his arm a million times. She’d grabbed him for various reasons, usually to inflict injury, and he’d grabbed her back. He’d held her hand when she was a little kid and they’d gone trick-or-treating, and they’d clutched each other and screamed when they rode the Twister at the state fair. Touching had never been a big deal. Until now.
“Listen, Mac,” she said. “You pulled out my first tooth, remember?”
“Different case.”
“And you taught me to drive.” She grinned. “You also gave me my first drink of whisky.”
“You begged me for it, and then you threw up.”
“And you held my head. You see, at all those important moments in my life, you were there to guide me.”
“This is way different.”
“Not if you stop being a prude.”
“I’m not a—”
“What about Donny?”
“Donny Beauford?” He snorted. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why? What’s wrong with Donny?”
Mac couldn’t say exactly, except that when he thought of Donny in an intimate embrace with Tess, his skin began to crawl. He passed a hand over his face and gazed up through the leaves of the sycamore. Finally he glanced at her. “He wouldn’t…take care of you.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks grew pink, but she faced him bravely. “You mean sexually?”
“In any way.”
“Oh. Now, see, that’s exactly what I need to know. How about Stu?”
“Oh, God, he’s worse.”
“Buck?”
“Nope.”
“I know who. Jerry.”
“Definitely not! Jerry’s a dweeb. He’d probably—” Mac thought of some raunchy revelations he’d been privy to and decided to censor them. “Never mind. Not Jerry.”
“Okay, then you make a suggestion.”
He gazed at her as the silence filled with the sound of the river and the shuffling hooves of Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown. The horses were becoming restless in the growing heat. Moisture trickled down his back, but he didn’t think it was only the weather making him sweat. “I can’t think of anybody.” The truth was, he didn’t want to think of anybody.
“Maybe you just need some time. I caught you by surprise.”
“You certainly did that.”
“Tell you what. Let’s postpone the discussion. Maybe we could meet for dinner tonight.”
“It’s poker night.”
“You’re right. I can’t, either. I’m playing pinochle at Joan’s. Okay, then tomorrow night.”
He decided a delay was the best he could hope for. He couldn’t imagine what would occur to him to get him out of this mess in thirty-six hours, but maybe he’d stumble onto a miracle. “I’ll meet you at the Nugget Café.” He smiled. “It’s meat-loaf night.” Meat-loaf night at the Nugget was one of their shared treats.
“So it is. About six?”
“Yeah. Sounds good.” He glanced up at the sun. “It’s late. We’d better get back. I’ve got tons to do today.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
“Like what?”
“Research. I bought some books in Phoenix.”
Mac had a feeling he shouldn’t ask the question, but he did, anyway. “What sort of books?”
“On sexual techniques. When the time comes, I want to make sure I know as much as possible.”
He felt as if somebody had kicked him in the stomach. “This is your summer project?”
“As a matter of fact, it is.”
Mac groaned. It was even worse than he’d thought. When Tess settled on a summer project, a truckload of dynamite wouldn’t dislodge her from her chosen path. If he knew Tess, and he thought he did, she would not be a virgin by the end of the summer. He could help her or not, but she would persevere until she’d checked off everything on her list.
* * *
TESS REALIZED HOW lucky she was that she liked each of the women her brothers had chosen to marry, and they liked her. When the guys got together for poker every Wednesday night, the wives hired babysitters and met at one of the other brothers’ houses for pinochle. Tess was always invited. She’d miss the friendly, raucous evenings when she went to New York, but some sacrifices had to be made if she planned to live up to her own expectations.
Tonight the women were meeting at Rhino and Joan’s. Rhino, originally named Ryan but indelibly stamped with a macho nickname in high school, was Tess’s oldest brother and the acknowledged leader of the five siblings. He’d been the first to get married, buy a house and have kids.
From the moment Tess’s niece Sarah had arrived in the world, Tess had decided being an aunt was the coolest thing in the world, although she was a little tired of being a maiden aunt. She arrived at Joan’s early so she could see Sarah, who was now eight, and six-year-old Joe before Joan tucked them into bed.
After giving each of the kids the game she’d bought for them in Phoenix and joining in as Joan sang them silly good-night songs, she followed her dark-haired sister-in-law downstairs to the kitchen to help her get out chips and drinks for the party.
“Thanks for bringing them the game,” Joan said as she took glasses out of the cupboard. “They’re really going to miss you when you go to New York.”
“I’m going to miss them.” Tess emptied tortilla chips into a bowl and opened the refrigerator to search for the homemade salsa Joan always kept on hand.
“Oh, I don’t know. You’ll be living such an exciting life, I don’t know if you’ll miss anything from back here.”
“Sure I will. I love this place, and my family and friends.”
“Me, too.” Joan turned to look at her. “But I’d give anything to be in your shoes.”
“Really?” Tess gazed at her sister-in-law. With Joan’s Hispanic, family-oriented background and her obvious dedication to her home and children, she seemed to have found her dream. “I thought you were the original Earth Mother.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m very happy. But the challenge has gone. When we first got married, everything was new. Sex was new, and then having kids was new, and then buying this house and fixing it up was new. But now it’s all just a comfortable routine. And I want—” she paused to laugh “—more worlds to conquer, I guess.”
“I so understand. That’s the whole reason I’m going to New York. It’s my Mount Everest.” She hesitated, then decided to risk a suggestion. “Have you thought of going back to school?”
“I’ve already got the catalogs. I’m thinking—now don’t laugh—of becoming a marriage counselor.”
“No kidding! Joan, that would be wonderful. Obviously you know what goes into making a good marriage.”
Joan gave her a rueful glance. “I wouldn’t call me an expert. But I understand what happens when a couple gets to this point and sort of loses interest in each other.”
Tess’s jaw dropped. “You mean…”
“I mean things are getting really dull in the bedroom. I’ve been thinking of driving to Phoenix and getting some how-to books. I wouldn’t dare buy anything like that in Copperville or the whole town would think I’d become a nymphomaniac.”
“Amen