Disclaimer: TC Williams High School and its environs belong to the city of Alexandria, VA. The original Titans and the Basses belong to themselves, the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears to their respective team owners, and fictitious characters from the film Remember the Titans to Disney. I only own Tamsin, her uncle, mother and their friends. I also own Stuart Blakely, although I do not own Ohio State University; as well as Glensville, Ma Rose's and Landry's. "Wintertime Love" and "You're All I Need to Get By" are 1968 songs by the Doors and Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, respectively. "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," as mentioned in a previous chapter, belongs to the Shirelles.
Technical Notes: Again, being from the Philippines, I am not that familiar with the SATs. I'm assuming that by this time, most of the seniors (including Tamsin and Ronnie) have taken theirs. Thanks to the helpful souls on the Sugar Quill who tried to answer my questions about SAT schedules and such!
Ronnie's full name comes from www.71originaltitans.com, while the information about running backs, fullbacks and tailbacks comes from a site with a URL too long for me to remember :D
Catherine "Cat" Davidson is a fictitious character. I'm thinking of writing her and Rev's story (set during the year TC Williams High School first opened) after I'm done with this one.
Author's Notes: Thank you, everyone, for all the lovely reviews!
Chapter Nine — Wintertime Love
"We're ho-ome!" Ronnie called as he and his father walked into the Basses' house that Thanksgiving afternoon. Each of them carried a bouquet of flowers, fresh from the florist.
"In the kitchen, dear," Mrs. Bass called back.
"Take these in to your mother," Col. Bass told his son, handing over the flowers he carried. "I'll go set the table."
"Yes, sir." Ronnie nodded and made his way into the kitchen where his mother, already wearing her dark blue "company" dress, was arranging coffee cups and saucers on a tray. "Hi, Mom."
"Hello, Ronnie." She kissed his cheek and tsked as he stole a couple of marshmallows from the open bag on the counter. "Don't take too many or you'll spoil your dinner."
He sniffed deeply of the cooking smells that pervaded the room. "No chance of that happening. Oh, and here are the flowers," he added, holding them out at arm's length.
"Put them in the vases on the table. I have to baste the turkey."
"Yes, ma'am." Ronnie removed the flowers from their green tissue paper wrappings and plopped a bouquet into each of the two vases on the kitchen table.
Mrs. Bass turned back from the oven and looked them over critically. "They need a woman's touch."
He shrugged and stepped aside. He supposed he should have fixed the flowers up a bit, but they had looked just fine to him the moment he stuck them in the vases. Despite the "fruitcake" rumor, Ronnie definitely didn't know beans about flower arranging.
"Tamsin and her uncle are still joining us for dinner, right?" his mother asked as she took the flowers out of the vases and began to put them in again, stem by stem.
"Yes, ma'am."
"I'm glad. She's a very nice girl. Not that there was anything wrong with the other girls you've brought home before, you know, but…"
He smiled. "Yeah. Do you need help with anything?"
"Not with the flowers, dear, but could you please put the nut bowls in the living room?"
"OK." Ronnie took the wooden bowls and put one on either end of the coffee table, filching a cashew or two before returning to the kitchen. He re-entered the kitchen just as the telephone began to ring. "I'll get it. Hello?" he said into the receiver.
"Hello." The caller was a man whose voice he didn't recognize. "Is this the Bass household?"
"Uh, yes…?"
"Am I speaking to Ronald Edwin Bass?"
He cringed at the mention of his full name. "Uh, yes…who is this?"
"Happy Thanksgiving, Ronald. This is Stuart Blakely. I represent Ohio State University. We'd like to talk to you about possibly playing football for us next year."
Ronnie's eyes widened. A college recruiter! "Really?" he stammered. "Wow, that's — great!"
Mr. Blakely chuckled. "I'm glad you think so, son. We've heard great things about you and think a winning ability like yours is just what we need here at Ohio State."
He grinned proudly. Wait 'til the guys hear this! "Well, thank you, sir!"
"My associates and I will be coming down to Virginia sometime in mid-December. Do you suppose your parents will be able to set aside some time for us?"
Mid-December! Maybe they'll be able to watch the regional championships and Ronnie would definitely be playing by then! "Yes, sir, I'm sure they will!"
"Good! Well, I suppose Thanksgiving is hardly the time to discuss things like this, so I'll give your parents a call sometime next week to set up a meeting. Can you tell them that?"
"I sure can, sir!"
"Thank you, Ronald. I'll see you soon, then. Goodbye."
"'Bye, Mr. Blakely! Happy Thanksgiving!"
"Who's Mr. Blakely?" Mrs. Bass asked, looking up from the flowers as her son hung up.
"He's a recruiter from Ohio State!" Ronnie replied, grinning. "They want me to play football for them! They're coming to see me play and talk to you and Dad in December! Isn't that great?"
"That's wonderful, Ronnie!" his mother said with a mile-wide smile. "You'd better go tell your father. I'm sure he'll just bust!"
Col. Bass didn't just "bust," he let out a loud "Yahoo!", picked up his son and whirled him around, then did the same thing to his wife for good measure. "And I bet that's only the first of many!"
"Come on, Dad," Ronnie said, still grinning, "let's just be happy that one school called."
"I am happy." His father grinned back and ruffled his hair fondly. "Whether you get only one offer or one hundred — even if you hadn't gotten any at all — your mother and I are proud of you."
The doorbell rang shortly after that. Heedless of his bad knee, Ronnie walked quickly to answer it. Tamsin stood outside with Mr. Graham. She had just opened her mouth to say hello when he whooped and swept her up in an exuberant hug.
She squealed as her feet left the ground. "Ronnie, what the heck…?"
"I got a call from Ohio State just a minute ago!" he said. "They might give me a football scholarship!"
Tamsin looked just as happy and surprised as his mother had when he'd first broken the news. "That's wonderful!" She slipped her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. "Congratulations!"
He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose, which was pink from the cold outside. "Thanks."
Presently, Mrs. Bass came to the door to greet their guests. "Ronnie!" she scolded. "You don't leave guests standing around in the cold! I'm so sorry, Mr. Graham!" she said to Tamsin's uncle. "Please, come in!"
"That's quite all right, Mrs. Bass," Mr. Graham said good-naturedly as he entered. "The boy was just excited. Congratulations, Sunshine!"
"Thanks, Mr. Graham," Ronnie replied, finally putting Tamsin down.
Mr. Graham shook his hand then presented Mrs. Bass with the pie plate he was carrying. "This is for you and your family, ma'am. Thank you for inviting us to dinner."
"Oh, it was our pleasure," Ronnie's mother said with a pleased smile. "Ronnie, could you please help our guests with their coats and show them to the living room while I put this in the kitchen?"
"Yes, ma'am," Ronnie said. He took Mr. Graham's coat, then helped Tamsin with hers. "You look really nice," he complimented her as he put the coats away. She was wearing a deep yellow dress with long sleeves and a short skirt.
Tamsin blushed. "Thank you."
It was a good dinner. Everyone ate well and conversation ranged from Watergate to the Titans' chances of another perfect season. Tamsin insisted on helping Mrs. Bass with the cleanup and bringing coffee and dessert (including Mr. Graham's apple-cranberry pie) to the living room, where Ronnie, his father and Mr. Graham were watching the Detroit Lions play the Chicago Bears on TV.
Ronnie smiled at her as she sat down next to him with a piece of his mother's peach pie. Tamsin did love peaches. "You're just in time — the game's just begun."
"Great" was the unenthusiastic reply. She watched the game quietly for a while before a confused frown crept on her face.
"Something wrong?" Ronnie asked.
She pointed to the Bears, whose offense had taken the field. "I can tell where the quarterback is, but I have no idea which one is the fullback and which one is the tailback."
"There's no fullback or tailback in that formation."
"Why?" Tamsin wanted to know.
He chuckled. She could appreciate the romance behind football, but even with Sheryl Yoast beside her at every game, the basics still eluded her. "Well," he said, "in the offensive backfield you have two running backs behind the QB. When they're lined up side by side like they are there, that's called a T formation and neither of them is called a full- or tailback…"
She listened gravely, brow furrowed in concentration, as he explained how the running backs could be called by different names, depending on their places in the backfield. "OK," she said, nodding her satisfaction when he was done, "I think I've got it now. Thanks."
Ronnie traded grins with his father. Tamsin's wish to learn about the game was oddly touching. "No problem."
* * *
Tamsin called her mother in New York the next day to wish her a belated Happy Thanksgiving. "How was dinner at Ronnie's house?" Diana Lee wanted to know.
"Fine, Mom," Tamsin said. "The food was good. We ate and watched a football game — the usual Thanksgiving stuff. It was very nice. How about you? You didn't spend Thanksgiving alone, did you?"
"Relax, little one. Your Uncle Richard invited me. He has a new friend named Patrick, a chef. The food was fantastic."
She smiled. Besides Uncle Jon, Uncle Richard was one of her mother's oldest friends. He was an actor and used to recite Shakespeare to her when she was a little girl. "I'm glad."
"Anne, Tanya and Gerald were there, too," her mother went on, rattling off the names of her other artist friends. "They were all asking about you."
"Tell them I'm doing fine and that I say hi." She frowned when a cough came over the wire. It wasn't the quiet little cough people used to clear their throats, but the loud, hacking kind that came out of people who were sick. "Mom? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Just caught a little chill, that's all."
"You're not dressing warmly enough again."
"I am, too. I'm just getting older. It's getting easier and easier for the cold to seep into my bones."
She laughed. "Stop talking about your old bones, Mother. If I know you, you'll stay young forever."
"You keep me young, sweetie," her mother replied affectionately. "Now, what's new with you? Do you have your SAT scores yet?"
"Not yet," she said as Ronnie walked into the house with Uncle Jon. Tamsin smiled at him and signaled that she wouldn't be much longer. He smiled back and gestured for her to take her time. "I'm pretty sure I did well, though."
"Of course you did. You get your smarts from me."
She chuckled. "Don't forget my supreme self-confidence."
"Well, no one ever made it big in this world by being a doormat." Her mother coughed again.
"You really ought to see a doctor about that, Mom."
"I'm going to. As a matter of fact, I've got an appointment this very Monday."
"Good." Tamsin caught Ronnie's eye and pointed to him, then to the phone. Do you want to talk to her? She and Uncle Jon grinned when Ronnie shook his head wildly. "Uh, listen, Mom, I have to go. Ronnie's here."
A melodramatic sigh came over the wire. "Abandoning your mother for a boy. Ah, well, it was bound to happen sometime. What are you planning to do?" she asked as Tamsin rolled her eyes.
"We're going to a movie with a couple of friends, maybe eat something afterward."
"Is he paying?"
She laughed. "Yes."
"All right, then. Be home by eleven."
"Uncle Jon lets me stay out until midnight when it isn't a school night."
"He's not your mother, is he? Be glad I'm not saying ten o'clock, Tamsin. Everything closes at ten and whatever is left to do after that should not be done."
She rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, we are not doing what should not be done."
"I should hope so," Tamsin's mother huffed. "Now, if you have to run, put Jon on the line. I want to know what he knows about that boy you won't stop talking about."
She laughed. "Why don't you just ask me?"
"It won't be any fun asking you, sweetie. Put him on, will you please?"
"All right. Happy Thanksgiving, Mom. I love you."
"Love you, too, sweetie. Have fun on your date."
* * *
That Saturday evening, a contingent of TC Williams supporters, including Tamsin and Mr. Graham, traveled to Glensville to watch the Titans play the Glensville High School Cougars in the last game of the regular season. "You sure you don't want us to save you a seat?" Tamsin asked Ronnie as her uncle dropped her off at the entrance to the football stadium, then drove away to find a parking space.
He smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure. All the players, even the injured ones, sit on the bench."
"I'll see you after the game, then." She stood on tiptoe to kiss him. "Good luck."
"But I'm not playing," Ronnie protested, turning red.
"That's for the whole team." She grinned and arched an eyebrow. "Unless you want me to—"
"Go sit down," he ordered.
Tamsin laughed and made her way to the bleachers. Emma was standing, waving and calling her name from the front row. "Tamsin!"
"Not so loud!" she said as she walked down to join her friend. The blonde girl was seated with Sheryl Yoast, as usual. "I'm sure everyone knows my name by now!"
Emma laughed and moved aside so Tamsin could sit. "Sorry about that. Where's Mr. Graham?"
"Parking. He'll be along in a while." She caught sight of Rev sitting just behind them with his girlfriend, Catherine Davidson. "Hi, Rev. Hey, Cat."
"Hey, Tamsin," the black boy greeted her cheerfully, then gestured to the stocky, fair-haired boy seated on his other side. "Have you met Lewie Lastik? He was on the Titans' offensive line last year. Lewie, this is Tamsin Lee, Sunshine's girlfriend."
Tamsin blushed at the introduction, but Lewie greeted her with a friendly grin on his round face. "Hi, there, Tamsin. Pleased to meet you."
"Same here," she replied.
"Lewie goes to college in Tennessee," Rev went on. "He's visiting his family for Thanksgiving."
The introductions were interrupted when the people around them stood up to cheer. The Titans had taken the field. The TC Williams fans (most of them, anyway) sang along as the Titans did their warm-up. "What's Gerry doing out there?" Lewie asked when they had sat down again.
"Didn't anybody tell you?" Sheryl replied. "He's special assistant now, helpin' Coach handle defense."
"Well, I'm glad he's still involved with the team. Who's got my spot?"
"Eddie Lindros," Rev said, pointing to where Lewie's replacement stood with Blue and Alan.
"Oh, good. He's a good guy." Lewie grinned and waved as the Titans caught sight of him. "And why isn't Sunshine in uniform? Is he hurt?"
"Hurt his knee during the last game against Herndon."
The big boy winced. "Ouch."
"You really should stop making Ronnie run the ball," Tamsin told Sheryl. "I've seen him try it twice and it's never worked."
"It will someday," the little girl replied confidently.
"He ain't hurt that bad, though," Rev assured his friend. "He'll be all right for the regional championships…if we make them, that is."
Tamsin and Sheryl rounded on him. "Of course we'll make the regional championships!" they chorused indignantly.
The two girls looked at each other as their friends began to laugh. "Better watch out, Tamsin," Emma said with a grin, "you're turning into Sheryl."
* * *
The Titans won that night's game, 35-17, securing them a spot in the Northern Virginia Regional Championships for the second year running. Lewie joined his former teammates and their friends in a post-game celebration at Ma Rose's after everyone got back from Glensville.
"It is cold out there!" Petey declared, stamping his feet loudly and blowing into his hands as he entered the warm, brightly-lit diner. "I wish it would just start snowing and get it over with!"
"Uh, not so fast, man," Big Julius said. "I don't want to be playin' in that kind of weather."
Ronnie led Tamsin and some of his friends to a booth near the jukebox when Emma suddenly grabbed Tamsin's hand. "Hey, Tamsin, sit here with me!"
"Hey!" Ronnie protested as the two girls got into the seat across from him.
"It's so you'll miss her," Emma teased.
"She didn't say she'll miss you, though," Petey laughed as he and Blue crowded into the seat next to Ronnie. Gerry and Lewie took up the rest of their booth. "Will you miss him, sweetness?"
"I miss him already," Tamsin sighed, putting the back of her hand delicately against her forehead in a gesture as melodramatic as her tone of voice. Ronnie laughed. After spending a lot of time with Petey, Tamsin now knew that playing along was the only way to get him to drop it.
Blue ordered two cheeseburgers with the works from his cousin Pearl, then leaned over to drop a coin into the jukebox. "Man, Lewie," he said, "am I glad you're here, even if just for a little while! Since you and Rev left the team, the only sounds we've got are Alan's and his radio's stuck on Cornpone FM!"
"I heard that!" Alan said from the booth across the aisle.
"Come on, Blue," Rev chuckled, "I'm sure Alan's branched out since last year, thanks to you."
"No," the big black boy told him, "he has not! Well," he amended with a good-natured grin in the blond boy's direction, "just not much, anyway."
The jukebox began to play "You're All I Need to Get By" and Blue and Lewie began to sing along, with Lewie, as usual, doing the female vocals. "They used to do this all the time," Ronnie explained to Tamsin.
She smiled and nodded. "That's nice."
"So, Lewie, how's college treatin' you?" Gerry asked when everyone's orders arrived.
"It's fun," Lewie replied. "I've met all kinds of interesting people, and the guys on the football team are pretty cool, too — although they ain't as cool as you guys."
"Aaaawwww!" the Titans chorused.
"I bet you get to go to some real great parties," Petey remarked enviously.
"Well, yeah, but it ain't just one long party, man. College is hard, too. The classes are really tough."
"But you're holdin' your own, ain't you?" Rev asked, smiling when Lewie nodded. "Good."
"My…girlfriend's helping me," Lewie mumbled, turning red when his friends started to rib him.
"Oh, that's so sweet," Emma said, and the Titans began to clamor for Lewie to show them the mysterious girlfriend's picture.
"Hey, speakin' of sweet," Big Julius broke in, "what's this my mama heard from your mama about you makin' a deal with Ohio State to play ball for them, Sunshine?"
Ronnie blushed at the whoas of mocking admiration coming from his teammates. "There is no deal," he said modestly. "They're just coming to have a look-see, that's all."
"Then they'll make a deal."
Tamsin smiled when Ronnie shrugged uneasily and said nothing. He apparently didn't want to talk about his football scholarship prospects when the others probably hadn't had offers yet, which she thought was sensitive of him.
However, to their credit, the Titans didn't seem to begrudge him his good luck. "Hey, man, it's cool," Big Julius said with a good-natured grin. "We're real happy for you."
The blond boy finally smiled. "Thanks. They said they'll come in December," he said, "maybe in time to watch us all in action at the regionals, right?"
"Right!" Petey said, looking excited. "So, you gonna take the offer?"
Ronnie shrugged again. "Don't know, bro. My dad says to look at the classes they've got, maybe see if any other school calls…"
"…see if they can offer you a cooler car…"
He made a wry face at his friend. "Aw, come on, man, I'm not going someplace because of the perks."
"Not even if Ohio State throws in a scholarship for Tamsin so y'all can stay together?"
"Oh, God." Tamsin groaned and waved away the teasing hoots coming from the others. "Leave me out of this."
"Just tossin' some ideas around, sweetness," Petey said innocently.
"That one sounds mighty tempting," Ronnie joked.
Tamsin raised her head. "You're not helping," she told him flatly, but it was hard not to smile when he was flashing that winning grin at her.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the Titans fell into telling "Momma" jokes, apparently something they had also once shared with Lewie. At least they weren't going to put her on the spot and ask her whether she would ever follow Ronnie to Ohio State. A scholarship would definitely be welcome in Tamsin's book, but given the choice, she'd prefer to go back to New York for college, maybe Boston at the farthest. She had a feeling it would be important to stay near her mother, which got her to wondering again just why she had ended up in Alexandria.
Just then, the jukebox began to play "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow." Tamsin blushed when Ronnie caught her eye and winked. As of Friday night, that song didn't remind her so much of her mother anymore.
* * *
"Was it just me or was that girl in the bathroom copying everything I was doing?" Tamsin muttered to Liz as they walked to the TC Williams High School football stadium that Tuesday afternoon. Her breath misted in the frigid air.
They had just finished a literary magazine meeting and stopped by the girls' bathroom before going to wait until the Titans had finished practice for the day. While they were in there, a freshman had come in, gawked at Tamsin, and proceeded to play a game of monkey-see-monkey-do. She had fluffed out her hair after Tamsin had, tugged at her coat collar the way Tamsin did, and even spoke to her friend at the same time Tamsin had asked Liz if she was finished.
"I think she was copying you," Liz confirmed. "But what do you expect? People know you and Sunshine are a couple now. Maybe she was hoping you could pass on some secrets for success."
Tamsin laughed wryly. "Well, the only thing I did was follow every mother's advice and be myself. If I told her that, would she believe me?"
"Probably not," the other girl replied as they arrived outside the stadium and sat down on the sidewalk. "But at least you've got her thinking she doesn't have to be like Miranda to get a boyfriend."
They sat and talked for a while before the cold began to get to them. "I wish they'd come out already," Liz grumbled. She was going home with her brother after the Titans finished practice, while Tamsin would be riding with Ronnie, who was practicing with the team for the first time since his injury. "I'm freezing."
Tamsin wrapped her coat more tightly around herself. Temperatures were had been dropping all week, but it had yet to snow in Alexandria. "And guys complain that girls take forever in the bathroom. At least we make them wait indoors where it's warm."
"Eddie's definitely getting a piece of my mind once he finally shows up."
"Are you sure you got a piece to spare?" said a cocky male voice. Tamsin and Liz looked up to see Ryan standing over them, looking toasty warm in a blue winter jacket.
"Of course I do," Liz retorted. "You, on the other hand…"
"Me, on the other hand…what?"
"Don't mess with me, Ryan. I'm pissed and I'm cold."
"Well, you shouldn't be sitting on the ground in this weather, anyway." He took Liz's hand and hauled her to her feet, then did the same with Tamsin. "Upsy-daisy."
"I don't suppose you can find it in your heart to tell me if my brother's anywhere near ready to leave?"
"You mean do I know whether he's still in the shower?" Ryan chuckled and tried to blow a mist ring into the air. "Man, I don't keep track of that kind of thing. What do you think I am, someone from California?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tamsin asked.
"Uh, nothing, Tamsin," the blond boy replied innocently. "Kind of an inside joke. Anyway, I think I saw both Eddie and Sunshine getting dressed when I left the locker room. That doesn't mean I like to watch guys get dressed and stuff, though," he warned. "I don't swing that way."
Liz laughed. "You're too much of a bullheaded male for me to even think such a thing of you."
"Thanks…I think."
Presently, Ronnie emerged from the building. He smiled when he saw Tamsin. "Hey, Tamsin. Have you been waiting long?"
"Uh…" She had certainly been waiting long enough, but didn't want to make an issue of it. "Maybe about fifteen minutes."
"Oops. Sorry." He took her books. "Shall we go?"
"OK," she said, then suddenly remembered Liz. "Will you…?"
"Oh, don't worry about Liz," Ryan told her. "I'll keep her company until Eddie comes out. What?" he demanded, when he received odd looks from all directions. "Can't a guy be nice once in a while?"
Ronnie grinned. "Don't worry, Liz, I'm sure Eddie will be out soon."
"And if he isn't," Tamsin added, "just imagine how warm you'll feel when your blood is boiling, thanks to Ryan."
She and Ronnie laughed at the face Liz made and said goodbye to their friends. "How was practice?" Tamsin asked as she and Ronnie walked to his car.
"Fine. Boone took it easy on me today, just to see how much my knee could take."
"Oh." She watched him open the passenger door for her. "Will you be able to drive?"
"Yeah. I didn't have a problem getting here this morning and I should stop favoring my leg, anyway." He smiled at her as he started the car. "Don't worry, I'll tell you if it starts to bother me."
* * *
The next day, Tamsin met her friends after school to begin Christmas shopping. "I hope you don't mind Tamsin ditchin' you for the girls, Sunshine," Corey Hunter's girlfriend teased when Ronnie accompanied Tamsin to the student parking lot after English.
Ronnie grinned at her. "No problem. We have a team meeting today, anyway." The regional championships were on Friday, and the Titans had a lot of preparing to do.
"And he can't expect me to just sit around at home and wait for him to call, can he?" Tamsin broke in.
"I can't?" Ronnie joked, chuckling at the pugnacious looks that came over her and Liz Lindros' faces. "I'm just kidding. It's OK with me, really," he said, holding up his hands. "At least I get out of carrying the packages."
"But you don't get to find out what Tamsin's getting you for Christmas," Emma said.
"I'll tell you now," Tamsin said with an absolutely straight face. "Coal."
Ronnie laughed. "Then you've got to get going so you can buy my present. See you tomorrow?"
"Of course," she replied with a smile. They had an English paper to work on.
"OK, then." He nodded politely to the three other girls. "You girls have fun."
"It's good to see that he's cool with still letting you go around without him," Liz said approvingly when Ronnie had left and the girls piled into Robin's Corvette.
Tamsin laughed. "He'll let me if he knows what's good for him!"
They drove downtown and Robin parked on one end of the single street that made up Alexandria's shopping district. Aside from the supermarket, the only other major building in the area was Landry's, the local department store. Smaller shops were arrayed around them like a child's building blocks. Since it was early yet, both in the day and in the season, only a few shoppers were about. For Tamsin, it was a drastic change from the noise and bustling crowds along Fifth Avenue.
There was a pretty good selection of things on sale. While her friends bought presents for their families, Tamsin got a thick, fluffy sweater for Uncle Jon — he wore them out really quickly for some reason — and sets of barrettes for her friends (while they weren't looking). However, she couldn't find anything for her mother or for Ronnie.
"It's times like these that I miss New York," Tamsin said when they left Landry's. There had been a lot of things there that would have made acceptable gifts, but none of them appealed to her. She was very picky about the kind of presents she gave, especially if they were for people who meant a lot to her. "I don't miss the crowds, though," she added with a laugh.
"I thought you were going to buy that shirt for Sunshine," Emma said, swinging her department store bag as she walked.
"It occurred to me that he'll see Gerry wearing his shirt and know that we got them together." She smiled at her friend. "Besides that, I don't know his size."
"Oh, finding out is easy," Robin said. "Next time you hug him, look at the label on his collar."
Tamsin laughed. "A shirt would be a very nice present, but I don't really want to get him one. I want to get him a personal gift, but not that kind of personal. It's sort of…" She wrinkled her nose. "Well, it seems to me that the kind of girls who get guys shirts have known them for a real long time, like mothers or really steady girlfriends. I don't want to be presumptuous and act like I'm a really steady girlfriend—"
"Even if you are?" Emma asked slyly.
She blushed, but shrugged. "Look where that kind of behavior got Miranda."
"Well, you can't go wrong with a book," Liz said. "I get one for Corey every year — but then we're just friends."
"And what does Corey's girlfriend get him?" Tamsin asked Robin.
"Hello, ladies! May we be of any assistance?" a male voice called out before the other girl could answer. Crossing the street were Ronnie, Gerry, Eddie, Petey and Ryan.
"What are you doing here, Gerry?" Emma asked as her boyfriend wheeled up to them.
"Why, our team meeting's over, sugar!" her boyfriend replied, wide-eyed. "Don't y'all know it's half past five?"
"Man, the things shopping does to women…!" Ryan said, shaking his head.
"Shut up and be of assistance," Liz ordered, dumping her bags in his arms.
Ronnie chuckled and took Tamsin's single shopping bag. "Hey, Tamsin. Shopping all done?"
"There's nothing in there for you yet," she replied, "so don't bother peeking."
"Drat."
"How about me?" Petey asked. "Did y'all get me somethin'? 'Cause, uh, you know…my birthday's comin' up."
"Subtle, Petey, real subtle," Emma told him with a roll of her blue eyes, and Tamsin hid a smile. The red winter scarf they had all chipped in to buy him was hidden in one of Robin's shopping bags.
"So, Liz, are you going to do any more shopping?" Eddie asked as he took his sister's shopping bags from Ryan.
"Well, I've still got a few more presents to buy," she replied. "But it's getting dark and since you're here to take me home," Liz went on with a sugary smile, "they can wait another day."
"Aw, y'all are goin' home already?" Petey whined. "Don't y'all wanna hang out first? Grab a bite somewhere?"
"Well, it is getting kind of close to dinnertime, man," Gerry said. "And you shouldn't be eatin' so much anyway. You've got to stay in shape — the regionals are coming up, remember?"
"He has a point, bro," Ronnie added with a grin. "Save it for your party."
The black boy pouted, but he was outnumbered, so the group broke up shortly after that. Eddie and Liz gave Petey a ride home, while Ryan rode with Robin ("My brother would kill me if I let her go driving around alone! I mean, what if she had a flat or something?").
Ronnie dropped Gerry and Emma off at their houses before driving Tamsin home.
She invited him to stay awhile once they got there. They made some cocoa and, instead of hanging around indoors or on the back porch, took it out to the small backyard, where they had spread a straw mat over the winter-brown grass. "Nice day," Tamsin said, squinting up into the cloudy sky.
"This is a nice day?" he asked, amused.
"Sure. Look at how everything's so still." She waved a hand at the trees lining the backyard fence. Their bare branches drew bold slashes against the rapidly dimming white of the sky. "It's like we're the only two people left in the world."
"Oh." Ronnie grinned. "I can dig that."
"We're not the only two people left in the world, though," she reminded him, arching an eyebrow.
"Of course not."
They drank slowly, talking of this and that. Ronnie put his arm around her when he had drained his mug. "You're right — this is nice. Seeing movies and going bowling and stuff is fun, but there's something to be said about just being with each other, doing nothing."
"It's cheaper, for one thing," Tamsin joked.
"Hey," he replied with a smile, "when I'm with you, I get my money's worth every time. No prostitute humor intended," he added, blushing.
"None taken." She smiled back, then raised herself slightly for a kiss.
"See, you can't do this with a bowling ball," Ronnie chuckled before kissing her. His arm tightened around her and he cupped her cheek with his free hand. Tamsin slipped her arms around his neck, tasting the chocolate on his lips.
He made a noise and drew her closer, heart pounding until she couldn't breathe. "I think that's enough," she whispered when she finally came up for air.
Ronnie smiled. "OK." He looked up. "Hey, wow."
Tamsin raised her head as he loosened his hold. It was snowing. Fat white flakes were raining down from the sky to spangle their hair and eyelashes. "That's a heck of a way to tell people to cool off."
He laughed and kissed her one last time before letting her go completely. "We should be getting back inside anyway. Mr. Graham will be home soon."
They gathered up the mugs, then rolled up the mat to return it to the porch. Ronnie smiled down at her as they entered the house. Tamsin thought she heard him say something before she walked into the kitchen. She wasn't absolutely sure, but she thought he said I love you.