Tami couldn't stop smiling when Eric walked her home from the coffee shop that night. She felt strangely giddy, like a little kid who has woken up on Christmas morning to find a mountain of sparklingly treasures under the tree and is eager to unwrap each one to discover the surprises that lie inside.

Their breath made clouds in the air as they talked, but her bare right hand was toasty warm in his left hand, their fingers laced together as they strolled.

"I never did return those cowgirl boots," he said. "In case you still want them."

"I definitely want them," she said. "But I thought you didn't like me like me. That's what you said."

"I said that because I didn't want you to feel awkward around me. But I do like you."

"Yeah?" she asked, a smile tugging almost painfully at her lips.

He turned his head to look into her eyes. "Yeah," he half whispered. "I like you." He leaned down and kissed her, not like in the shop, but a short, soft, pleasant kiss that left her wanting more.

"Did Jack tell you that Kimberley told him that I told her that I liked you?" Tami asked.

He shook his head. "That was a confusing sentence."

She laughed. "I know."

"Jack didn't tell me anything about Kimberley saying anything, but he told me he thought you wanted more than friendship. I told him I wasn't sure about that. Then he said I ought to just throw down the gauntlet and find out."

"Throw down the gauntlet?"

Eric laughed. "That's what he said. So I figured if I kissed you, I'd find out if you wanted me or not. You know...would it turn out to be a quick and friendly peck, with you hardly responding, or..." He grinned.

Her eyes widened. "Did you plant that mistletoe there?" She certainly hadn't noticed it there before today.

"I thought it might give me plausible deniability if you turned out not to like the kiss. But...uh..." He laughed.

Tami giggled. Still holding his hand, she put her other hand on his arm and walked closer to him. Their feet almost touched on the pavement. "I was going to tell you I liked you on the walk home."

"Really?" Eric asked skeptically.

"I was!" After they'd walked in silence a few more steps, she said, "I know this is going to sound crazy old fashioned, but I'm going to have to ask my dad's permission to date you before I can actually agree to date you."

"If he said yes to Mo, I don't know why he'd say no to me. Though, from all our bar chats, he does know a lot about me. And not all of it is good."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Like small lies I've told my father over the years. Times I've broken the house rules. Things I've done with my teammates I'm not proud of."

Tami was desperately curious to know what those things were, but she refrained from asking.

"Nothing real serious," he clarified, "but…I wish I hadn't told him all that now."

"It's weird that I'm about to date a guy my dad knows more about than I do."

"He doesn't know more," Eric insisted. "He just knows different." He squeezed her hand. "You and I…we've talked a lot. I've already told you more than I've ever told any girl, including the one I dated for two whole years."

Tami rested her head on his shoulder. "When you take me out the first time," she told him, "you're going to have to come inside and talk to both of my parents for about thirty minutes first."

"I think I can handle talking to your dad. I've been there and done that, more than a few times. Your mom, on the other hand….after what you said about her, now she scares me a little bit."

Tami raised her head off his shoulder. "She's suspicious of any boy who wants to get within ten feet of her daughters. And after Mo…maybe doubly so." She smiled. "But I think she's got a soft spot for you, after the way you…you know. Looked out for her at the hospital."

He was quiet for a while, and she enjoyed walking with her hand in his. It felt right somehow, like her hand belonged there. But eventually, Tami spoke again. "What about your folks? Are they going to be okay with you dating me?"

"My mom just wants me to be happy," he said. "My dad, well…he has his qualifications, you know."

"Well, fortunately I'm on the honor roll. Does he have more requirements than that?"

"He has an entire list."

"Uh oh," she said. "Do I meet all the criteria?"

"I can't wait to break free of every one of his rules the second I set foot out that door in August. That's another reason I didn't want to take his money for college. I knew it wouldn't come without strings attached."

"You can't break free just yet, though. So, tell me, what are the qualifications necessary to earn the privilege of dating Eric Taylor?"

He smiled. She loved that smile – a little self-deprecating, a little amused. "She can't be more than a year older than me."

"Check."

"Or more than a year younger than me."

"Check."

"She has to be a Protestant," he said, "but not a fundamentalist. He doesn't like fundamentalists. They picketed one of his bars once. Mainline denominations only."

"Well, he goes to our church," she said, "so I guess we qualify."

"Her parents can't be divorced."

"Seriously?" Tami asked.

"Hey, that's a check."

"Your mother was divorced. And he married her."

"I made the mistake of pointing that bit of hypocrisy out to him once," Eric said. "It did not go well for me."

"So, what else is on the list?"

"She has to have at least one serious extra curricular to which she dedicates a minimum of ten hours a week of effort."

"Good Lord. Your father needs his own category in the DSM."

"In the what?" Eric asked.

"It's the manual my dad uses to diagnose people when he's doing psychological counseling."

Eric chuckled.

"Does volleyball count now that the season's over?" she asked.

"No, not now that the season's over," he answered. "But your job would count. You still working at the church office?"

"Well I guess I have to if I want to date you! But I would anyway. Anything else?"

"She can't be…you know…an Anita Nisbeth type."

"Check," she said, and then thought of Boone, and cringed a little.

"Triple check," Eric assured her. They were at the parsonage now. A light was aglow in her father's study and in the kitchen. He twirled her around to face him, her back to the door. Their bodies were close together now, but not quite touching. She breathed in his scent. Soap and…peppermint? She could tell he wanted to kiss her again, but he didn't. "So you'll ask your father tonight?" he said. "If you can date me?"

"You're eager."

He took both her hands now and looked her in the eyes. "Tami, I've been wanting you to be my girlfriend for a while now."

"How long?" she asked. "Since around Christmas time?" She thought of the boots, and some of the things he'd said when she'd suggested girlfriends for him.

"Longer. I don't know how long. At least since November."

"November?"

"I've never been able to talk to a girl the way I've talked to you. But…I knew you were Mo's. So I…" He shrugged. "I tried not to dwell on the fact that you were beautiful, and compassionate, and funny, and blunt."

"You say blunt like it's a good thing. My bluntness annoyed you."

"Yes and no. I think it's brave, you being able to just come out and say what you think like that. I could never do that."

"I thought you were seriously thinking about getting back together with your ex in November."

"I entertained the thought, yeah. I still had feelings for her, even when I was developing them for you. And I thought I couldn't have you then. When I say I tried not to dwell on you…I really tried not to dwell on you. But when I look back on it, I realize…it's been a long, slow fall."

"I think I've had feelings for you for a while too," she said. "Not that long, but…probably longer than I realized."

"Well, I'm glad you finally realized them." He leaned forward and kissed her. His lips were deliciously soft, and she didn't want the kiss to end, but the door opened, and he pulled back immediately.

The Reverend stood there, no longer in his sweats and t-shirt and beloved bathrobe, but in the "real people's clothes" Tami's mother insisted he wear for the duration of his recovery: navy blue slacks and a button-down shirt. "Hello, Eric," he said. "Any particular reason you're kissing my daughter in front of my house?"

Eric's eyes darted frantically to Tami's.

"Eric and I…we would like to date, Daddy."

"Like to?" the Reverend asked. "Seems you already are."

Tami opened her mouth, but her father interrupted her. "Eric," he said, "Come on in. Let me show you my library. It's a fine library. I have some books that may interest you."

Eric followed him inside. Tami trailed behind them, but her father blocked the door of his study once Eric walked in and said, "I think your mother needs you in the kitchen." He then shut the door right in her face.

[*]

It was almost twenty minutes before Eric emerged from her father's study and into the living room, where Tami and her mother were now sitting. Both stood. Eric's hair was sticking up a little in the front, like a cat that's just been spooked.

The strands of Michael Jackson penetrated the entry-floor ceiling, and Shelley could be heard singing louder than the music, "They're out to get you, better leave while you can. Don't want to be a boy, you want to be a man!" Eric's eyes turned up to the ceiling. "You want to stay alive, better do what you can. So beat it! Just beat it!"

Eric's eyes turned down again. "Good evening, Mrs. Hayes," he said.

The Reverend cleared his throat. "Eric would like to take our eldest daughter on a date Friday evening, Linda. What do you think of that?"

"I suppose the better question is what Tami thinks of that?" Tami's mother looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'd like to," she answered.

"Then I suppose I won't object." Mrs. Hayes smiled at Eric. "I don't know what we would have done without you in that hospital."

"I was glad to help, ma'am," Eric said. "So...I'll pick her up here at 5 then, if that's okay with you, ma'am?"

"And what do you intend to do with her?" Mrs. Hayes asked.

Tami flushed and look down at the carpet.

"Uh...maybe the barbecue joint and then a movie?" he glanced at Tami. She nodded.

"What movie?" Mrs. Hayes asked. "Tami is not permitted to see R-rated movies."

"Ghostbusters?" Eric asked nervously. "It's playing at the second-run." Rankin didn't have a first-run theater. People had to venture to Dillon for the new theater if they wanted to see movies that had been released within the last three months. "It's PG."

"And what's that about?" Mrs. Hayes asked.

"These guys who fight ghosts."

"Ghosts? It doesn't promote paganism, does it?"

"Uh, no, ma'am. It's a comedy. It's just supposed to be...funny."

"Hmmm..." Mrs. Hayes said.

"Linda," said the Reverend. "There's Samuel's ghost in the Bible. There's a ghost in Hamlet. There are ghosts in all of great English literature."

"But this movie doesn't sound like great English literature, Edward."

The Reverend laughed.

"Fine," Mrs. Hayes said. "You'll have her back by ten."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Would you like to stay for dinner, Eric?" Tami's mother asked.

"I thank you for the invitation, ma'am, but I think my mom's already cooked and is expecting me."

"Another time then."

Tami walked Eric to the door and stepped outside with him. "What on earth did my father say to you in his study?" she asked.

"That's between me and the Reverend," he said solemnly. "See you in school tomorrow." And then, instead of kissing her goodbye, he did his little nod-bow thing.

Tami went back inside and glowered at her father. "What did you say to him?"

"Only what was necessary, Tami," her father told her nonchalantly. "Only what was necessary."