Chapter 4

"You're kidding, right?"

I grinned and kept packing the back of Mom's mini-van.

Tami looked up and surveyed the dark grey sky. "It's not that I don't want to, it's just..."

I shoved in the last bundle and closed the rear door before it could fall back out. I grabbed Tami and pulled her into a tight embrace, pressing my mouth down against hers. "Tami, my love," I said a minute later, "do you want to stay home?"

"No. But..." she looked back up at the sky. "This is all a cover and you have us booked into a hot tub suite at a Holiday Inn," she whispered hopefully.

I kissed her on the nose, then turned her loose. "Oh ye of little faith."

"I have faith. It's just..." she looked up at the sky a third time, and a large drop of water splashed against her forehead.

I grinned, scooped her into my arms, and carried her to the open passenger door of the van. I placed her on the seat, then fastened a seat belt around her. I kissed her forehead where the raindrop had landed. "It's not even eight yet. Go to sleep, and everything will be better when you wake up."

Tami looked skeptical, but smiled. I closed her door and walked around to the other side. As I got in behind the wheel, I saw Tami's eyelids already starting to droop.

By the time I got onto I-90 heading east, Tami was gone. I took a CD off the dashboard and slid it into the player. A few seconds later the van filled with music. The first song was Precious and Few by a group named Climax. The song was from the mid-seventies, and I loved it as soon as I heard. Robbie had put together a CD of songs she thought I might want to steal. This was definitely one.

"Wake up."

Tami's eyelids fluttered as she struggled to open them. Finally one opened halfway. "Where are we?"

"Beautiful Spokane, Washington. Home of the 1974 World's Fair."

Both of Tami's eyes opened. "Why?"

"Why not. You have somewhere better to be?"

"I thought..."

"Dangerous habit. Gets you into trouble most of the time. You might also notice the sky."

Tami looked up through the windshield at the bright blue sky. "The rain... ?"

"Is about eighty miles that-a-way," I said looking smug and flipping my thumb over my shoulder.

"I hate you."

"Sad but true. You have three choices. You can sit there and hate me, go back to sleep, or help me surprise Kelly."

"Kelly?"

I pointed at the building in front of us. A large colorful sign proclaimed TRIUMPH GYMNASTICS.

"So this is all about your favorite munchkin," Tami accused.

"Nope. Today is about you and me. This is just a side trip 'cause Kelly is bummed."

"Why's she bummed?"

"First meet of the year, for the club anyway, and her parents went to see Kenny. And her favorite coach is off doing something with his girlfriend who hates him."

Tami shook her head as she unfastened her seat belt and stretched. "Is there any trouble you can't talk yourself out of?"

I grinned and unfastened my own belt. "So far, no."

We got out, and I took Tami's hand as we walked across the parking lot. At the door I paid the admissions rather than try to explain I was a coach showing up late.

I spotted our group on beam, and Tami and I stepped over the rope separating the spectators from the competition, skirted the floor mat, and headed there. Kelly was just finishing her routine. She was holding a handstand like she was an alabaster statue. Then she snapped both feet down and stretched backward into a handspring, landing on the end of the beam and exploding upward into a full-twisting somi off the beam.

She landed, a big smile on her face telling me that the first part of the routine had been as good as the ending. Her arms shot skyward as her chest puffed out. She held her pose for a second, dropped her arms, turned to the two grey-hared women who were judging her, and repeated it.

"If you'd point your toes on that handstand, that might almost be a decent routine," I said from behind her.

Kelly spun, her face darkening but then breaking into a grin as she spotted me. "Tony! You came." She evaporated from the landing mat and reappeared in my arms. I wondered if she could teach me that trick. Might come in handy for tackling stray halfbacks.

"Would I miss my favorite munchkin's first meet?" Unfortunately, I didn't notice Cheyenne standing to the side until the words were out. I wondered if they'd come back to haunt me. Cheyenne tossed her head, then started putting chalk on the balls of her feet.

"I thought you were doing something with Tami."

I grinned and with all the flair I could muster indicated Tami. "Kelly, meet Tami. And we are doing something. We're watching your first meet."

Kelly muttered something I didn't catch but that rhymed with mole, and I didn't think she was calling me a furry rodent that dug up lawns.

"Kellyyyyy, do I need to spank?"

"You wouldn't dare. I'm at a meet."

I grinned and cocked my head. "You've known me how long?"

Kelly's face turned red for a second. "Sorry." Then she brightened. "Did you see my routine? I hit everything!"

"Just the end of it. But I saw something else."

"But I did point my toes. I did!"

"Of course you did," Tami said consolingly. "He's just being mean."

I grinned. "I meant I saw that." I pointed to where the judges were sitting. They'd handed a piece of paper to a ponytailed girl about nine, who shared it with another ponytail who was putting numbers on a portable scoreboard.

Kelly whirled. "Nine four five! that's my best beam ever."

"You deserved it," Tami said hugging the girl. "I saw more of your routine than he did. He was too busy checking out those two girls on floor in the purple leotards."

"I was scoping out the competition," I defended myself.

"You, my love, were wondering what it would be like with twins," Tami said without malice then quickly kissed me to confirm her tone. Several of the girls 'ah'ed. I shot them all dirty looks, which led to giggling.

"You know me so well my little jackalope."

"Jackalope?"

"Still working on the pet name thing."

Tami grinned. "Keep working."

"I thought you were kidding."

It was almost four when I pulled into Potholes State Park. I pulled up in front of the office and stopped the van. "Would I kid about camping with the most beautiful girl in the state?"

Tami looked stern. "Tony, you have a warped and weird sense of humor. You'd kid about anything."

"Too true," I admitted. "But not about this." I got out and went inside to register.

"Are you aware it's January?" she asked as I got back in a couple minutes later.

"Let's see. Christmas, New Year's, school started. Yep, January."

"Did you know that most people, at least in this hemisphere, consider January winter?"

"One," I said as I put the van in gear and started driving. "Most people are not in love with this year's Bothwell Award winner." Tami beamed, though we both knew they hadn't even announced the finalists yet. "And two, my sleeping bag is rated to minus five, and all the weathermen in the state have promised, on their firstborns, that this weekend will be clear with a high in the mid-fifties and a low several degrees above freezing."

Tami thought for a minute while I found our camping site.

"Okay, just one question."

"Shoot."

"What are you going to do with all those children if they're wrong?"

I laughed. And she says I have a weird sense of humor. "Sweatshops. It works for the Chinese."

"We have one small problem," I said as I unloaded the van into the tent I'd set up.

"What's that?"

"Only one sleeping bag."

"Really?"

"I could be a gentleman and let you have it, but it is mine after all."

"I suppose we could share," Tami suggested as if she'd just thought of it.

"I was never much on sharing."

"Anthony Marion Sims!" It always amazed me how she could sound like she was stomping her foot and not have to move a muscle. "Tonight, I'm climbing into that nice rated-for-five-below sleeping bag. If you're very nice, you can join me. If not you can sleep on the ground, the ground that your weathermen buddies say won't get colder than freezing.

"Yes ma'am," I said after considering and discarding several snappy retorts.

"Oh god, Oh god! I'm almost..."

"So how far back do you think Robbie is?" I gasped.

Tami froze in mid-thrust. "What?

I grinned. "Come on, you can't tell me you didn't have an inconvenient question lurking in the back of your brain just waiting for this moment."

"I ... I hate you," Tami said, collapsing against my chest. Then she kissed my nose. "No I don't."

"Then finish what you started."

Tami grinned, sat up, and started thrusting her hips against me again.

Tami and I lay together, just enjoying each other's closeness.

"Ninety-five percent." Tami said as I stared into the bottomless pools of her eyes. "That scene yesterday really helped."

"She did seem to enjoy it," I agreed.

Yesterday in school, Cody had been putting his moves on Carly Peterson when Robbie and I walked up.

"Hi Cody. Hi Carly," Robbie said perkily. "So what category are you?"