"So, that's it?" Tess asked the jackpot flunky. "It's this easy to collect the money?"

"No reason why it shouldn't be, Miss Harding," the flunky replied. "You played the slot, you have the jackpot ticket that was issued. Your identification checks out, certifying that you're at the legal gambling age in the state of Nevada." Both of us smiled a bit weakly at that, but not weakly enough that he noticed. "Do you mind if I ask what you want to do with the money?"

"Umm... maybe spend it on a trip for a honeymoon, or a nice place to stay together."

The flunky paused for just a moment, and actually looked at me for the first time since Tess had presented the winner's slip. "Oh... are the two of you newlyweds?"

"Yeah, actually," I admitted, and reached out a hand to put it on Tess' arm, just below her elbow.

"You know, Rachel Reid from the 'Review-Journal' has been doing a series of stories on big winners. You guys would fit great into the piece, I can just tell. Is there any chance that you'd like to do an interview..."

"No, sorry," Tess blurted out. "I mean, things are probably going to be crazy enough when we get home without knowing that we'll be in the paper. Yeah, I know it won't be in the paper at home, but still... we're not talking to the press."

"Hmm, alright I guess. Sorry to hear about it. Well, let's see about getting you that check."

Max was not at all happy when he found out what had happened, which was late that evening as we were all getting ready for sleeping away our last night in Vegas. "Some - someone is going to recheck it eventually," he growled low to Tess. "The faked IDs are fine for casual gambling, but if they crosscheck with records back in Roswell, they'll find only one Tess Harding, who is only eighteen!"

"Yeah Max, I know, I know," she said. "But I keep telling you, I never meant to win the jackpot. What was I going to do after that? Refuse to even take the winner slip? Incinerate it with my powers? Go and tell that guy that I wasn't old enough, straight out? All of that would have been immediately suspicious."

Max didn't seem particularly impressed with Tess' line of reasoning, but at that point Liz waved at him from across the lobby, and all of a sudden he seemed disinclined to argue any more. (Funny how well that works on us guys.)

As we were drifting off to sleep that night, I whispered at Tess, "Are you serious about using the money for us, sweetie? I mean, that cash could solve some of the problems that are looming in the future of this marriage."

Tess sighed sleepily. "Money doesn't solve problems, Kyle, at least not the tough ones. Sure, we could use the jackpot check to pay off tuition, get an off campus apartment or something. But the basic issue of how much either of us is willing to personally sacrifice for the other will just pop up later if we don't settle it now." I felt soft lips planted on my cheek, which was implausible given the way I was spooning her - a friendly little illusion. "And there's one other problem coming up, that we can't solve by throwing money at it."

"What?" I said, and then realized that I could guess. "Oh, you mean telling my Dad?" Silent nod. "Yeah, I guess that's an issue at least. But... well, we go back home, he probably sees the rings right off, and we tell him what happened. That's not a problem. A problem could start with the way he reacts, but we can cross that bridge once we're sure there's a river."

"Kyle honey?"

"Yeah?"

"Just go to sleep," Tess muttered. I took the hint and shut up.

#

The next morning, after breakfast and checking out of the rooms, Maria insisted on having us all gather at the crappy little casino next door to our bargain hotel. Leading the way to a twenty dollar blackjack table, she said, "Okay, one deal, or whatever you call it. Each couple plays together. Got it?"

"Fine, I guess." There was something a bit odd about this, so I brought Tess to the last spot, so that all the others would have to play before us. Michael and Maria got a pair of aces.

"Oooh, cool, we can split," Michael said with a big grin.

Maria whacked him. "No, come on! Any other time, fine, but not for this. No splitting."

"But two aces is... okay, fine." Michael sighed. Was this some sort of weird fortune telling thing, predicting the future by the luck of the cards? With Maria's approval, Michael hit a few times, getting a queen, (which made him scowl,) and then a nine, staying at twenty.

Alex and Isabel got a hard nineteeen, and were quite happy to stick with that.

Max and Liz got a four and a seven, and against the dealer's five they decided to double down, getting a nine.

Tess and I got a twelve to start with, looked at each other for a long time, and asked for a hit. Six for eighteen. Stayed there.

The dealer turned over a three next to his five, and then dealt a king. "House has eighteen," he said, paying off the others and giving us our money back.

So that was it. Michael and Maria refuse to split and end up winning, Alex and Isabel win easy, Max and Liz go double or nothing and win big. Tess and I... we just break even.

Well, it could've been worse.

#

The drive back home to Roswell went okay, nothing too interesting to report. All of our friends insisted on juggling the seating arrangements so that Tess and I could be alone in one car - Isabel was riding with Max and Liz in the Jeep, Alex with Michael and Maria in the Jetta, so that we had Tess' car to ourselves.

I know that I should've been happy about that. I would've thought I'd be ecstatic to be coming home still married, and with divorce apparently off the table for now - at least it hadn't been mentioned in a day or so, and then Tess had said she wasn't particularly thinking of it anymore. But all of the issues that surrounded going back to Roswell still seemed to weigh heavy on us.

"Okay, might as well ask," Tess said once we were about ninety miles into Arizona. "What do you think for the sleeping arrangements, right away?"

"Well... I guess that we share the bedroom," I said, surprised by the question. "My old bed is big enough that we can both use it I think." Tess stayed silent, so I continued. "I'll move some of my stuff in at a time, until we get too crowded, and then work out what's next from there."

She flashed a dense smile. (Don't ask me exactly how a smile is dense, but this one was. Impenetrable, even.) "Okay, that's good enough. You wanna ask one now?"

Ask one what? A question about what we'd do now that we were married? "Okay, umm... what college do you want to try for together?"

"Well, umm... I'm pretty sure that we both got into State at Santa Fe," she pointed out. "It's a quality school, close enough to drive home and see Dad, or some of the old gang if they're within range, but far enough away to start our own life without him. Sound alright?"

I thought about it. State New Mexico had a very broad range of athletic programs, some interesting courses on world religion, and one of the best business development programs in the Southwest. "Yeah, that works for me. And we can use Arizona as a backup in case something doesn't work out there."

"Yeah, fine."

I don't remember that much of the ride home in detail, though it seems like we were each talking non-stop. Our route mostly followed the north and then the east edges of the state of Arizona, before cutting into New Mexico. Stopped off at a small cantina around two in the afternoon to grab some sort of a spicy bean concoction and sodas to drink. The sun was down by the time we got back into Roswell, and without interrupting her story about Michael's tour as Santa Claus, she headed towards the old Valenti homestead.

Dad was waiting in the living room when we came in. "Hey, how was work?" Tess asked. Ever since last summer or so, Dad has been trying to drum up work as an independent private eye, which I know sounds like the premise for some family-rated TV show with a lot of heart and elements of film noir, but at least it usually gets the bills paid - after the second notices come in.

"Not bad," he said. "Actually, I've been off in Texas for most of the time you guys were gone - child abduction case. So, how was Sin City this ti-"

Neither of us had made a point of showing him the rings, but that was about as long as Dad took to notice. Hey, he was a really good cop, trained to observe and notice the significance of little things. "It's good to be back Dad," Tess said after a moment, when she was sure that he'd already gotten the point. That was very significant - in all the time that she'd been staying here, even when we were briefly dating, Tess has never called my father that - well, she tried a few times, but took it back because it was 'too weird'. Apparently, now that he actually was her father-in-law, that made it fit in her mind.

"You... you got married?"

There didn't seem to be anything to say to that other than "Yep." At least, all my smart aleck responses didn't seem appropriate for this situation.

"And just how drunk were you?"

"Not drunk enough that we don't remember it perfectly well," Tess said. "Kyle had had a few. Me, well, I'd had a sip a while back - by mistake, but it had probably worn off by the wedding."

"And were you drinking 'by mistake' too, Kyle?" Dad asked. I groaned, not wanting to get into a discussion about teenage drinking and legal minimum ages at that point.

"There's - there's something else you need to know, Mister V," Tess said. Hmm, maybe the 'Dad' thing wasn't sticking for good even yet. "It's about..."

"I, I told you, if there was anything to know about gambling, then I don't want to..."

"You need to know," Tess said, and sat down. I took a place next to her on the couch, holding her hand in mine, and after a moment Dad sighed, pulled up a chair, and made a 'give it to me' gesture. Tess told him what had happened with the slot machine, not going into any other detail about the gambling and cheating we had engaged in while in Vegas, but making no bones about the fact that she had a fake ID on her that listed her as 21.

"Oh, boy," Dad muttered. "And you couldn't show the genuine one, give up the money? It's not the first time that an underaged kid has played a slot - they don't prosecute for that."

"I... I thought about it, but the money was too tempting," Tess admitted. "Kyle told me about the deposit you paid down in California, and I didn't get in there... if we go to another school, I want to be able to pay you back. And then there's tuition and housing to think about..."

"Well, I can't say that I'm entirely disappointed to hear that you're thinking seriously about the practical issues of being married," Dad said in a low voice. "But... but they're going to double-check that ID in a few days. It's a matter of casino policy."

"Oh, boy," I muttered.

"Yes. And I happen to know how they'll check it, and how that check can be faked, because I used to do it every now and then. Which means that..."

"I, I never meant to put you in an ethical bind like this, Dad," Tess insisted. "Err, sorry - should I not call you that while you're pissed off at me?"

He shook his head at her. "I've been waiting for you to realize that you were part of this family for long enough. Didn't expect that you'd choose to make things official quite like this, but... well, I guess I've got a call to make to Owen tomorrow morning." He sighed. "Now, this isn't foolproof; both of you should know that. If they really want to check into things, well, they've got Tess' usual name, and too many people know that you're only a senior in high school. Won't fly with what was on the fake. But probably they'll only do a routine check against local DMV records."

There was another awkward pause. "So, what's the arrangement gonna be? I don't suppose I have any stock regulations for a married, teenage couple living under my roof. Pitching a fit doesn't seem to be worth the effort, at least, not before Graduation."

I blinked - hadn't expected things to be this easy, at all. "Umm, we were thinking that I'd be moving back into the small bedroom - with Tess."

"Alright, that should work." For a second, I wondered if Dad would have moved out of the Master bedroom if we'd asked, but that didn't really seem likely, what with all of the moving things back and forth it would entail. And it hung in my mind that Dad didn't expect us to be staying at home for long, just a few months. Probably through the summer was the most that we could expect.

"Do you have any pictures of the ceremony?" Dad asked us.

Tess blinked. "Um, just the one, actually," she admitted, and proceeded to dig amongst her luggage for the wedding photo that had come free with our package - the two of us side by side, she in her gorgeous white wedding gown, me in the black suit that she'd picked out. Finally she brought it out, and showed it to my dad, and he smiled when he saw it. That was when I really believed that things were going to be all right with him.

#

"Turn off the football game and come to bed, honey."

I looked up into the front hall and saw Tess smiling at me - obviously it gave her all kinds of pleasure to say something like that. She was wrapped up in a big fluffy pink robe, (Dad gave it to her for Christmas last December,) and her hair was loose, and seemed just a bit less curly than usual. She was irresistible, and I could hardly believe how lucky I was.

My hand reached out for the remote and hit the power button before I'd even become aware of the decision. Tess chuckled as I gathered her up in a one-arm embrace.

We'd already moved some stuff into the bedroom, so I could have put pajamas on if I'd wanted to. But I stripped out of my t-shirt, jeans, and underpants, tossing them all fairly accurately at the laundry hamper, and lifted two eyebrows suggestively. Tess tried to stifle a load of giggles.

"Guess I don't need to ask if you're up for some conjugal relations," she whispered. "But remember, this isn't a fancy hotel room. We're in your Dad's house, he's probably still up and reading, and I don't want to bother him. He's been way cool about the whole deal.

"Alright," I admitted, keeping my voice down, though the idea of forsaking wild, energetic and noisy lovemaking as long as Dad was around was - well, he wasn't in the house that much lately, really. New job did have lots of out-of-town trips and all-night stakeouts, and - okay, don't worry about that right now. "Why don't you slip out of that robe and show me what's underneath, my darling? If anything - well, I guess that there's something underneath, even if it's all genuine Tess."

She shook her head at my zaniness, tittering, and threw the robe away in a single dramatic motion. Beneath was - more pink. A mostly see-through, short pink - well, it was a sort of nightgown, I guess. Don't know the right fashion terms, but it had really thin straps around her shoulders, a 'neckline' that went all the way around about one inch above nipples, and a bottom hem just long enough to cover her butt - as long as she remained standing perfectly still.

"I, I really like that," I blurted out, causing Tess scads more silent mirth. "Why, why didn't you show me that one while we were away?"

"Well, umm, I couldn't," she pointed out. "Couldn't really pack up my whole lingerie collection and take it to Vegas - well, I guess maybe I could've, and I'd have taken more if I'd realized that I'd have so much use for it."

"Ooh," I breathed, seeing the possibilities. "So, have you a preference?"

"Umm, thanks for asking. I guess that we can get started with your second favorite foreplay technique, since using the very favorite would probably mean either taking off this chemise right away or stretching out the straps. And then we'll play it by ear."

"Right. What's my second favorite again?" Tess made a kind of shaking side-to-side motion with her hips, and suddenly I remembered. Stepping forward, I kissed her, and let my hands go low, stroking and gently scratching her smooth, soft thighs...

#

Going to school on Monday morning was weird.

I have no idea how it got out so soon that Tess and I had gotten married, but somehow the word had spread like wildfire on the student grapevine. (Only seven people from Roswell knew about it - the rest of the gang and my Dad, and I really couldn't figure who would have gossiped about it. Well, that wasn't really a big deal.)

The football players hit me in formation on the way out of the parking lot. (Not literally, and it isn't that big a surprise that football players could do something metaphorically. Depending on the football player, it might be surprising that he could say something metaphorically, but not in my case, and the metaphor is mine.) Before I could extricate myself from the pigskin brethren, Tess got surprised in turn by, apparently around forty girls that she didn't really know.

- What's the deal with putting on a ring, KV?

- Aren't you the one who told me, never buy a cow. Find one who'll give up the milk for free!

- Yeah, the only rings a real man should wear are bowl champion rings!

- Tess, are you anti-feminist? Is that why you did this to your sisters?

- Buddy, is she as wild in the sack as I told you she'd be?

- You're both only eighteen! You haven't even graduated yet!

- Just think of all the sweet freshman ass you're not gonna have a chance at - well, unless you're okay with cheating...

- Yeah, I know he's handsome, but still I mean - that's such a cliche!

- I guess it's not a total loss. Have you asked the missus how she feels about threesomes with football groupie chicks?

- I've gotta admit, I'm jealous. How did it happen? Did you guys decide totally on the spur of the moment?

- Okay, it doesn't have to be a total threesome, with the girls both getting into each other and everything. But maybe she likes to watch?

- Are you going to try for kids this summer?

- Coach is gonna be pissed. He keeps talking about how sex before games depletes the physical energy levels. Well, he doesn't actually mention the S word but you know that's what he's talking about. No way you're not going to do it when you're living in the same room, huh?

- Did you get to keep your wedding dress, or was it a rental?

- Maybe you could get Kyle to have a talk with Petey. I'd just die if he gave me a ring the night before graduation...

And there was much, much more, but that's probably quite enough to give the idea. Finally we managed to escape, kiss goodbye, and go to our (different, sadly,) first-period classes fifteen minutes early. Mine was Advanced English lit with Harrison, who's a hard-ass enough that he doesn't like a lot of chatter in the classroom even before the bell. Normally that pisses me right off, but today it was such a blessed relief. I closed my eyes and meditated for a bit.

When I headed off to meet Tess after first period, she had joined up with Alex and Isabel, which turned out to work pretty well at keeping the curious hordes at bay - Isabel had perfected a stony glare that would make a Medusa jealous, and she was not at all shy about turning it on anyone who dared bother us.

"Thanks," I muttered, after she managed to put four of the bubbliest cheerleaders on the varsity squad to rout. "By the way, any idea who told?"

"Ohh..." Alex muttered. "You mean you guys didn't tell anybody but - well, but us?" Tess shook her head vigorously, as did Isabel once she remembered that the question had been put to her. "No, I didn't say a word, but people seemed to know the day after we got home. I figured that you'd mentioned something to the guys on the team."

"No," I insisted. "Didn't even see any of them until this morning. Pause. "Oh, and I told my Dad of course, but he wouldn't have..."

"Your dad guessed," Tess put in. "Because he saw the rings. Some of the other kids could have seen them too when we were out and around yesterday. And it wasn't a secret that all of us were going up to Vegas for Spring Break. Fairly easy to put two and two together, end up with four."

"Yeah, that's the way the sum usually comes out," Alex remarked idly. "Okay, I guess that's enough of an explanation for me. Probably better than starting a snitch-hunt or anything like that."

"Yeah," I agreed. Didn't want to start accusing people, though it was quite possible that one of our friends had indeed said something, not meaning any harm by it or realizing what they were getting us in for.

The morning classes went by pretty quickly. Isabel and Alex were 'busy' for lunch, so I decided to go find Michael and see if his glower was any fit substitute for the Ice Princess' stare. By the time the four of us had met up, though, (me, Tess, Michael, and Maria,) nobody seemed to even be looking for us anymore.

"Sounds like you've had quite a morning, man."

"Yeah, well, I'm tired of even thinking about it," Tess declared. "Everything's been about us for too long now. Maria, what's up with you?"

Maria blinked as if she'd never in her whole life expected Tess to ask that question. "Umm, well, a local indie rock band has asked me to join up."

"Are you thinking about it?" I asked. "Won't Alex and his alternative buddies be upset?"

"The Whits aren't really still together," Maria explained. "Ever since that November argument about the 'Love is a peacock' song that Alex wrote. They've made up personally, nobody's holding a grudge - but they don't rehearse or look for gigs anymore. Partly that was because everybody was worried about college apps and so on - but all of that is really over and everybody's still willing to leave well enough alone..."

"College!" Tess exclaimed. "Sheesh, we should have done something about State New Mexico yesterday, Kyle, so that we could have dropped it in the mail this morning."

"Oh, so you guys decided to go to Fanta Se?" Michael asked. "Cool."

"Yeah, what about you guys?" Tess asked. "Err..."

"Well, I didn't really get in anywhere," Michael explained. "But I managed to get an offer to do some construction work down in Las Cruces. Probably no fun, but the pay's decent. And Maria got into that little arts college down there."

"Guess you'd only have so long to sing with the local band, then," I put in, and Maria nodded.

Shortly after that, Tess pushed me into driving her home, so that we could spend about ten minutes looking for college acceptance letters before having to head back for afternoon classes.

#

And one day followed another. Tess and I started to get taken for granted at school again, aside from occasional teasing remarks about our matrimonial status. Life around the house, to, started to settle into a routine, at least for the moment.

State New Mexico sent word via email that they would be happy to have us, even though the usual deadline for confirmation of enrollment was past. The message included information about the couples-only dormitory, (where we'd have to share a kitchen and a bathroom with another pair,) and off-campus housing for married students. If I wanted to play football, I'd have to go to open tryouts when I got there, but the lower-years basketball coach knew my record and would happy to have me on his squad.

The day after that email showed up, Tess unexpectedly found out who had spilled the secret of our matrimonial status - some girl in her world history class said that she had heard directly from Liz - that she had vented about the whole deal to half of the science club, seeming more than a little upset about our wedding. I tried to stop my darling bride from heading right over to confront Liz, but she used her powers to push me out of the way, and in the end I could do little more than follow her and try to make sure that she didn't go too far.

"Why, why did you do it?" Tess exclaimed. Max and Liz both seemed completely at a loss for what to relate this to. "Is there still some reason for you to feel proprietary over Kyle, that you resent me taking him away? Do you hate me so much that you just plain don't want me to be happy? There's some reason it royally ticks you off that we're married, and that's why you told people about it - admit that, Liz Parker!"

"Now, come on, there's no real reason to..." Max started protectively.

"No, it's okay, Max," Liz told him. "Okay, Tess... I'm pretty sure I'm over it, yes, but... there was a reason that I was really annoyed and upset over what happened in Vegas, and it wasn't anything like what you suspect. The last of those feelings of those annoyances - I vented them in a situation when I shouldn't have, and I'm really sorry if that caused you any pain..."

"It's alright now," I insisted. "You made school feel like a papparazzi experience for a few days, but in retrospect, that was kind of fun..."

"So what was it that annoyed you?" Tess spat, looking a little mollified but not by much. "Can you at least tell me that?"

Liz looked back and forth - she and Max had been sitting on a ledge in the courtyard, and the few people who were close by didn't seem to have paid any attention, even after the drama queen-ly way in which Tess had started off the scene.

But apparently that wasn't enough for Liz. "No, not here."

"Then somewhere else. now."

"We've got class in, like three minutes," Max pointed out, getting up.

"I don't care, we're ditching," Tess insisted.

"Now come on," Liz said. "I... I'll give you an explanation, but not at the time that you demand, no matter what!"

Tess kept her righteously indignant facade up just a moment longer, and then smiled. "Okay, I thought that was worth a try though," she said. "You know how much I hate waiting, I think."

"Yeah, actually," all three of us said at the same time, and with nearly the same dryly sardonic tone. Tess rolled her eyes to the heavens.

Max drove us all out to the desert after school, and that was where Liz told us about how a Future Max had come to her, and among other things, had told her how in his time-line, they'd gone to Vegas when they were nineteen and been married there.

"We'll get married someday," Max promised her. "You and I didn't have to stay apart long to keep the whole group together, and we've still got nearly a year before my twentieth birthday."

"Yeah, I know," Liz admitted. "But... but still - you guys beat us to it."

"Sorry," I told her. "Didn't mean to steal your destiny or anything." Liz nodded acceptance of that apology. "So wait, does that stuff about Future Max have something to do with... well, with that night Max found me in your bed?"

"Oh, yeah," Max said. I looked over at him. "Liz has told me the whole story - including how little really happened between you two. Smoke and mirrors."

Liz looked over at Tess. "Kyle told me too," she quickly insisted. "Just recently actually - when we first ran off to have our own fun in Vegas. The topic of sex came up, previous partners and so on, and he made fairly clear that you weren't actually on the list."

"Not on his list, anyway," Liz smirked.

I couldn't help but raise my list. "Oh, really? You guys always do so well at projecting that image of the squeaky-clean, PG friendly high school sweethearts who never do anything more than kiss. So what's the real deal behind closed doors?"

"You want to know so badly, huh Kyle?" Max asked.

"Moi?" I did that over-dramatic hand-on-chest gesture. "No, just asking to be polite, since it sort of came up and so on."

"Come on," Tess said. "Let's head back to town. I think that everything important has been said."

#

That night, after we got back from the desert, something was bothering Tess. I'm an idiot and I didn't see it right away - not when she was making grilled chicken and garden vegetables for dinner, or after, when we were both studying for tests - the last round of pop quizzes before finals. But the signs were all there, and when she joined me in bed and flinched away from my soft caresses along her shoulder, well, then there was just about no mistaking it.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm tired and I don't wanna fuck, okay? I just want to go to sleep. Isn't that allowed?"

"Yeah, of course it's allowed," I said. "We don't have to have sex. Is there some reason that you don't want me touching you?" If Tess didn't want to have sex, she could probably have made that clear to me without even saying so, and without me minding. We'd made love every night since coming home from Vegas after all, and usually twice a day or more on weekends. But this wasn't just the end of the honey-mooning phase. I knew that it was something much deeper. Silently, the specter of divorce, of our marriage coming to an abrupt end before either of us graduated, was lurking in the room.

What should I do? Would it be better to confront her right away, or wait until she was comfortable talking with me about whatever-it-was? There was that old saying about never going to bed mad, but I wasn't sure if that had been discredited, or what it was supposed to accomplish even if it wasn't. I wasn't mad at Tess, but I was definitely worried that she was mad at me about something, or... well, if that wasn't it, then I wasn't sure what was going on.

So, well, I decided to take my cue from her - in a way. If she'd just lie down and let me touch her, maybe hold her, then I'd hold my peace, go to sleep, and hope that somehow she'd pick up from that simple contact that whatever was going on, she could open up to me about it. If she wanted to sleep without even our skin brushing, then I'd keep trying to get her to tell me what was up.

And - so we slept together, with me feeling like we were light years apart. She allowed me to wrap an arm around her, but would start to squirm if I help her too tight, so I didn't. Woke up from vague dreams about purple steam trains and friendly talking frogs to find out that she was gone.

Her books were gone. It sort of looked like some school clothes were gone, though I wasn't yet familiar enough with her entire wardrobe to be sure, but still. The shirt - one of my t-shirts, that she'd worn to bed and her fluffy green socks were in the hamper.

And a ring was sitting on the desk.

I went over, looking at it. This was the plain wedding band, a match for mine, which was still on my hand. The pretty but equally cheap engagement ring was not with it. I even checked the floor to see if it had been knocked off, but no. Apparently, wherever Tess had gone, probably early to school, she had wanted to just wear the one ring. What kind of a signal was that... that she wanted to step back, but not leave entirely? That she wasn't sure she was ready for being married?

I dawdled over the healthy oatmeal crunch stuff that she'd bought for me and liked me to have for breakfast. Dad came in and asked about Tess, said he noticed that her car was gone. For some reason, I tried to sound like I knew exactly why she'd gone to school early, like it had absolutely nothing to do with us. I'm not sure if he bought that. I'm not even really sure why I bothered putting up the front.

Then again, Dad probably doesn't have that much in terms of helpful advice to give at this point, and it might be uncomfortable if he got the impression that I was asking for any - like, having failed to save his own marriage, I was asking him to come up with some way to save mine.

Went back into the bedroom, and stared at the ring for a little while. Ended up cutting a long piece of string, threading it through the inside of the ring, and wearing that around my neck, under my shirt so that you couldn't see it. Not quite sure why I did that... maybe I wanted to bring it to school, in case she wanted to put it on again, and this was the best way I could think of making sure that I didn't lose it. Maybe, if Tess didn't want it on her finger, I just wanted to keep it close to my heart. Corny, yeah, but at that point I didn't give a shit if I was acting sappy.

Eventually the time came to head for West Roswell high myself. The halls were busy, but I couldn't seem to find anybody from the gang anywhere around. Ended up going to first class, which was also, of course, without Tess or any of our friends in common. Finally, when I got out of that room, I nearly crashed into Michael and Maria. "Umm, have either of you seen Tess this morning?"

Maria raised an eyebrow. "Can't remember where you left your better half, Valenti?"

Somehow that hit me hard. Tess never had come to a decision about whether she'd take my name, which basically meant that she hadn't, or at least not yet. "Well, no," I said. "We - well, we didn't quite have a fight, but things were weird last night, and she was gone before I woke up this morning."

"Hmm." Maria considered that. "Did she... well, I guess she wouldn't have anywhere to take her stuff, at that."

"She could've hit me up for a place to crash," Michael said evenly. "And she hasn't, yet, so maybe that's some sort of a good sign."

Maria put an arm around my shoulder, and I almost squirmed out of her grasp myself, but suffered through the familiarity. "What was the weirdness about?"

"That's just the thing, I have no idea what's bugging her, seriously," I said. Michael shot me a look, and I realized that to avoid the mantle of 'clueless male' I needed to try thinking it over one last time. "Well, umm, we went and talked to Liz and Max yesterday afternoon about a few things. Did... did Liz ever tell you about, umm." How to bring this subject up as discretely as possible. "Fall a year and a half ago, about Liz and me..."

"Oh, and her mysterious visitor from another time?" Maria whispered back, as we carefully walked down the hall. "Yeah, she told me by thanksgiving. Michael's known since last summer."

Hmm. I wondered if Isabel and Alex had been brought into the secret as well. "But - well, I still don't know what that has to do with Tess acting itchy, if anything. She wasn't upset when we said goodbye to them."

"Maybe it has to do with the old Max flames," Michael suggested. "I mean... he, 'he' wanted to get Max and Tess together, or at least was willing to push them a little more together than they were. Maybe she's..." He broke off, suddenly realizing how this must sound to me, probably. "Sorry, man, but that's just what it seems like to me."

"Yeah, okay. I, I guess I didn't want to think of that one, but..." Maria gasped sharply right then and pointed. Maybe fifty feet away, down the hallway ahead of us, Tess was standing still and looking at all three of us - or maybe she only saw me. I wasn't really sure. Automatically I waved, and she matched the gesture.

At this point, there was a buzz of whispering and muttering from all the other kids around in the corridor, and I'm pretty sure I heard Pam Troy mutter "Wait a second, she's not wearing... she's only got the one ring on... but he's still got his - man, that's weird!"

I headed right over to Tess, caution thrown to the winds, and futzed with my collar until I could finally get a bit of the string and show it to her. For what seemed like a long moment she was confused, then her eyes widened in realization... and she shook her head no. "We, umm, we really need to talk," she mumbled at me.

Ahh, right. "Skip second period?" I'd been hoping that Tess would want to talk to me, but now I was really worried about what she'd have to say - and if there was anything I could tell her or do to change her mind if she'd already decided to... to leave me.

"As many as it takes," she said in a slightly sad tone, and took me by the arm, heading towards one of the school grounds doors - the one opposite William street, which we could go down, grab something to drink at the convenience store, and sit down on a sidewalk bench.

As we left the building, I nearly expected some authority figure to call out and stop us from playing hooky, but maybe they were all busy. Nothing to do now but wait for Tess to feel like she was ready to open the conversation.