Chapter 46

"How did he... ? Why did... ?"

They were almost the first five words Tami had spoken since the scene in the locker room. I treasured them.

"Did you say something?" I asked to tweak her. In the two hours since the game ended, she'd been absorbed in her own world and ignored me.

Our original plan had been to stay and watch the second game so that I could size up next week's competition. In fact, my plan involved staying at the motel another night, though the team was driving back after the second game. But after Tami had caught the game ball, I changed my mind.

We were zipping homeward down the freeway slightly faster than the law allowed. I'd packed for both of us while Tami stared at the ball. Robbie and Cody would ride home with her dad.

Tami looked up from the damn ball and at me. "How did he know?"

I grinned. No, I beamed. "Tami, you're a hero. You didn't think your best friend would spread it all over the locker room?"

"Robbie?"

I nodded.

"Not you?"

I nodded again. "I was in a dilemma. On the one hand, I knew you'd rather stay in the background. You were a journalist just reporting the facts. But on the other hand, I was so proud of you I wanted to shout it to the world. So, I played King Solomon. I kept my mouth shut but didn't encourage Robbie to follow my example."

"They all know?" she asked, still dazed.

"Every last one of them. By now, all their parents know too. Girl, by Monday everybody in school will know who the real hero of the semi-finals was."

"But I..."

"Don't kid yourself. Without you, our season would probably be over. Blakeman couldn't be as obvious as last week, not with all the cameras and a complaint already attached. But the Grizzlies were a tough team. A couple of penalties at the right time could have swung the game their way."

Tami looked back at the ball in her lap. "But Mike. Why would he... ?"

I shrugged, then pulled into the left lane to pass three tractor-trailers that seemed to be running in convoy. "Good question. I can give you three possible answers, but I don't know what the answer really is."

"What are the possibilities?" she asked as a large rain drop splashed in the center of my windshield. It was joined by friends. I flipped on the windshield wipers.

"In order of increasing probability, one, he broke his arm in the game and realized just how close he came to ending his career. The shock may have turned him into a human being.

"Two," I continued. "Last year Coach Branson and this year Coach Vickers have told him a lot that he's a great quarterback, but that his leadership skills need some work. This could be Mike working at being a leader."

I was quiet for a few seconds as I maneuvered around another pair of trucks on a road that had gone from dry to water-logged in a heartbeat. Ya gotta love Washington Rain.

"And the third possibility," Tami prompted.

"He thought it would look good in his biography."

"Think Cody got lucky?"

"Arrrggghhhhh!" I yelled.

Tami looked down at me quizzically.

"No, I don't think Cody got lucky," I said after a long silence. "And I really wouldn't care if Cody got lucky. And if by some miracle I cared, I wouldn't care right now."

"Touchy, aren't we?"

"Tami, my darling. We came home early and discovered that your mother had decided to go to Wenatchee for the weekend. We have the house to ourselves on a Saturday night. Just you and me..."

"And Big Tony," she added, raising then lowering herself on my pole.

"Just you and me," I repeated. "We are here in your room, making a connection. And..."

"We're connected all right," she said, moving up and down on Big Tony again.

"AND right now, Cody is not part of that connection."

"It was just a question." She leaned forward and kissed me.

"But you stopped what you were doing to ask it. And I kinda liked what you were doing." She had a kind of up and left then down and right rhythm going while I toyed with the top of her slit with my thumb. "Besides, talking about another guy while fucking is cheating."

Tami leaned back and cocked an eyebrow. "What if I'd wanted to talk about Robbie or Mikee or Kelly?"

"That's not cheating, that's stimulating."

Tami laughed. "Sez who?"

"A Guy's Manual for Relationships. Atypical Edition."

"Atypical?"

I grinned up at her. "I was afraid that if I said abnormal, you'd hit me. I have enough bruises already."

"You think our relationship is abnormal?"

I pulled her down against me and kissed her. "Tami, our relationship is many things." I kissed her again. "Eternal." I kissed her nose. "Passionate." I kissed her forehead. "But it is not now, nor has it ever been, normal."

Tami giggled. "You..." she kissed my forehead. "Got..." she kissed my nose. "That..." she kissed my lips just barely. "Right!"

I kissed her hard, then rolled over so that I was on top of her and finished what we'd started.

"So why don't you think that Cody got lucky?" she asked a few minutes later.

"Mostly cause Robbie told me he didn't," I said, lying on the bed and watching Tami get dressed.

"She did?"

"We were on the sidelines talking, and she made a joke about wanting to come see me after kicking Cody out about one in the morning. She said they'd been making out hot and heavy."

"Dinner's in five. You going like that?"

I looked down at my naked body. Big Tony was trying valiantly to take the stage again. "Mom knows we got home about two hours ago. Think she'd be surprised?"

"Tony, be nice," Tami admonished sharply.

"I am nice. I'm just not sure that Mom's suppressing the truth in her head is healthy." \ Tami grinned. "So Cody didn't get lucky. Think Peter did?"

"No!" I said firmly.

"I was talking to Kelly during the game, and she said..."

I stood and bowed. "Point taken," I said as graciously as could. "A little suppression can be a good thing."

I dressed, trying to convince myself yet again that my baby sister was, always had been, and always will be a virgin.

Evidence to the contrary not withstanding.

"That was great."

I leaned back in my chair and thought about loosening my belt. Hell, I thought about lying down on the floor and taking a nap. My plate was clean except for one last piece of meat that seemed to be staring at me.

"Daddy does the best prime rib," Robbie said from across the table.

"I always thought my dad did the best prime in the world, but right now, I'd have to call it a toss-up."

"I thought it was awesome," Tami said beside me.

"I did the yams," Darlene piped up. She was sitting at the foot of the table.

"That's okay. Cheerleaders are decorative. They're not supposed to be useful too."

A pea bounced off my cheek. I hadn't seen who threw it, though I had a good idea despite the look of innocence on Robbie's face. Or maybe because of it.

"I don't usually like sweet potatoes, but these were great," Tami said.

"I got the recipe from Good Eats."

"You watch Alton Brown?" I asked Darlene, surprised.

"You know who he is?" she asked, even more surprised.

I shrugged. "I was flipping channels one day and ran across his show. I got hooked." "A cooking show?" Tami and Robbie said together.

"It's more than a cooking show," I said in my defense. "Alton talks about the science of cooking. And uses strange props to illustrate his points."

"Remember when he got trapped under the giant popcorn kernel?" Darlene asked with a giggle.

"How about when he lost his memory and..." I looked around the table at the strange looks on Tami, Robbie, and her dad's faces. "I guess you had to be there."