Ten days later…

Tami opened the front door and went inside followed by Eric and Tim; they all sat at the dining room table. Tim yawned and said, "Where's G Belle and the puppies?"

"Payton and Jordan are getting a bath and a haircut and Gracie is over at her friend Louise's for a sleepover. We didn't think it'd be a good idea to drop you right in the middle of everything and we wanted to sit and lay out the rules and guidelines without having Gracie running around or the dogs wanting pats every five minutes." Tim yawned again.

"What time did you get up this morning?"

"They woke us up at about 2:45."

Tami's eyes widened. "What? How can they do that?"

Tim shrugged. "Because it's a prison. In Texas. I was talking to a guy a couple of months ago, a Gulf war vet who assaulted someone and he said prison was worse than basic training. He said in basic there was a small part of yourself that you had control over, but in prison you don't have anything. If you talk back to the guards you can go to solitary or get jumped on the yard by some inmates that the guards know. Anyway, they got us up , and then we got to sit around and wait for a few hours, they took a couple of people out, then they took everyone who was getting released out of the pod to a hallway and we waited there."

"For how long?"

"I guess about four hours. We had to stand the whole time. You could lean against the wall but you couldn't sit or lie down. There was a door and window that led to an office in the hall and I just got so bored I made my way over to see if there was a clock on the wall. One of the guards jumped on me fast, had his baton out and was screaming at me wanting to know what I was doing. I told him the truth, I was bored and wanted to see what was in there, see if there was a clock. He said that he could make sure I had all the time in the world to see. And he meant it, even though I was supposed to be released, he could have kept me there or in solitary just about as long as he wanted, just make up a reason.

Tim looked at Tami who was frowning. "You get used to it. I spent the first three weeks just sitting and watching. Figuring out the order of things and who you can and can't sit next to or talk to. A lot of it is racial, the Aryan Nation is all over the prison system and there's black gangs and Hispanic gangs. But it doesn't really make sense, like you can't go near certain areas of the exercise yard or sit in certain places in the cafeteria, but you can end up working alongside some of the same people you aren't supposed to go near on the yard."

Eric looked at Tami. "As much as you might want to go back to the prison and give them a piece of your mind about this, you know it's not gonna do any good, so can you please shelve that for now?"

"Of course sugar. So, it looks like it was a good idea to have the house be empty when we got home. I think it might be a good idea if you took a nap or maybe just sleep after we're done here." Tim nodded.

Tami looked down at a legal pad. "Eric and your parole officer talked with you about where you can and can't go, no working at any place that has anything to do with motor vehicles. "That limits your job possibilities a lot, but Buddy is giving you a job at his place. And Eric and I have thought and talked about it and decided that we will pay you to babysit and puppysit occasionally and there are some chores to do around here and Eric would also appreciate it if you'd help out keeping the field in shape and maybe doing some things with the team."

"What kind of chores?"

"Do you know how to cook?"

"I can make a pretty good Denver omelet, scrambled eggs, grill a burger or steak. I never made Thanksgiving dinner or anything really fancy."

Tami smiled. "Well, we're not really fancy eaters. If Eric had his way he'd have steak or a burger for all three meals."

"What about Julie isn't she a vegamatarian?"

"She doesn't eat steak, but she'll have chicken and I know she's had some burgers from the Alamo Freeze. But she does eat more than salad."

"Well, I'll do whatever I can. If you want me to make mac and cheese from the box I can handle that and if you show me how to put something together or write it down, I'll give it a try. And if it burns or whatever, I'll pay for a Panther pizza, I get a discount, thanks to seven."

"It won't be an everyday thing making dinner, but I'll let you know. And we'll all go out sometimes, to Applebee's or the Alamo Freeze."

"I don't mean to interrupt, but does Julie know about this, about me living here?"

""I called her last week and talked with her about it, she's fine with it, she promised not to take you to any parties," Tami smiled and glanced at Eric. "She's only going to be here for a few weeks, but she's glad you have a place to stay and looking forward to seeing you."

Eric leaned forward. "As for other chores, keeping your room neat, helping with the laundry, mowing the lawn, walking the dogs with me and Gracie or just you and Gracie. The team," Eric sighed. ""I've talked about it with Buddy and a couple of people at the state athletic board. I can't officially hire you as a coach, and we don't have the money to pay what a coach would get, so your official position is intern. I'd like you to help keep the field in good shape, help with the mowing and yard lines and such on game days. I was thinking that you can help out with the running backs, you helped Luke out a bit last year, and I'd like to build on that if you could."

"Whatever I can do, whatever you want me to do. Do I get a hat?"

"In fact you do. I'll bring one home tomorrow night."

"Thanks." Tim yawned.

"Alright, I don't want you falling asleep here at the table, but we're almost done I think. You and Billy. You two are going to see each other when you're helping with the team, but I know you want to see Stevie and Mindy, right?"

"I do, but I can't without supervision and, Billy and I tend to pick at each other and with what happened," Tim shrugged.

Tami pursed her lips. "That's true, you two know each other's hot buttons and have no problem pushing them, but you do love each other, and you're family. We were thinking of inviting Billy and Mindy and Stevie over here for dinner a few times in the next while, that way it's supervised but it's not your parole officer."

"And if you two do feel the need to go at it, I'll have you two put on pads and run the Oklahoma drill a few times. " Eric looked at Tami. "Drinking. You are not going to drink any alcohol in this house. That is not negotiable. I know you're gonna be working at a bar and that is its own thing. I have talked with Buddy and he does not want you getting drunk and trying to tend bar or do whatever he's gonna be having you do over there. But he is Buddy Garrity and," Eric waved his hand. "We do not want you coming stumbling into the house drunk at two in the morning. That is not acceptable. Now, if you're over at Buddy's and you do have a few beers you are going to call us and I'll come pick you up. Doesn't matter what time it is. You aren't going to be driving drunk. We'd much rather you didn't drink at all. Is this understood?"

"Yes sir."

Tami reached across the table and took Tim's hand. "Tim, look at me. This isn't us being mean, you understand that?"

"Yeah, it's just, I know me and you guys know me, or you've heard stuff about me and I, I don't want to fuck this up," Tim looked at Tami, "sorry. But, I've been drinking beer since I was about ten and getting drunk since I was twelve."

"Okay. But you didn't drink while you were in prison, did you?"

"I tried some of the hooch that a couple of long timers were selling;" Tim shook his head "did not go down right. But I didn't get the shakes or go into withdrawal or anything. I like to have some beers, not because I'm depressed or have ADD or anything. If you two have had ideas about me seeing a counselor or therapist, I don't think I need one."

Tami looked at Tim and then at Eric. "Okay, that's fine. But you understand what Eric said about drinking, right? You are on a very short leash right now, a couple of them actually and if you get yanked by one of them you can end up back in prison, and we don't want that, Billy doesn't want that, you don't want that. The thing is, you have a history of not only not thinking about the consequences of your actions, you don't care that there are consequences. You aren't in high school anymore. You graduated. If you get pulled over and have been drinking or show up at the Landing Strip with Billy that isn't going to get hand waved away like in high school. You'll go back to prison and you won't get out until you serve the whole sentence. That's ten years. That would kill Billy and Mindy and you.

"You have a chance now to start fresh. You're starting out pretty low and it's not going to be easy, but Eric and I will do as much as we can to help you. You have that land outside of town. It's beautiful. You've got some hills, some trees; you've even got a lake."

"It's a pond."

"It's a pond now, but it can get bigger right? And I bet you've been thinking about a house on that land."

Tim smiled. "Yeah."

"Does it have a porch?"

"Wraparound, with half of it screened in. I haven't decided if the front or the back gets the screens and a patio off the back."

"That sounds really nice."

"Yeah, but it's gonna take forever to build it."

"You going to do it yourself?"

"Me and Billy and I don't know maybe Buddy, a couple of other people. That big lineman you've got coach, Tinker, he helped Luke and his dad out last year. But it's money more than anything."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that right away, if you want we can sit down later and talk about it and put together a plan for saving. And I'm pretty sure you could get at least a little discount at a couple of the lumber yards with the whole, 'Hey it's Riggs!' thing."

Eric frowned. "I don't know about that."

"Sugar you didn't have a problem when Jason Street did that exact thing a couple of years ago."

"Jason wasn't in the same situation that Tim is. I mean, yeah he'd probably get the discount, but I sure wouldn't march in there the first time and ask for it. You go in, order some material and whatnot at the regular price, spend some time talking to the folks there, I'd go along with you, even though I'm a lousy carpenter, I bet Buddy would go too, he can talk anyone out of anything. But like Tami said, that's a ways off."

"One last thing." Tami got up and went over to the bookcase by Eric's chair, took a folder off the shelf, came back and handed the folder to Tim as she sat down. "That is a catalog for Dylan Community College and an application for admission as well as some pamphlets about various activities. Did you take the SAT or ACT?

"SAT."

"What did you score?"

"I think a thousand, eleven hundred, something like that."

"Good for you. On the application it does ask about criminal history, I thought it would, more and more colleges have it on the application, and I went and talked with a counselor and one of the administrators about you. They said that there's a good chance they'd want to talk with you and have you explain what happened, I don't necessarily agree with that, but that's their policy for now. If you do have to have this talk Eric and I will be glad to go with you if you want and if you want to go by yourself I'd still like to sit and talk about the kinds of questions they'd probably ask. One good thing about the school is they have rolling admissions; they have classes starting every couple of weeks. How about you look that over and we'll talk in a few days."

"Yes ma'am. Thank you for getting this and for talking to the administrators. And thank you both for letting me stay at Casa de Taylor."

"You're welcome, Tim. Would you like a sandwich or something?"

"No, I'm okay; I think I'd like to take a shower and crash."