Chapter Seventeen
"Hello, son, this is your father."
"Yeah," said Eric, leaning against the kitchen counter where they kept the phone. "I know." That voice was hard to mistake – deep, Southern, and commanding.
"Listen, I called because I failed to adequately congratulate you for – " His voice became fainter, as though he'd taken the phone from his mouth. "Relent, woman. I will tell him. Why do you think I'm on the phone?" The fullness of his voice returned. "- to adequately congratulate you on – "
" - Dad, I don't need you to give me the little rehearsed speech Mom wrote for you. Is she gone now? Because, if so, you can just tell her you said whatever she wanted you to say."
There was a long silence. "Fine, I won't give you her speech. I'll give you my own, although it won't be nearly as pretty."
Eric sighed and braced himself for the criticism.
"You accomplished something I never did, Eric. You earned your B.A."
"What? You have your bachelor's. You studied business and accounting at UT-Austin. I've only heard that a hundred times."
"I did, but I didn't quite finish. I quit college to work when your mom told me she was pregnant. We desperately needed the money. But right before you were born, I made it to the AFL. So I never actually finished my degree."
Eric shook his head. How could he not have known this? It's true he'd never seen a diploma hanging in his father's office, but he'd never looked for one either. "How did you get those big administrative jobs without a degree?"
"It was a different time. Performance meant more than paper. I proved myself, and now that I have experience and a solid reputation, I don't need the paper."
Angie came into the kitchen and Eric stepped aside to let her get in the fridge.
"I always hoped you would accomplish what I didn't and finish your degree," his father said. And you did. With honors."
"Not high honors like my wife, though, right?" That comment had stung more than Eric wanted to admit.
"Well, that girl is exceptional. Anyway, I just called to say congratulations on your degree. And congratulations on taking your Pee Wee team to Regionals last season. You're a good student and a good coach."
"Okay." Eric didn't know quite how else to respond. He wasn't accustomed to his father's praise. "Well, I have to go. I've got a job interview."
When he got off the phone, Angie was eating breakfast at the table and asked, "How many positions have you applied for?"
"All eleven openings in Houston. Six for history teachers, and five for P.E. teachers. And this is the only interview I got. Tami loves her work here." He poured himself a cup of coffee. "She doesn't want to move. I damn well better get this job."
[*]
Houston ISD gave the position to someone else, so Eric started applying all over the state. He found a full-time job teaching 7th grade history at a large junior high in San Antonio. They would also give him a small stipend to be an assistant coach for the football team.
When he told Tami about the opportunity, she wasn't thrilled. They argued about it for a week.
"At least it's a city," he said one day. "It's got some culture."
"And the second highest drop-out rate among the fifty largest school districts in Texas." She'd clearly been doing research.
"But I'll be teaching junior high. There won't be much dropping out."
"Yeah, but I might be a high school guidance counselor. I'll have to deal with a lot of problems."
"Well, isn't that what you want?" he asked. "To help kids? And hey, San Antonio has that pretty Riverwalk. We can have romantic strolls. You like romantic strolls. We could go punting. Not footballs. I mean, boats."
"The teacher's salary they're offering, even combined with your coaching stipend – it's no more than what I'm already making here."
"But it's San Antonio," he said. "Cost of living will be a lot cheaper. And I have to start my career, Tami. I have to go where the job is."
"What about me? What about my career? I'm doing good work here at my school! I'm making a difference! I'm - "
She was still yelling when he walked away.
[*]
As Tami was digging her toast out of the toaster with a plastic knife, Angie leaned against the counter beside her and said, "How long are you guys going to be fighting? Grady and I would really like to get some sleep."
"Are we that loud?"
Angie nodded. "Even louder than when you have drunk sex. And you guys only get drunk once a month. This fighting has been every night."
Tami began buttering her toast. "He just doesn't get it," Tami said. "I don't want to leave my job."
"If you don't let Eric take this job, he's going to feel emasculated. And that's no good for your marriage."
"You and Grady just want the apartment to yourselves," Tami joked.
"We're moving out this summer anyway," Angie said. "We've been saving. We're buying a house. I just want you and Eric to be happy, and he's not going to be happy if he has to settle for working at the UH bookstore again. And you know what? You're not going to respect him either."
"Of course I will! It's honest work."
"Tami, you need a man who has a vision and who pursues it. You don't want a boy who's killing time at the bookstore. Don't turn Eric into that boy. You won't like him."
In the end, Tami quit her job and followed Eric to San Antonio. She told Angie and Grady, "Y'all come visit us."
"We'll take you to the Alamo," Eric said. "If I'm not already tired of all the class field trips there."
[*]
The heat was oppressive when they started shopping for apartments. The couple caravanned down to San Antonio, all of their belongings in Eric's pick-up and Tami's sedan. They had sold their bedroom furniture in Houston and were planning to buy new stuff. Currently, they were living in an extended stay motel until they found a permanent place.
Tami kept insisting on looking at two-bedrooms, which Eric didn't understand. "We should get a cheap one-bedroom and keep saving up for a down payment on a house," he said while they stood in the master bedroom of one such apartment. "We don't know when you're going to find a job here." Tami had mailed out a lot of resumes without any nibbles. San Antonio had a teacher shortage, but they apparently weren't much in need of guidance counselors.
The landlord was lingering in the hallway while they talked. Tami took Eric's hand and dragged him to the farthest corner of the room. "We're going to need two bedrooms," she insisted.
"Why?"
"Because I'm pregnant."
He blinked. "Say what now?"
"Pregnant."
"With…with my child?"
"No, Eric, with the Holy Spirit's child. Yes your child!"
"But, we were going to wait until we could afford a house!" He dug a hand in his hair. "We were going to wait until I had at least four years of work under my belt. I haven't even started work!"
"Well I guess we're not fully in charge."
Eric leaned in and whispered, "How did this happen? Was it that recall?" There had been a recall of defective birth control pills, and they'd switched to condoms temporarily. Tami was going to start a new pack when they got settled in San Antonio. They hadn't been particularly worried, because they'd only had sex once on that pack before the recall came down, and they weren't even sure her pills were defective.
"Maybe. Or maybe the condom didn't work one time."
He shook his head. "I don't even know if my health insurance will cover this. I think there might be a one year waiting period for pregnancy. How could this happen? This isn't what we planned."
The sound of a throat clearing caused them both to turn toward the doorway. "Excuse me," the landlord asked, "are you interested in the apartment?"
"No," said Eric, walking past the landlord and out the front door. Tami could hear him clattering down the stairwell.
He was waiting with the car running, windows rolled down, sweat on his brow. It was hot enough for him to break a sweat just sitting there, but it looked liked the news had broken him. Tami got in and buckled in. The silver buckle burned her hand. He started driving back to their motel without saying anything. He rolled up the windows once the air conditioning had a few minutes to start working.
When they got into the motel room, he went to the bathroom and washed his face.
When he came out, she said, "Eric, we – "
"- I need to go for a walk."
The door latched shut.
Tami slumped down in the chair in the tiny sitting room and cried.
