Welcome to Temptation (37 page)

"Well, you're going to stay away from them from now on," Liz said.

"Mother." Phin waited until Liz met his eyes. "You tell me what to do one more time, and Dillie and I are moving down to the bookstore."

"Phineas—"

"Back off or lose us." Phin watched her bite her lip, and then she got up from the table and went upstairs.

Dillie sat next to him, frozen, her muffin clutched in her hand.

"You okay?" he said to her.

She nodded. "Are we going to move?"

"Probably not. Grandma knows when to quit."

Dillietook a deep breath. "Can Sophie come to my game today?"

"Yes," Phin said. "At least we can call her and ask." Dillie nodded and bit into her muffin, and Phin sat back.

"It will be exciting to have Sophie at my game," Dillie said around her muffin.

"You have no idea," Phin said.

~13~

The softball section of Temptation's tree-filled park had four neatly marked white diamonds, each with its own stand of seats, all filled with parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, and friends of the family. It was like four Christmases without the turkeys, unless you counted some of the coaches and the more obnoxious of the parents.

"Bat country," Sophie said. "In every sense of the word."

"Yep," Phin said. "Temptation athletics at its finest." Dillie nudged Sophie's arm. "Wish me luck, please." She looked so determined in her red-and-white uniform, her red ball cap tilted over her little pointed face, that Sophie resisted to the urge to say,
You are
cute as hell, kid
, and said, "You bet. Break a leg," instead.

"What?" Dillie said.

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"It's an expression," Phin said. "One never used in athletics. Go do good."

"Okay." Dillie stretched up and Phin bent down to kiss her. Then she stretched up to Sophie, and Sophie bent down, too. Dillie's cheek was satin-smooth where Sophie kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around Sophie's neck and pulled her close for a moment.

"Thank you for coming to my game," she whispered, and Sophie whispered back, "Thank you for inviting me."

When Dillie ran off to join her team, Sophie turned back to the bleachers and faced a sea of fascinated faces, most of which were curious, some of which were disapproving, and at least one of which –

Virginia Garvey's – was actively hostile. "Why is Virginia here?"

"Niece on the other team." Phin put his hand on the small of Sophie's back to steer her toward the bleachers, and Virginia flushed. Probably from the effort of trying to reach Liz by mental telepathy.

"So this is like dinner, only more so," Sophie said to Phin.

"This is dinner squared, cubed, and cloned."

"It's prom," Sophie said. "I finally made it."

Phin nodded. "They'll be talking about this ten years from now."

"They should get lives."

"They did," Phin said. "Ours. Go up to the top. We can see better up there." Since the top was only a dozen rows up from the bottom, it was a short trip. It was also hot as hell, and by the middle of the first inning, Sophie was drenched in sweat.

Phin sat beside her, intent on the game, oblivious to the heat.

"So Tuckers don't have sweat glands?" she said, as she watched Dillie come to bat. Dillie fanned the ball, and Phin winced and said under his breath, "Watch the ball, Dill," and a second later, the coach stood up and yelled, "Watch the ball, Dillie!"

"Uh, this doesn't really matter to you, does it?" Sophie said.

Dillie hit a single, and Phin said to himself, "Okay, that's not bad, not bad." Then, evidently realizing she'd been talking to him, he turned to her. "What?"

"Oh, jeez, you're one of those Sports Parents," Sophie said. "It's not just a game, it's a reflection of you and all of those in your bloodline who ever picked up a bat. It's—"

"We like to win," Phin said. "It's theAmerican Way."

"Right," Sophie said. "'We're ten and one.'"

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"What?"

"It's from a movie," Sophie said. "'We're Americans, we're ten and one.' The 'one' beingVietnam. Never mind."

He frowned at her. "Stop quoting. What do you have to be nervous about here?" Sophie looked around at the various curious and hostile faces, with Virginia glaring in their midst like a basilisk. "Let's just say I'm not feeling the love." She started to twist her fingers where her rings had been, and Phin put his hand over hers.

"You're okay." He folded one of her hands into his and moved it to his knee, and she sat there in the sun, holding hands with the mayor, while Temptation parenthood looked at them from the corners of their eyes and whispered.

It was probably a nice change from talking about the murder and the video premiere. The next batter grounded out, and Dillie went to play third base.

The pitcher wound up and threw the ball with her eyes closed and it sailed over the head of the batter and into the backboard.

"Oh, Christ," Phin said under his breath. When Sophie raised an eyebrow, he leaned closer and said,

"This kid can't pitch, but she has low self-esteem so her mother insists."

"You're kidding," Sophie said. "Why are we whimpering?" Phin pointed to a tense woman in navy shorts sitting two rows in front of them. "That's Mom. President of the PTA. Nobody to mess with."

The pitcher wound up again and threw the ball almost straight up in the air. "Concentrate, Brittany!" the woman two rows down yelled, and when Brittany got the ball back, she screwed up her face in intense concentration and flung it as hard as she could. It went west and hit Dillie smack on the temple.

"Ouch," Phin said under his breath.

Dillie picked herself up and rubbed her head, and her coach went out to see her. Dillie nodded, and then the coach motioned somebody in from off the bench, and Dillie came up into the stands.

"I'm really okay," she said to Phin, blinking tears from her eyes. "Coach just thought I should sit down for a minute."

"Let me see, honey." Phin looked in her eyes and held up two fingers. "How many fingers?"

"Two," Dillie said, focusing on his hand. "I can go back in." She sniffed once, and Sophie said, "Oh, take a break. Come here." She opened her arms and Dillie crawled into her lap and put her head on Sophie's shoulder.

"We could use some ice here, Dad," Sophie said to Phin, as she took Dillie's cap off. "If you can't get that, get a cold can of pop."

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"Actually she should probably go back—" Phin began, but Sophie met his eyes and he stopped.

"Ice," she said, "or there will be a scene."

"Okay," Phin said, and went.

"It kind of hurts," Dillie said.

"I can imagine." Sophie kissed Dill's forehead where the bruise was starting to come up. "Now you match your dad. He has one, too."

"So do you." Dillie looked up at her, as if she were gauging the moment, and then she said, "The whole family matches."

Sophie caught her breath.

"Don't we?" Dillie said, pressing closer, and Sophie thought, with more certainty than she'd ever dreamed possible,
This is what I want
.

"Yes," she said, and Dillie said, "Excellent," and cuddled closer. Phin came back with some ice in a plastic bag. "Let's see, Dill." Dillie straightened a little and then winced as Phin put the cold bag against her bump. "Just hold it there a minute and then you go back."

"I don't think so," Sophie said, holding Dillie close and watching the field. Brittany had just whirled one past the new third baseman, who was looking very uneasy.

"Back off," Phin said to Sophie. "This is my kid. She's a fighter. Right, Dill?" Dillie straightened and nodded. "I'm a Tucker, and Tuckers are brave. We don't quit."

"Yeah?" Sophie said. "Well, I'm a Dempsey and Dempseys are smart. We don't go back on the field until the coach pulls the pitcher who's trying to bag her limit on third basemen."

"I beg your pardon," Brittany 's mother said from two rows down.

"Sorry, Catherine," Phin said at the same time Sophie said, "Teach your kid to pitch before you force her out on the field." When Phin turned to give her the universal
Shut the fuck up look
, Sophie added,

"Well, I don't think maiming her fiends is helping Brittany 's self-esteem. Look at her." Down on the field, Brittany was sniffing back tears. That didn't stop her from pitching, of course, and with one mighty heave, she took out the new third baseman.

"I want to be a Dempsey," Dillie said.

"
What?
" Phin said, and Sophie said, "No, no, honey, you're a Tucker. You're just like your daddy. You need to defeat somebody on a regular basis or you'll start to twitch. Just wait until the coach disarms Brittany , and then you can go back."

Brittany 's mother stood up, sent them a meaningful look, and stalked down the bleachers.
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"Listen," Phin began, but out on the field, the coach was on her knees talking to Brittany, who was sobbing and nodding in what looked like relief.

"Yeah, sports are great for kids," Sophie said, and when the new pitcher came in, she said, "I don't know. This one looks wild, too."

Phin shook his head. "Tara Crumb. Her mother pitched the junior high to the semifinals and her father played high-school baseball with me."

"Yes, but do they work with her?"

"Nightly," Phin said. "This one can pitch. Will you let go of my kid?" Sophie opened her arms, and Dillie said, "Jeez, are we sure?"

"Oh, for crying out loud," Phin said, and Sophie said, "Yes. We have examined the family tree in detail, and they pass. You may go." She handed Dillie back her cap and added, "Put your cap on, though, it's hot out there."

Dillie nodded and started down the bleachers again.

"Clearly you do not understand athletics," Phin said.

"Clearly, I do," Sophie said. "Davy and Amy both played. And believe me, any pitcher who hit either of them lived to regret it. Dempseys get even."

"It's a game, not a war," Phin said, his eyes on his daughter as she went back on the field.

"Then why is your daughter wounded?" Sophie said, and then stopped. Down at the foot of the bleachers, Brittany 's mother was talking to Liz Tucker. While Sophie watched, Liz lifted her eyes to the top of the bleachers and stared, unblinking, at her son and the nightmare he'd brought to the game.

"Your mom's here," Sophie told Phin, who was still watching Dillie.

"I know."

"Boy, are you in trouble now."

He leaned back and let his arm fall along the rail behind her. "I've been in trouble since I met you. This is just more of the same." He squinted at the field asTarapitched a strike. "You're a pain in the ass, but you're worth it."

"Oh. That's good to know." Sophie tried not to look at Liz.

WhenTarapitched her second strike and Dillie pounded her fist into her glove on third, Phin said, quietly so his voice didn't travel, "Thanks for taking care of my kid."

"My pleasure," Sophie said.

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"But try to avoid my mother."

"Absolutely," Sophie said, keeping her eyes off Liz.

"And fuck my brains out later," Phin said, still staring at the field. Sophie turned to see if anyone had heard. Evidently not; they weren't coming for her with pitchforks.

"Are you trying to get me killed by a mob of softball moms?"

"They didn't hear," Phin said. "And it's your fault. You're sitting there driving me crazy." Sophie looked down at her damp blouse and reddening arms. "I'm soaked in sweat and cranky."

"Doesn't matter." Phin did look at her then, and the smile he sent her pretty much telegraphed to everybody everything he'd said before. "All you have to do is breathe, and I fall." Sophie felt herself flush. "Oh." She swallowed. "You're definitely getting lucky later." She turned away from him before she fell into his lap right there.

Out on the field,Tarastruck out the batter, and Dillie jumped up and down with joy. And down at the bottom of the bleachers, Liz stared up at Sophie, not joyful at all.

*

Phinpulled up in front of the farmhouse after the game and said, "I have to work until five and then Wes is coming by at seven. I'll be late coming out tonight."

"Or I could come buy a book between five and seven," Sophie said, and he met her eyes and she thought,
Oh, Lord, take me now
.

"I'd appreciate it," Phin said. "But you deserve more time than that so I'll see you at five, but I'll still come out when I get rid of Wes." Phin leaned to kiss her, stopping when she moved back and jerked her head a fraction of an inch toward the backseat and Dillie.

"I could look out the back window so you could kiss Sophie," Dillie said. Sophie smiled at Dillie. "Oh, honey, he wasn't going to—"

"Look out the back window, Dill," Phin said, and when Dillie turned around, he kissed Sophie hard. "I'll see you at five," he said in her ear, and kissed her again, and when they drove away, she thought,
But
that's six hours.

She jumped the gun and got there at four-thirty, wearing her pink dress, and Phin said, "What kept you?"

"I'll be upstairs," Sophie said. "'Take me to bed or lose me forever.'" She headed for the stairs and heard him come out from around the counter, and then she heard the CLOSED sign smack against the front window. "I can wait until five," she called back, and he hit the step behind her and said, "I can't."
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But upstairs, he got a bottle of wine from the refrigerator – "It's safe to drink," he told her. "I bought it out of town" – and when she had her glass, he flipped on the stereo, and Dusty started to sing "I Only Want to Be with You."

Sophie sat up on the bed, delighted. "Why,
Mr
. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?"

"Because that's so difficult? No. I've just developed a taste for Dusty. And you." She laughed up at him, and he looked at her for a long minute, and said, "My dad would have loved you."

"Oh," Sophie said.

"Scoot over," he said, and she did. He sat down and kicked off his shoes. "So how was your day?" he said, and leaned back on the pillows beside her.

Sophie cuddled up to him and sipped her wine. Good stuff. "My favorite part was when the coach threw Brittany 's mother out of the game."