[October 12]

The Bears lost the game against Rice at Baylor's home stadium in Waco, but by a narrow margin, and Eric played well. Afterward, Tami left Julie with a babysitter and joined Eric at a party. They danced together a few times before Eric was caught up in conversation by his teammates. Six guys, including Eric and Stumpy, ended up forming a circle, drinking, and dissecting the game. Eric nursed his beer, since he had promised to be the designated driver.

Tami wandered off, but not too far. She liked having Eric within her sights, in case she needed him. She chatted with some girls she knew from one of her psychology classes, and she was secretly pleased that several young men approached her and attempted to flirt with her during this time. It made her feel as though she were on more even footing with Eric in the attention-from-the-opposite-sex category. She hadn't felt that way since mid-pregnancy, and she had to admit she enjoyed seeing Eric riled by the attention that was paid her.

Every time he caught sight of a guy attempting to flirt with her, he frowned in her direction, but he didn't come over. He left it to her to fend them off, except once, when a freshman cornered her by the punch bowl and failed to take her hints. At that point, Eric strode over and slid a possessive arm around her waist. "The lady's not interested," he said, "Get lost."

"Dude," the freshman replied, "you don't have to be a hater!"

"I don't hate you. You just annoy me." Eric wiggled his fingers, the overhead light catching and flashing off his wedding ring. "Like a buzzing fly."

The freshman held his palm up toward Eric. "Talk to the hand," he said.

"What?" Eric asked.

The freshman walked away, or more like stumbled. He was pretty drunk.

"Talk to the hand?" Eric asked. "What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea, sugar. Maybe it's a new phrase the kids are using these days."

He laughed. "I do feel kind of old when I come to these things now. I guess becoming a dad aged me fast."

"You know, I felt bad that I don't have the time or energy to go to parties anymore…but now that I'm here…I think maybe I've outgrown this sort of party. I love to socialize. But I think I'd rather be hanging with just a few friends, drinking wine out of real glasses." She glanced into her red plastic cup. "And maybe playing cards."

"Listen, why don't we just leave, and I'll invite Stumpy and Gretchen over to our apartment?" Gretchen wasn't at the party. She hated parties. "I'll get up with Julie in the morning while you sleep in. We can go to the late service, or just skip church. I think Stumpy's getting bored anyway, since he can't sleep with any of the girls he's flirting with."

"You mean won't, not can't. "

"Whatever. You want to do that?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I think I do. That sounds like fun."

From the backseat of Tami's sedan, Stumpy called Gretchen on his cellular phone and told her to meet them at the apartment. When he hung up, he said, "When are you guys getting one of these things?"

"When they don't cost an arm and a leg," Eric said. "I can't believe either you or Gretchen spring for that."

"You know, almost everyone's going to have a cellular phone within ten years."

"I doubt that very much," Eric said.

"I bet even Julie's going to own one by the time she's fourteen."

"Like hell I'm letting my daughter have a phone," Eric told him, "that she can take anywhere."

[*]

Tami had a great time at the table in their breakfast nook, drinking wine, talking, laughing, and playing Hearts with her friends. Eric limited his drinking, since he'd be fielding Julie in the morning, and Gretchen was nursing a single glass all night as she would be driving Stumpy home. But Tami was flying high, and she was pretty sure Stumpy was too.

"You knoooooow," Tami told Gretchen, "you can have one drink per hour and still drive!"

"You can," Gretchen said. "I'm a very occasional drinker."

Stumpy laughed. "I think she's calling you a lush, Tami."

"I am not," Gretchen insisted.

"Well I'm getting tired of Hearts." Stumpy threw his hand down. "How's about some strip poker?"

"Woo-hooo!" Tami half yelled. That sounded like a lot of fun to her at the moment.

"No," Eric and Gretchen responded in unison.

"Why not, Sunshine?" Stumpy asked Gretchen. "We've all seen your tits anyway."

"Eric hasn't!" Gretchen insisted. "He wasn't with y'all when you came to Bazookas."

"It's so cute the way you say y'all," Stumpy told her, his dark eyes shinning with wine. "I just don't expect you to sound like a Texan. You don't look like a Texan."

"And what does a Texan look like, Giovani?"

"Oooooh!" Tami said. "She used your real name. You're in trouble!"

"Wait," Stumpy said. "Tami, you've seen Gretchen's tits?"

"We lived together," Tami told him. "It was bound to happen!" She laughed.

Stumpy echoed her laugh. "Yeah," he said. "Bound to. Especially during all those naked pillow fights you two had." He refilled Tami's wine glass and his own. "God what I wouldn't pay to see that."

"Wouldn't pay?" Tami asked as she lifted her glass and sipped. Was she slurring her words? She didn't think so, but it did seem as if her words were coming out a little, well, longer than usual. "Why, what wouldn't you pay?"

"My first born son," Stumpy said. "That's about the only thing I can think I wouldn't pay." He raised his wine glass to Eric and grinned. "Don't tell me you haven't thought about it." He waved his glass back and forth between Tami and Gretchen. "These two? Am I right?"

"No. You're mistaken," Eric told him. He looked quite irritated to Tami. He had that little, tight line in his jaw.

"Why the hell not?" Stumpy slapped the table. "You saying my girlfriend's not hot?" He pushed his chair back and stood, as if he was ready to fight. Tami thought it was hilarious, and she burst out laughing. "You think Gretchen's not attractive?" Stumpy shouted.

"Shhhh! Julie's sleeping!" Eric admonished him. "Gretchen's very attractive, a'ight? I just don't want to share Tami with anyone, not even another woman. Now sit down. You'll wake Julie."

"Let's do it!" Tami said.

"Do what?" Eric asked her. Wow did he look peeved. Of course, he was kind of cute when he was peeved. That cute, little, straight-line frown he had…The way his eyes got a little darker… The way his hair seemed to stick up just a bit, all by itself, as if to emphasize how peeved he was.

"You're adorable, sugar," Tami said, and leaned over and kissed his ear. She nibbled on it for a second, as Eric tried to squirm away, before she remembered what she'd been talking about. She sat straight again. "Strip poker!" she exclaimed. "C'mon, Eric, I want to play."

"No," he said.

"Eric, man, you got to compromise for your woman sometimes," Stumpy told him. "Accommodate her. She wants to play a little strip poker, you got to let her play a little strip poker."

"You want a fight, Stumpy? Keep trying to see my wife naked, and I'll give you a fight."

"Don't be mean to Stumpy," Tami told Eric. "He's very helpful. Helpful is his middle name!"

Gretchen stood, shook her head, and picked up her purse from the corner of the breakfast nook. "Giovanni, I'm taking you home."

"Whose home?" he asked with a grin.

"I'm dropping you at your dorm."

"Awwwww!" Tami said. "But we were having so much fun. Gretchen, Gretchen, Gretchen. Party pooping Gretchen."

Eric and Gretchen looked at each other and exchanged some sort of secret understanding with their eyes. Eric stood and opened the front door. "Y'all have a good night's sleep," he said.

Gretchen ushered Stumpy out, pushing against his back and saying, "Move it, big boy."

Tami frowned when Eric closed the door and walked the few steps back to the breakfast nook. "Why did you make them go home, sugar?"

"You'll thank me in the morning."

She smiled. "I had a really good time."

He smiled back. "I'm glad you did, babe. We'll do it again sometime, but maybe with a little less wine next time. Now let's get you some water and then get you to bed."