For the third date, Tami volunteered to drive. She also suggested they both eat dinner before they went out, so Eric wouldn't feel obligated to spend much money. Tami even had a coupon for two free admissions to the roller rink in South Rankin. She was going to be a cheap date tonight, except when it came to making-out. Eric would have to earn his time in the backseat of her sedan.
He did.
He made her smile all night long, from the silly, formal way he teasingly rolled his hand out to her when he asked her to couples' skate, to the way he broke her fall with his own body when another shaky teenager collided with them, to the childlike excitement he showed when they engaged in a very close game of air hokey. (Tami beat him in the end, 15-13, and he accepted his loss with surprising grace.)
"You've clearly been skating before," she told him over the table at the snack bar when they were splitting a coke during the all-girls skate. "Several times." She hadn't expected him to be so sure on his feet.
"Sure. The roller rink was the best place to pick up girls my freshman year, before I was going steady with Lisa."
"Oh yeah?" she asked. "And how many girls did you pick up?"
"Well, I probably couples' skated with at least a dozen," he said. "But then I couldn't manage to talk to any of them afterward, and the romance kind of fizzled."
She laughed. "I'm glad you can talk to me."
"Me too." He leaned over the table and kissed her.
Tami was in command of the car on the way home this time, so when she pulled into the empty school parking lot, he was the one to ask, "What are we here for?" The wide grin on his face, however, betrayed his hopes.
"You know what we're here for," she said.
They crawled into the back seat and made out for a long time. Tami's hands roamed his back, his shoulders, his muscular arms. She buried her fingers in his hair, and pressed herself to him. She wanted his hands on her breasts – not under her shirt, not yet, but she wanted to feel them caressing her. Eric, however, didn't make a move in that direction. Tami figured he must be shy from her previous rebuff. Eventually, she took his hand and pressed it, palm down, against one of her breasts.
In her ear, he whispered, "You want this?" and began to gently caress her through her silky blouse.
"Mhmmhmmm….." She murmured. "But not underneath."
"A'ight," he breathed, his lips claiming hers again, his fingertips like flames of fire through her shirt, and she thought if he started to unbutton her blouse now, she wouldn't be able to stop him.
But he didn't. Eric cupped and caressed and teased and played through the double-layer of her shirt and bra, his tongue dancing with hers and their breaths growing faster.
Tami was lost in his touch and the taste of the his mouth when he pulled reluctantly away. "We better get going," he said. "Your dad isn't going to be happy if you're back after ten."
Trying to ignore the tingling between her legs, she crawled into the front seat, and Eric followed her to the passenger's side. Tami glanced at his lap before starting the car, but then quickly looked away. She didn't want him to know she'd seen how hard he was.
"What did my dad say to you in his study that night that scared you so much?" she asked as she shifted into drive.
Eric pulled his shirt tail down to hide the bulge in his khakis and then shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I'm not scared of your father."
"Then why are you so worried about my curfew?"
"Because I gave my word I'd always have you home by curfew."
"You are afraid," she said with slow realization as she pulled out of the parking lot. "You're afraid of disappointing him."
"Yeah," Eric admitted. "I am. So can you drive a little faster?"
Eric did not disappoint the Reverend. Tami dropped him off at his house at 9:51 and was back at hers by 10:01.
"Have a good time?" the Reverend asked when Tami slid onto the living room couch.
Shelley was watching a recorded TV episode again, The Love Boat this time
"Yeah. We went roller skating. It was fun."
The Reverend shut his book. "I took your mother roller skating on our first date."
"Really?" Shelley teased. "I thought y'all had an arranged marriage."
"Trust me, my mother would not have made any such arrangement."
Tami was surprised. "Grandma Hayes didn't like Mom?" They'd gotten along well enough when grandma had lived with them, aside from the occasional bickering. Tami's mother had taken care of the woman in her old age, after all.
"Your grandmother came to accept her in time, but she thought your mother was white trash when I started dating her."
When Tami thought of white trash, she thought of Anita Nisbeth. She certainly didn't think of her mother. Shelley said what Tami was thinking: "Mom? That's hard to believe."
"Well, my parents wanted me to marry an educated woman, not a farm girl who had dropped out of high school."
"Wait," Shelley said, "Mom didn't graduate from high school?"
"Well, she has her G.E.D now," he answered. "And she's perfectly intelligent. But when her mother died, she was sixteen. Her father needed help on the farm, and your aunts and uncles were all under ten at the time. So she put her own schooling on hold and stepped up."
"Wow," Shelley said. "I had no idea."
"Neither of Eric's parents went to college," Tami said.
This should not have surprised Shelley, since she was growing up in a small town where less than half of her high school classmates went on to any kind of college, even two-year ones, but she did appear surprised, perhaps because their parents had always behaved as though college was inevitable. "But Mr. Taylor's totally successful!" Shelley's eyes lit up "Maybe I don't need to go to college."
"You are going to college," the Reverend insisted. "Both of my daughters are going to college. Think what you can achieve. You have so many opportunities open to you these days. It wasn't always like that. When your mother dropped out of high school, most professional women were teachers or nurses, but you could be doctors and deans. They were secretaries, but you could be CEOs. You certainly don't ever have to rely on some man."
"What's wrong with relying on a man?" Shelley challenged him. "Doesn't Mom rely on you?"
"Your mother does a lot of work for the church. She just doesn't get paid for it. And she keeps this home ship running. We rely on each other."
"She relies on you to provide," Shelley said. She waved a hand about the parsonage. "All of this is because of your job."
"True enough," he replied, "and think of this - what if I had turned out to be a jerk? Think how difficult it would be for her to walk away."
"Are you thinking of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor?" Tami asked. Mrs. Taylor had been a single mother and a bar maid when she met Eric's already successful father. Had financial desperation driven her to marry the man?
"I'm thinking of my girls and their futures."
"But you do think Mr. Taylor is a jerk, don't you?" Shelley asked.
"I didn't say that!"
Shelley leaned forward on the couch. "Are you jealous that Mom thinks Mr. Taylor is totally hot?"
"She does not think he's…" the Reverend shook his head. "What a silly word that is. Hot."
"Are you and Mr. Taylor going to fight over Mom?" Shelley asked.
"No. Certainly not."
Shelley smiled. "Is he going to fight you because you were flirting with his wife?"
"I was not flirting with his wife. And no, he isn't going to fight me. He wasn't even bothered by it."
"I thought you said there was no it," Shelley said in a gotcha-voice.
The Reverend waved at the television. "We're not on your Love Boat show, sweet pea. There is no romantic drama here. We're all adults. There will be no fighting of any kind at any time."
"Well that's boring," Shelley said, and sat back in a sulk against the couch. Then she grinned and pointed to the television. "Eric looks like Gopher."
"Oh my God he does not!" Tami shouted. "Gopher? Come on!"
"Yeah, you're right," Shelley said. "Gopher is waaaay hotter."
The Reverend set his book on the end table, stood, and left them to their quarrel.
[*]
Tami saved the file to the cassette tape. She loved this Coleco Adam computer the church had bought in December. It was so much easier than working with a typewriter. The time savings was immense. She now opened the file where she'd saved the letter they sent to new visitors, changed the date and salutation, rolled a sheet of paper into the printer, and entered the print command. The daisy wheel printer sprung to life, its individual keys clacking out the words all by themselves.
Her father's office door opened, and out stepped, very much to her surprise, Mr. Taylor. He paused before Tami's desk and nodded, and she wondered if that was where Eric had gotten his little nod-bow from.
"This thing is amazing, isn't it?" her father asked, coming to stand with one hand on his hip and looking at the printer clack its way to completion.
"You should have gotten an Apple Macintosh," Mr. Taylor said. "It's the wave of the future. Coleco just discontinued the Adam. In three years, I bet you won't even be able to buy ribbons for that printer. My printer is a dot matrix."
"I really don't think the elders would have approved of us spending $2,500 on a computer," Tami's father replied. "I mean, that's more than I make in a month. But I guess Taylor's is doing very well."
"Yes, it is, in part because I make good investments, such as buying a Macintosh that will last me for the next eight years instead of a computer I won't be able to find parts for in three years."
Tami looked down at the keyboard.
"Well, churches aren't businesses," the Reverend said coolly.
"No, but they ought to be good stewards of the money put in the offering plate."
"Absolutely. Which is precisely why we bought a $750 computer instead of a $2,500 one."
"I got mine for $2,195 actually. I know how to drive a bargain."
"Good for you," the Reverend said. "Shall I walk you out?"
The men disappeared down the hall. When her father returned, Tami said, "What was he doing in your office? You weren't counseling him, were you?"
"No. He came to settle my bar tab. I haven't been to Taylor's in a few weeks, and I forgot I'd left one open."
"I'm sorry if I ruined your whole bar time thing with Eric by dating him."
"He does seem rather more reluctant to talk to me now," her father said. "But that's only to be expected. And I don't have time to hang out at Taylor's now, anyway, with all this exercise your mother demands I perform. Is Eric treating you well?"
"Very well, Daddy."
Her father rapped his knuckles on her desk. "Good then. Run that bulletin by me before you copy it." He started toward his office, but then he paused and turned. "I don't know why your mother thinks that man is so good looking."
"Don't worry, Daddy. You're devilishly handsome yourself," Tami said with a teasing smile.
"That's not true, but I did manage to win the hand of a gorgeous woman anyway." He nodded to himself. "Without wealth or looks, I still won her."
"Mom and I don't always see eye to eye," Tami said, "But she's got good taste."
"You, Tami, are my pride and joy." He chuckled and disappeared into his office.