Tami continued to share lunch with Jack and Eric, who asked after her father daily, but she didn't go to the coffee shop. She wanted to be home in case her father needed her, in case the surgery hadn't worked, in case he collapsed again. And maybe, also, she was afraid that is she spent too much time with Eric, her feelings would betray her, and he would guess how she felt about him. If he knew she had fallen for him, that could make their friendship awkward, and he might start avoiding her. A little less time with Eric now, she thought, would ensure continued time with Eric later.

But when Friday rolled around, she was going a little stir crazy in the house, and she didn't like the idea of not seeing Eric at all until church on Sunday. So at 5:30, she walked from the parsonage to the coffee shop.

Eric asked after her father at the counter. She gave him the current report, and he gave her some strawberry cheesecake. "Free sample," he said with a smile, though she insisted on paying for it. Why did he have to be so nice to her? If he didn't like her like her, he shouldn't be giving her free cheesecake. It just made her like him like him even more.

Tami settled into a corner table to read, but she spent a lot of time looking over her book rather than at it. The muscles of Eric's arms flexed when he lifted a large, recently delivered box to carry it to the backroom, and Tami tried not to let her eyes linger on them. Later, a college-age brunette Tami vaguely recognized from around town flirted with him over the counter while ordering, and Tami tried not to let it bother her. She couldn't tell if Eric was flirting back, or if he was just being nice, but he did talk to the girl for at least 165 seconds. Not that Tami was counting.

She was relieved when he gave the girl a to-go cup and she left the shop. The brunette didn't leave, however, without throwing a smile over her shoulder at him. Eric didn't seem to notice, and that, at least, gave Tami some relief.

Tami lowered her head to her book again and tried to read, but mostly she was just waiting for closing, for the quiet walk home, for her time with Eric.

[*]

They walked silently for the first few minutes. Tonight it had dropped to 36, which felt especially cold because, the previous night, it had been 59. Eric had on navy blue slacks and a white sweater, over which he wore his long black coat open. A knitted, red scarf was draped loosely around his neck, and he had his hands in his pockets because, unlike Tami, he hadn't brought gloves. She couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if he slipped one of his hands out and held hers. He'd held her hand at the hospital, but she hadn't felt it, not really, not the way she would feel it if he did it right now.

She had to stop thinking about such things. "Did your mom make that scarf for you?" she asked.

"Hey, don't knock it. She knows how to knit and how to make a great martini."

"I wasn't criticizing," Tami insisted. "I think it's sweet that you wear it. Does your mom work at the bar?"

"Only if someone calls in sick at the last minute. My dad doesn't like her having to work."

"Like…as a control thing?"

"Nah, not really," he said. "More of he'd be ashamed to appear as though he weren't providing for her thing. Plus, she gets hit on sometimes when she tends bar or waits tables. He really doesn't like that."

Tami chuckled. "Has he ever gotten in a barroom brawl?"

Eric snorted. "My dad? Hell no. That would be too messy. That and it might imply he wasn't 100 percent sure of his position. And he's always sure of his position."

"You mean, in the family?" Tami asked.

"I mean he takes my mother for granted."

"I think my parents used to do that. Take each other for granted. For a couple of years there. But then they got counseling…and now, they're better about that. I think the heart attack made my mom think about losing him too. And he knows now how much he needs her, even if she is sometimes a pain in the ass."

"What are you talking about? Your mom's a lovely lady."

Tami laughed. "You've never had to live with her. You've only seen her pastor's wife face at church. She can be really judgmental sometimes. And strict and demanding."

"You don't know strict and demanding," he told her.

"If I swear around her, it's like I just killed a baby. Well…except one time. And she told me if I fool around with a guy, I'm going to hell. She wouldn't let me go to any parties at all my freshman or sophomore year, not even harmless ones, and my dad just kind of let her make those decisions back then."

"So you snuck out?"

Tami wondered if he was thinking of Boone, and wished she'd never told him about that. "Yeah. I was stupid." She didn't want him thinking about Boone. "What were you talking to my dad about when he had the heart attack?"

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"The latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue."

She stopped walking.

He laughed. "I'm kidding you! We were talking about my plans while I'm in college. I'm going to try to figure out how I can volunteer to coach kids between the playing and studying. I don't think I can do it in the fall, so I'm going to coach youth spring flag football. That'll give me a little experience. But I also need some spending money, so…I've got figure out some way I can coach, get some paid work, and study."

"What do you need spending money for?" she asked. "All the hot dates you're going to have in college?" She didn't know why she asked it. She didn't know what she hoped he would say in response.

"I hear people don't date in college anymore. They just have lots and lots of random, casual sex for four years, and then after all that fooling around, later in life, when they aren't in college anymore, they somehow magically find their spouses."

"But that's not what you plan to do, is it?"

"I don't believe in magic," he said. "And I think I want to be married a few years before I have kids, enjoy my time alone with my wife, you know? But I also want to have kids early enough that I'm not too old to play ball with my son when he's a teenager."

Tami had never heard a teenage boy talk so blatantly about wanting a family before. Well, Jack had probably mentioned wanting six kids at some point, but Jack was an aberration. Mo had certainly never talked about his desire for family. Then again, maybe that was because they were dating, and Mo didn't want to appear as though he was in anyway suggesting he wanted to marry her anytime soon.

"So in college," Eric continued, "I'll probably, you know, take a girl out on a real date, and if that works, take her out on another one. And another. And if it doesn't work at some point…then I'll ask out a different girl." He shrugged. "Rinse and repeat, until I find the right one."

"How will you know when she's the right one?" Tami asked.

"Because I'll want her," he said, "and she'll actually want me back. And unlike Lisa, she'll want me even when I'm not right there." He'd come to a stop as they were now in front of the parsonage. "This is you. Tell your dad I said hello."

"You want to come in and talk to him?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Nah. We'll talk at the bar on Saturday. Your mom will let him out for that, at least, right? I mean, it'll have been two weeks."

"I suppose if she doesn't, he'll sneak out."

Eric smiled. "Well, tell him we've got that Pilsner he likes on draft now."

She watched Eric walk several feet back toward the coffee shop before she went inside.