. It's something we have together."

"Chemistry," Cleo said. "I like that."