“Sure. Most people can.”
“I mean, you know how it is. You get used to a certain way of doing things, and then it all becomes mechanical.”
“Absolutely.” Tess felt like an impostor, having this discussion with Joan, who assumed Tess had some experience. If she needed any further proof she was doing the right thing, here it was.
Joan came over and gave her a hug. “Thanks for listening and encouraging me. Even though you’re younger than I am, I always think of you as being more sophisticated, for some reason. Maybe it’s your college degree.”
Tess returned the hug. “Book learning isn’t everything.”
“No.” Joan stepped back and smiled at her. “The ideal thing would be to have both.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” And if Mac would help her, she would have both, at last.
* * *
THE POKER GAME was held at Tiny Tim’s, the youngest and the largest of the Blakely clan. Tim was a newlywed, proud to show off the new digs he shared with Suzie in an apartment complex near the edge of town.
Mac had spent the entire day worrying the subject of Tess’s virginity, and the hell of it was, he could see her point. Her small-town background might make her seem unsophisticated to native New Yorkers. And if the kids she was counseling found out she had no sexual experience, either, that might become a credibility issue. Then there was the other problem—the very good possibility that some city dude, some fast-talking greenhorn, would take her virginity. Mac really didn’t like thinking about that.
“Hey, Big Mac, are you in or not?” called Rhino from across the poker table.
Mac’s head came up with a snap. Then he realized the question had to do with the cards in his hand, not whether he would help Tess find a lover for the summer. She’d sure ruined him for poker night. One of the things he loved about these weekly games was the simplicity of them. But nothing was simple tonight. No question was innocent. Even the name of the game, five card stud, had overtones he’d never noticed before.
He tossed his hand facedown on the table. “I’m out.”
“Let’s see what you got, Rhino,” said Dozer, whose given name was Doug. Nobody called any of the brothers by their real names anymore. Doug and Hamilton, the two middle boys, had become Dozer and Hammer when they’d formed the heart of the offensive line for the Copperville High Miners.
The brothers were Mac’s closest buddies, not counting Tess. Their mother and his were best friends, so the kids had naturally grown up spending a lot of time together. In high school the Blakely boys had literally covered his ass when he quarterbacked the Miners. But he saw them with new eyes tonight as he evaluated how each of them might react if they learned about the conversation he’d had with Tess this morning, and the fact that he hadn’t turned her down flat.
“Read ’em and weep, Dozer,” Rhino said, laying out two queens and three sevens. At the tender age of thirty he was starting to lose his hair, and so he wore baseball caps a lot, even inside. Tonight’s was a black one from the Nugget Café.
Rhino didn’t miss much, which made him a damn good poker player. He’d likely be the first one to figure out if Mac had lined up some guy to initiate Tess, and he’d probably organize the retaliation against Mac and the poor unfortunate guy Mac had brought into the picture.
“Aw, hell,” muttered Dozer, a redhead with a temper to match. He acted first, thought about it later. He’d been known to deck a guy who so much as looked at Tess wrong. “You must be living right.”
“Nah,” said Tiny Tim, pushing back his chair. “He’s ornery as ever. Just lucky. Who needs a beer?” Tim didn’t have a mean bone in his huge body, and couldn’t even go hunting because of his tender heart. He’d do anything for anybody and never took offense—except when it came to somebody bothering his sister. Then all his tenderness evaporated. Mac had seen it happen.
“Hit me,” said Rhino with a tug on his cap. “And don’t be bringing out any of that light crap, either.”
“Yeah, he wants something to put hair on his head,” said Dozer.
“Funny,” said Rhino. “Real funny.”
“Don’t blame me for the light beer,” said Tim as he headed for the kitchen. “Suzie bought it. Said I needed to watch my waistline.”
“Yeah, Deena’s been giving me that old song and dance, too,” said Hammer, the third and smallest of the brothers, although at six-three he was no midget. He was Mac’s age and they’d been in many of the same classes in school. Logically he should have been Mac’s best friend in the family, but Hammer wasn’t a thinker, and Mac had always found more to talk about with Tess. Mac had often suspected Hammer was a little jealous of Mac’s special relationship with his sister. This new development could really set him off.
Hammer glanced at Mac. “You don’t know how good you’ve got it, with no woman to nag you to death about your diet.”
“That’s the truth,” added Dozer. “It’s getting so bad that if I haul out a bag of chips for Monday Night Football, Cindy tries to grab them away.”
“And you let her?” Rhino asked. “You wouldn’t catch that happening in my house. I lay down the law with Joan.”
Mac led the chorus of hooting laughter. “Are you kidding?” he said. “Joan’s got you wrapped around her little finger!”
Rhino grinned sheepishly.
“In fact,” Mac continued, “I’ve never seen guys crazier about marriage than you four. You could hardly wait to march down that aisle. Don’t give me this bull about nagging wives. You love every minute of it.” And he envied them, he realized. They’d all found happiness.
Rhino took the beer Tim handed him and popped the tab. “So when are you gonna round out this ugly bunch and make it five for five?” He watched Mac over the rim of the can as he took a drink.
Mac gave his standard answer. “When I find the right woman.”
“Hell, you’ve had a passel of right women.” Dozer brushed back a lock of red hair from his forehead. “Jenny was great. I dated Jenny, and there was nothing wrong with her.”
“So why did you end up with Cindy?” Mac asked.
“Cindy knows how to handle my temper. But you don’t have much of a temper, Mac. Jenny would’ve been fine for you.”
“Yeah, she would,” said Hammer. “Cute figure.”
“Obviously I should have taken a poll before I broke up with her.” Mac picked up his beer.
“And Babs,” Rhino said. “I liked Babs, too.”
Mac swallowed his beer. “Me, too. Just not enough to last forever.”
“Aw, you’re too picky, Mac,” said Tiny Tim. “That’s your problem. Nobody’s gonna be perfect.” He grinned. “Although Suzie’s close.” He ducked a shower of peanut shells.
“The newlywed nerd might have a point, though,” Rhino said. “Maybe you are too damn picky. What kind of standards are you using, if you eliminated two nice girls like Jenny and Babs?”
Mac shelled a peanut and tossed it in his mouth. Then he glanced around the table. “You know, I’m truly touched that you all are so worried about my marriage prospects. Maybe we should hold hands and pray about it. Maybe, if we concentrate real hard, I’ll see the light, and grab the next available female I run across.”
Rhino’s bushy eyebrows lifted and he glanced at Tiny Tim. “Seems to me this apartment complex has a pool.”
“Sure