[Thursday, September 13]

Tami had to linger after her last class to haggle about a grade with one of her professors. When she got back to the apartment that evening, Eric was already home, writing at the kitchen table, his World War II textbook open, and the babysitter gone.

"Dinner's in the fridge," he said. "Some deli brought us all foot longs after evening practice today. Julie's already asleep."

"Can you keep her up just a few minutes next time?" Tami asked as she went and retrieved the sub. "Otherwise I only get to see her in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays." At work, she saw her all day, and wore her for at least two hours. Julie loved to sleep in the sling. The Dean of Admissions was dropping hints that maybe it was time for her to find full-time childcare, but the Assistant Dean stuck up for her.

Tami devoured her sub. She was so hungry. From 8:15 AM until now, she'd had a single Slim Fast bar. On the plus side, she was now just seven pounds from her pre-pregnancy weight.

"I got a 60 on my World War II test," Eric said.

"What? Why?"

"Because I didn't study for it. At all. I didn't have any time, with that Arizona game."

"If you don't pass, you don't play! Passing is 70 percent."

"I know," he said. "That's why I'm going to be up late tonight re-writing all these essays. He's letting me earn ten extra credit points if I answer these four questions in two pages each." Some professors would have just given him the 70, but not Dr. Daniels. "I'll get Julie at the midnight wake up, and then come to bed."

"I'll get her at the midnight wakeup," Tami said. "I want to see her. But I'm going to bed now."

"It's 7:15."

She shrugged and kissed him. "'Nite, sugar."

[Saturday, September 22, 1990]

At two and a half months old, Julie Taylor attended her first football game wearing a long-sleeve Baylor's Bears onesie. She spent most of the game in her grandfather's arms. The Bears were playing Sam Houston State on the home field in Waco. The score was tied at the half, and the sun was setting.

"I heard there's a fellow here from the Redskins today," Mr. Taylor said as the band geared up for half time. "Has his eye on a defensive back though."

"What would you ever do if your son got drafted to the Redskins?"

"Cheer for him every single time he wasn't playing the Cowboys," Mr. Taylor said.

Tami laughed. "So where is Mrs. Taylor today?"

"She's right here," he said, nodding to her.

"The other Mrs. Taylor."

"Karen's in Dallas, doing an admissions interview, for UT Southwestern Medical School. She'll nail it. She wants to start in the spring."

"It doesn't bother you to move?" Tami asked him.

"There's nothing tying me to Tyler anymore. My parents are dead. My sister is in Oklahoma. Eric is never coming back. I've wanted to expand my handyman business for a while. Might as well hang my shingle out in Dallas."

Eric's father seemed a little old school to her – the kind of man who pulled out chairs and took coats and ordered for his date. The kind of man who wouldn't want to be out-earned by his wife. "It doesn't bother you that she'll probably be making more money than you one day?" Tami regretted the question the moment it was out. It was a forward thing to ask it.

But Mr. Taylor only smiled. She couldn't quite interpret that smile. It seemed secretive and indulgent and amused and a little bit condescending all at once.

Julie stirred and cried.

Tami reached into the diaper bag and pulled out a bottle. Julie had not yet had her usual 7 PM feeding. No wonder she was hungry. "You want to give Julie her bottle?" she asked.

"Oh no," her father-in-law said, "that's women's work."

Tami stood, a bit frozen, uncertain if he was serious. He laughed and plucked the bottle from her hand.

Julie must have been a good luck charm, because the Bears won 13-9, with Eric scoring a rushing touchdown in the last quarter.

[Saturday, October 6, 1990]

Because she had to study for a test, Tami had opted not to drive to Lubbock for Eric's game against Texas Tech, which the Bears had won, but she was in the bleachers for the home game against Houston today, as was Julie and Mr. Taylor.

"Where is the other Mrs. Taylor?" Tami asked. She was starting to find it a bit odd that Karen was hardly ever at the games with him.

"Working. She works a lot of weekends, you know."

The Bears lost by a 16 point margin.

"You didn't dress Julie in that Baylor onesie," Mr. Taylor said. "I think it was good luck. You better do that next time."

[Saturday, October 13, 1990]

Waco played another home game, this time against SMU, and Tami did dress Julie in the Baylor Bears onesie.

"Mrs. Taylor working again?" she asked her father-in-law at half time.

"Yep."

"Are you two….all right?" Tami asked. She would truly hate for her father-in-law to finally marry a woman only to have the marriage end in divorce.

"Can I be honest with you, Tami?"

"Yes," she said, nervous to hear what he was about to say.

"Karen….well…she doesn't like football."

"Oh!" Tami gasped in surprise. "How does that work? Between you two?"

"The way it works is she pursues her interests, and I pursue mine. And when I'm watching football at home, she cuddles with me and reads a book."

Tami had never much liked football until she was dating Eric. She'd pretended to like it when she was dating Mo, but she hadn't, not really. Eric's enthusiasm was catching, though.

Mr. Taylor looked down at Julie, whom he had sitting in his lap, leaned against his chest. "She holds her head up really well. I thought they didn't do that for another month."

"Eric thinks she's a genius," Tami said.

"He's probably right. I mean, she does have my genes."

Tami smiled and asked him if he wanted some nachos, because she wanted a snack. "No, but get me a beer."

"I can't," she said. "I can in a few weeks, though." She was on the older side for a junior. Then again, so was Eric. He would also turn 21 this year, although in December.

"Ah, the big 21. Any birthday party plans?"

"I don't think so. It's a Saturday. Eric has a game in Houston. I might drive to see him play, but…it's hard. Six hours round trip, with the baby…and a paper due that Tuesday."

"Work, school, the baby, football," Mr. Taylor said. "I told you it's a lot to chew on. Something has to give."

"Well, what gives is the away games. And my birthday. We'll go out to dinner that Sunday. That's good enough."

She returned with nachos, just in time for the kick-off for the second half. Julie was resting on her grandfather's shoulder now, her cheek mushed against him, her lips puffed out and gurgling as she slept. She woke up when Mr. Taylor shouted as Eric scored a rushing touchdown.

"He's going to get a reputation for that!" Mr. Taylor said excitedly. "How many is that now since he's been on the Bears? And how rarely do quarterbacks score rushing touchdowns?"

Mr. Taylor no doubt meant them to be rhetorical questions, and fully expected Tami to know the answers, but she didn't. She just knew that Eric had done well.

Baylor massacred SMU 52 to 17.

"Do you really think it's Julie's onesie?" Tami asked Mr. Taylor.

"Well, I wouldn't rule it out."

[Saturday, October 20, 1990]

Tami made the drive to A&M for the Battle of the Brazos. It was less than a two hour drive one way, and the Bears and Aggies had a longstanding rivalry that had begun with a riot during Baylor's 1926 homecoming. Pranks had ensued ever since, each time the two teams faced off. Last night, some of the Bears had spray painted the statue of the A&M president green – Baylor colors. Tami could neither confirm nor deny whether or not Eric Taylor was one of the vandals, but he'd left with the team bus Friday afternoon.

Julie had slept on the car ride down, and she was now awake, decked out in her Baylor onesie, and fussing a little. Tami took her usual seat beside Mr. Taylor and promptly handed the baby over to him. She needed the break. Eric was an involved father, when he could be - when he was home, which wasn't often these days.

Sometimes Tami resented how much of the weight seemed to fall on her, and at other times she thought of it as investment in their future. If he made the NFL, Mr. Taylor was right, that would pay off for her too. And Julie. The girl could go to any private elementary and high school they wanted, any college…she would have the world at her feet.

Sometimes Tami fantasized about life as the wife of NFL player. The house they would have, the cars, the parties, the hot tub, the pool… And sometimes she feared what life would be like as the wife of an NFL player. The travel, the pressure, the prying media, and the increased sexual temptation Eric would have to combat as more and more women threw themselves at him.

Mr. Taylor bounced Julie gently in his arms until she settled into a coo.

Mo McArnold was on the field today for the Aggies, on and off. Eric fumbled once, and Mo mock saluted him when he did.

"I've never liked that McArnold kid," Mr. Taylor mumbled.

"You know him?" Tami asked.

"Don't you? He went to high school with y'all. He was on the team with Eric."

"Yeah…I…kind of dated him." She thought Mr. Taylor knew that, given that Mo and Eric had gotten in a fight over her, but perhaps Eric had never told him the reason for the fight.

"Kind of?" Mr. Taylor asked.

"I guess you could say he was my high school sweetheart, before Eric. We dated the summer before my junior year until about Christmas of my senior year."

"But then your taste in young men improved?"

Tami chuckled.

The game was intense and eventually ended in a rare tie, 20-20.

Mr. Taylor looked at Julie. "You know what I think happened here?" he said. "That button came unsnapped." He snapped it together. He shook a finger at the baby. "Keep your onesie on next time, my little princess."

[Saturday, October 27]

Mr. Taylor kept an eye on Julie's onesie to make sure it stayed snapped during the game against TCU. It was only an hour and half drive, so Tami had made the trek. Karen had joined her husband today. The Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences at TCU was her alma matter.

"I'm sorry that my boy is whipping your school," Mr. Taylor told her, "but it must needs be done."

Karen laughed and kissed him. "You raised a fine football player," she told him.

"But one of my many talents," he assured her.

"Oh, I'm aware of your many talents, darling." Karen winked at him.

Baylor won, 27 to 21.

"I told you," Mr. Taylor said to Tami. "Keep that onesie snapped tight."

[Saturday, November 10]

It might have been the onesie, or it might have been the fact that Julie was sleeping seven hours in a row at night now, or it might have been that Arkansas sucked, but Baylor won 34-3 in the home game at Floyd Casey Stadium. Eric made multiple touchdown passes.

"I hope someone was paying attention to him today," Mr. Taylor said. "Tami?"

She'd nodded off in her seat. She jerked her head up.

"You getting enough rest?" he asked her.

"I have a test on Tuesday. I was up late studying last night. I'm a little behind in the reading."

Mr. Taylor looked at her with concern. She wanted to tell him, Don't lecture me about biting off more than I can chew. She wanted to tell him, but she was nodding off to sleep again.