That damn girls' soccer coach (or was it softball?) had come to see Eric yet again this morning, talking about how his wife and Glen were always yucking it up in Tami's office.

He thought maybe he should go by his wife's office. He needed to ask Tami something anyway, didn't he?

The door was closed when he got there. When he opened it, Glen was touching his wife and wiping something off her back. "Why's the door shut?"

Tami explained that Glen had brought her burger and fries and she didn't want anyone seeing her chowing down. Then she told him she thought he should bring Tim Riggins back on the team.

Glen interjected himself: "Maybe we wouldn't have lost on Friday."

"Mhmmmm…" Tami murmured.

His wife was agreeing with Glen over him? Really now? "Hey, you know what Glen? Can I ask you a question? Can I talk to my wife alone for a few minutes?"

Glen finally extracted himself from the office.

"What?" Tami asked.

"Let me tell you something about Tim Riggins." And he told her something. A couple three somethings. "You just don't get on and off the team like it's a bus," he concluded. "Or like it's a flaky kind of real estate class."

"Are you making fun of my sister now?"

Oh, she was going to defend her sister now, was she? She jumps to Glen's defense, jumps to Shelley's defense – happy to jump to everyone's defense, except his apparently. "Yeah, well, I guess I sort of am. And – "

"Honey, I need a night out."

"What?"

"I need a night out."

He needed a night out too. Desperately. A night out alone with his wife. A chance to connect over a bottle of wine, and then maybe connect some more. Smiling, he approached her, talking about Don Antonio's….a couple bottles of wine…maybe getting a room….

She weaved herself away from him, like a player avoiding a tackle. "I was thinking more like Bunco." She wouldn't even accept his kiss. "Honey, I smell like onions."

Was she serious? "Bunco?" he asked.

"With people, with people."

Her and people. Why did she always want to be with people? Unless it was a football game, or a pep rally, or some necessary social where boosters might be persuaded to open their wallets, he didn't really see the point of hanging out around people. Who needed people when he had a family at home? Who needed people when he had her?

"I just need some people," she said, "some grown-ups to talk to, you know what I mean?"

What was he? A child?

She needed people. People.

He needed her, and she needed…people.

There was a knock at the door, and Tami started scurrying to hide her food.

Well, clearly he wasn't needed here anymore. Eric turned and left.

[*]

Tami took care of the Mr. Cute and Cultured situation, in a much calmer way than Eric would have, she thought.

Although… she hadn't thought about the fact that the door to the classroom was open while she was chewing out the Boy Wonder, or that students in the hall might be listening.

[*]

Eric didn't begrudge Tami a night out, but he'd wanted a night out with her. Or a night in. Just time. Time with her. And maybe a little something more.

And why the hell did he have to watch the baby while she went out? What was the point of Shelley being here if he had to babysit?

"Well, it's not babysitting when it's your own child, Eric," Tami told him.

She looked gorgeous. She'd put on a very flattering dress, and she was getting all dolled up in the bathroom. Not for him, though. Oh, no. For people. "What are you putting on perfume for if you're going to Bunco night?"

"Well, because I'm trying to mask the smell of spit up."

She was out of there like a flash, as if she couldn't wait to be rid of him to go to the much more exciting world of people.

Gracie was crying when she shut the door. He got the bottle ready and got her and settled in his recliner, feet up. She sucked hungrily at the bottle. "You don't need people, do you?" he asked. "You just need your daddy. You looooove your daddy, don't you? He's enough for you."

Gracie ripped herself off of the bottle's nipple and wailed.

[*]

Tami crept in quietly when she came home. She didn't want to wake Eric, because if she woke him up, he'd want sex.

Damn. He was still awake and sitting up. "Heeeey," she said.

"Hey," he grumbled.

"How'd it go?"

He muttered about crying and projectile poop and she didn't know what else. Shelley was right. He was super grouchy lately.

"I'm sorry, babe." She sat down and started taking off her shoes. She hated to admit her sister was right about something, but Eric obviously needed a good lay. Spontaneously, she decided she was going to give it to him. She kissed him.

"Did you have a good time?" he asked, still grouchy, despite the kiss.

Well, she'd just have to ungrouch him then, wouldn't she?

"I did, and I'll tell you what, Glen won a hundred dollars, and we went out and got a beer. I'm gonna have to pump." But after she pumped, she and Eric could have a good time. She was giggling now, just thinking about it. And maybe she was also giggling because of the beer.

"You and Glen had a good time?"

"It was fun."

"Did you and Glen have a great time?"

She laughed. He'd said that like he was jealous. "It was fun." It was kind of cute, his jealousy. "Honey," she said with a teasing smile, "you a bit jealous of Glen?"

[*]

Why did Tami do that? Why did she use that condescending tone of voice, as if he had no right at all to be upset? What if she'd suggested going out together, and he'd said he needed to play poker with the guys? And then after poker, he'd gone out and split a bottle of wine with some woman? She'd be pissed as hell, that's what. But if he was upset, well, then he was just being silly.

"Can I tell you something seriously?" he asked. He wasn't jealous. He was invisible. And being invisible made him sad, and being sad made him angry. "I don't like you and Glen yucking it up in the hallways, like a bunch of little kids."

She rolled her eyes. "Honey – "

No, he couldn't tell her something seriously, because apparently she wasn't capable of taking him seriously. He was just the silly husband, an inconvenience to be affectionately endured, the co-parent who was always pawing her for sex she didn't want.

She laughed. "Yukcing it up?"

He didn't have the words to express how invisible he felt. So he just said, "It's goofy."

"Goofy?"

"And people are going to start talking. I don't like you all running around behind closed doors, like I walk in there the other day, and he's just lying there eating his sandwich and stuff. I have to ask him before he even sits up and leaves the room."

Why didn't she want to share lunch with him instead? Why didn't she want to laugh with him instead? What was she afraid of? That he might want to have sex with her later? Well he would. He did. He wanted her every day. Was that so awful?

"That's ridiculous," she told him.

That's what he was to her lately, wasn't he? The ridiculous husband, hardly worth her time. "No it's not ridiculous."

"Yes it is."

"No, it's not. You know what it is? It's disrespectful. To me. It's disrespectful to this family. That's what I'm thinking."

"What about God? Is it disrespectful to God?"

Couldn't she take him seriously for even one second? Even one? "That's not funny."

"Well it is funny."

"No it's not. You know what it is? It undermines us. You think about that. Just think about it."

For one minute, Tami, just think about our marriage. For one minute think about how much I need you.

"It undermines us?" That condescending tone again.

"Yes. It undermines us."

"It does not. That is ridiculous."

"One last thing and we can leave it alone." Because clearly nothing he said mattered to her anyway. "You need to pay more attention to your family."

To me.

Please.

[*]

What the hell did he just say? Did those words really come out of his mouth?

Eric thought she needed to pay more attention to her family? Seriously?

After pushing his baby out between her legs…after getting up three times a night with Gracie Belle while he was off in Austin, drinking beer and watching football and probably going out with the guys any night he wanted to …after she'd had to deal with Julie's lip all by herself…after she'd had to become like some kind of cow that was available at Gracie's every whimper and cry…after her own body ceased to be her own…he was going to say she wasn't paying enough attention to her family? When she was breast feeding, even while working full-time and trying to clean up the mess Glen had left behind, and still helping Eric with the boosters when he needed it…he was going to say she needed to pay more attention to her family? After being exhausted, and worn out, and stuck at home with a newborn for weeks, when she finally started working again, he was going to begrudge her a little adult conversation? A night out? Seriously?

The nerve.

And worse, when he knew, had to know, how out of control she'd felt – how like a horrible mother she'd felt lately - to go and tell her that. To imply she wasn't a good mother. "How dare you."

"No. Don't do that."

"You know what? You can go sleep on the couch. So I can a good night sleep. So I can pay a lot of attention to my family tomorrow. Go on."

"Nah-ah."

She walked off to the bathroom. She lost her footing and half-stumbled for a second. It might have been the beer. It might have been the anger. It might have been the hurt, but she didn't feel like she was on solid ground anymore.