Eric's family left at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning to visit his sister in Dallas. They weren't coming back until the 31st.

Tami was thrilled to get her car on Christmas, a used, four-door, silver 1979 Pontiac Sunbird, which her work at the church office had in part paid for. The rest, including the first two months of insurance, was a gift from her parents. She wished she could show it to Eric. Tami was surprised to discover how much she missed talking with him. Between their cafeteria lunches, their chats in the covered hallway of the church, and their walks home from the coffee shop, they'd been spending quite a bit of time together. Tami was therefore pleased when he called on December 29th to wish her a belated Merry Christmas. She'd never actually given him her phone number and assumed he got it from the church directory.

"How's the family time going?" she asked after she had swung herself up to sit on the kitchen counter nearest where the phone was located.

"Well, it started with my Dad frowning a lot when he found out that Kathleen is living with her fiancé."

"Yeah, well," Tami said, "my Dad would frown on that too."

"They're engaged."

"Yeah, but he'd still frown. He won't perform a marriage ceremony for two people who are shacking up."

"What?" Eric asked. "That doesn't sound like your dad. He's not at all judgmental."

"I think I know my own father, Eric. He wouldn't marry them unless they agreed to stop living together before the wedding."

"You're kidding."

"He's a minister," Tami said. "What do you expect?"

"Well, my dad insisted that he and my mom stay at a hotel because of it, but I'm in the guest bedroom at Kathleen and Ian's apartment. Which is nice, because I get a break from my dad."

"Did you tell him about your decision to go to TMU yet?"

"Yeah. I did it over Christmas dinner, you know, just for some holiday excitement. And because I knew he wouldn't go completely ballistic on me with Kathleen's fiancé sitting right there."

"Did he go partially ballistic?" Tami asked.

"He looked really angry. And then my mom put a hand on his wrist. And then he didn't say anything for about five minutes, when he said something like – 'I think you're making a big mistake. On a team like the Aggies, you can catch the eye of the NFL. TMU's team will never be taken seriously. Blah blah bah.' So I just, as calmly as I could, told him I didn't think I was going pro any way, and I re-emphasized my plan to become a coach."

"Then what did he say?"

"Nothing. He just ate in silence, and everyone else started talking again. And then later that night, before my folks left to go back to their hotel, he asked me out on the balcony."

"Uh oh. Did he rip into you?" Tami asked.

"Not exactly. He said he thinks I'd be throwing away my talent at TMU, and that I'm taking the easy route by trying to become a coach instead of a professional football player. But if I'm determined to do it, then he's not going to try to talk me out of it, and he'll support me in my new goal."

"Well that wasn't quite what you expected."

"No. But then he said – 'What's your fifteen year plan for working your way up to a head coaching position at a Division I college?' And I said I'd be grateful to be a head coach of a 5A high school by then."

Tami picked up an apple from a bowl of fruit on the counter and began twisting the stem. "And what did he say?"

"He said my generation is lazy and unambitious. Then he said – 'Son, I left home at fifteen with nothing but the shirt on my back, and in less than fifteen years I had produced two children and bought my first bar.'"

"Oh Good Lord."

"I didn't remind him that he didn't actually produce Kathleen. I didn't think that would be a good idea."

The stem snapped in Tami's hand. "No, I guess not." She set the apple down. "Do you feel better though? Now that that whole conversation is out of the way?"

"I do. Did you send in your application for TMU?"

"Yeah, but I looked into the average GPA for admissions…and I'm not getting in there."

"You don't know that," he insisted.

"I have a much better chance at UNT or UT-Dallas." She didn't want to talk about her college prospects. "What are you doing for New Year's Eve? You'll be back by then, right?"

"Yeah. Jack and Kimberly are going to Billy Mack's party. You want me to pick you up and take you?"

Given his phrasing, Tami assumed he was offering her a favor – a ride. It didn't even occur to her that he might be suggesting a date. "No. Mo's going to be there."

"You can't let him dictate your social life."

"Kimberley told me he's dating Sue Beth now. I don't want to see them together."

"Sue Beth?"

"Yeah. I guess she's better girlfriend material than Anita, though he's probably still screwing Anita on the side. I kind of feel sorry for Sue Beth, though. She's all right for a cheerleader."

"Well," Eric said, "she walked into that with her eyes open. Everyone knows he cheated on you."

"You don't have to tell me that." She sighed. "I don't get Sue Beth. Does she think she's special and it won't happen to her?"

"Maybe. Or maybe she doesn't care. Some girlfriends of guys on the team just choose to ignore it when their boyfriends cheat. Mo might even have expected you to ignore it if and when you found out."

"Then he didn't know me at all." The coils of the telephone cord giggled as she flicked it. "You wouldn't expect a girl to ignore it, would you?"

"I wouldn't cheat in the first place."

"How can you be a part of that culture and not adopt that culture?" she asked him.

"What culture?"

"Football culture. I mean…Mo used to be different. If he'd never been on the team, and instead stayed in the church choir, I wonder…I don't know. I just wonder."

"There's good and bad to it, Tami, just like with anything. I try to adopt the virtues and not the vices. And I'm not the only one who does. You have to be a part of the team. You have to spend a lot of time together on and off the field. But even within a team, a good part of the time, you can choose the company you keep."

"And you chose Jack."

"Yeah," Eric said, "and some other guys."

"And Mo chose that big oaf Tony."

"Yeah," Eric said. "And some other guys."

"How could I not see it?" she asked. "How could I not see how much he was changing?"

"Because you didn't want to see it. You're a good person, so you see the good in people."

"Or I'm just an idiot."

"Nah," he said softly. There were voices in the background, a guy and then a girl. She could hear the girl saying, Get off the phone. I'm paying for that call.

Tami was suddenly reminded that Dallas would be long-distance, and probably fifteen cents a minute at this hour. Given that minimum wage was $3.35 an hour, this would be one expensive call. "Do you have to go?"

"We're getting ready to meet my folks for dinner."

"Well, have a good time. And, Eric?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for calling. You're a good friend."

"A'ight."

Tami thought she heard irritation in his voice, but perhaps she was imagining it, because she didn't think he should be irritated to receive a compliment.

"Bye now," he said.

"Bye."

As Tami was sliding off the kitchen counter, Shelley walked in. "Who was that on the phone?" she asked.

"Eric Taylor," Tami answered as she opened the fridge and pulled out the orange juice.

"The loser who almost lost us State?"

Tami grabbed a glass down from the cupboard. "Eric is not a loser. And didn't you once say you thought he was totally hot?"

Shelley plucked an apple out of the fruit bowl and dusted it against her t-shirt. "Well, he is good-looking," Shelley admitted. "In an old school Cary Grant kind of way. If you like that sort of thing. Why, do you want him? Because if you do, I'll let you have him."

Tami laughed. "That's funny. You'll let me have him." She laughed again. She shook her head and sipped her orange juice.

"Hey, if I was interested in Eric Taylor, you wouldn't stand a chance," Shelley assured her. "But who wants to date the guy who almost lost us State?"

"Lots of girls, I'm sure," Tami said.

"You?" Shelley asked.

"I don't want to date anyone for a long time. I'm done with relationships for the rest of high school. I'm focusing on this prize." Tami waved a hand over herself. "And Eric and I are just friends. But, even so, you should really stick to boys your own age." She chuckled and left the kitchen, orange juice in hand, shaking her head.