Long Time Coming (5 page)

Chapter 5

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"
D
iet soda, please."

"Make that two."

At the sound of his voice, Marnie spun around. "What are you doing here?"

"Buying soda," he said with a careless smile. "And give us a bag of that popcorn too, please."

The man operating the concession stand got their drinks and the popcorn without ever really taking his eyes off Law. "Don't I know you?"

Law broke into a big smile. "You might."

The man studied his face as he counted back Law's change from a ten-dollar bill. Marnie had tried to pay for her own drink, but over the counter their hands had engaged in a silent slapping battle that she eventually lost.

"Oh, hell, yeah," the man said with a guffaw. "You work at Walmart, right? Sporting goods department?"

Law's smile faltered, but only marginally "Right. Which team are you rooting for?"

"The Tornadoes."

"You're my man. Thanks." Law then elbowed Marnie out of line and toward one of the concrete ramps leading into the high school stadium.

She held in her laughter as long as she could.

"Shut up," Law growled out of the side of his mouth. "That happens just often enough to keep me humble."

He didn't look humble. He gave every appearance of a man who had the world by the tail. He was wearing white shorts, a navy-blue polo shirt that fit his trim torso like a glove, a NASA dozer cap, and the aviator sunglasses that attracted attention rather than repelled it. Walking beside him, Marnie saw heads turn whether in recognition or plain admiration.

"Thank you for the drink."

"Don't mention it. Want some popcorn?"

"No thanks."

Since both his hands were occupied, he used his tongue to scoop a bite from the top of the box. "I got another letter," he said casually as he munched.

"You did?"

"Hmm. The same day I came to see you. Which way?"

"Down there where all the blue and black is." She nodded toward a section of the stadium where there was so much spectator enthusiasm going on, it looked like a wild animal feeding frenzy.

He moved aside so she could precede him down the steep concrete steps. "What did the letter say?" she asked over her shoulder.

"More of the same. We'll talk about it later. After the game."

"I thought since you didn't call or come by the next day that—"

"That you'd seen the last of me?"

"Yes," she replied with candor.

"Were you glad or sad about that?"

"I'm not sure."

Her feelings had been ambiguous when first one day then another passed without his making any further contact. On the one hand she had been vastly relieved. On the other she couldn't bear the thought of never seeing him again.

Then, too, there had been David's disappointment to contend with when his idol failed to follow up an initial meeting with a telephone call.

"How about here?" he asked, nudging her into a row of seats.

"Fine."

Marnie waved at David's teammates' parents, nearly all of whom had stopped cheering in order to stare curiously at Law and her. She'd never attended any school sporting event with a date before. There had been well-meaning attempts at matchmaking with the single soccer coach the spring before. Marnie had demured.

This season he'd had a girlfriend who cheered the team from the stands, so Marnie had been spared the embarrassment of contrivances designed to force them into each other's company.

She'd never confided to any of the matchmakers that the coach had called her on two separate occasions asking for a date. Both times she'd made such lame excuses that he'd apparently gotten discouraged and given up.

Now she felt as visible as a lightning bug in a Mason jar as Law lowered himself close beside her on the bleacher. They had the attention of everybody seated within ten rows of them.

"Heard anything about the telephone book commission?" Law asked.

"Not yet. I still have my fingers crossed." She held up her hand, the middle finger overlapping the index one. He caught it by the wrist and tipped up his sunglasses to examine it.

"How's the burn?"

"The skin never even blistered. The butter worked, I guess."

"Good." He held her hand for another second or two before letting it go. "You look like the team mascot," he commented as he tossed back a fistful of popcorn. "You should be down on the held leading cheers."

She was wearing black shorts and a blue and black striped jersey with "David's Mom"

embroidered over her left breast. "All the mothers dress in the team jersey."

"None of them look like you though."

She couldn't see his eyes through his glasses but she knew they were moving over her.

It made her uncomfortably warm. She turned her head toward the field. "There's David."

"What number is – oh, there he is."

David and his teammates were jogging toward the sidelines after undergoing a brisk pre-game warm-up on the field. When he spotted them sitting together in the stands, Marnie saw lights go on behind his blue eyes, even from that distance. His smile deepened and he waved enthusiastically. Law waved back and gave him the thumbs-up sign.

"His team is going to win," he remarked.

"How do you know?"

"The kid's a winner. It's written all over him."

By the end of the first half Marnie was afraid Law's prediction would prove wrong. The Tornadoes were behind one to nothing. It had been a frustrating half for both teams, each coming close to scoring many times, the attempts being thwarted by talented goalies. The mood in the stands had reached a hysterical pitch. Emotions were running high.

So when their bare thighs happened to brush against each other, Marnie jerked hers away from Law's. Each of the hairs on his leg seemed to conduct an electric current.

"Excuse me," she said breathlessly.

"Nothing to excuse." Subconsciously she was running her hand up and down her thigh where his had touched. Noting that, he added, "Relax. I don't have anything you can catch by casual contact."

She stopped rubbing her leg and frowned at him, perturbed. "Do you enjoy that?"

"What? Casual contact?"

"Placing women in awkward positions."

"Actually awkward positions have never been a big turn-on for me. I like to keep sex as uncomplicated as possible and concentrate on the basics."

Wanting to wipe away his twitching smile, she reverted to the serious subject that had brought them together. "What did it say? The letter."

The sun had sunk behind the other side of the stadium, causing a giant shadow to fall over the bleachers where they were sitting. Law had removed his sunglasses. She watched his amused eyes turn somber.

"More of the same."

"More threatening?" she asked, concerned for David's safety.

"Not exactly. I was reminded of the field day the media would have if David's story were leaked. Not that I needed to be reminded," he said beneath his breath.

"That would be no picnic for David either."

"I know that," he said defensively. "I'm not the selfish bastard you obviously take me for. Right now I have to think logically and pragmatically not emotionally. The only way we're going to catch this guy is to start reasoning like him. Okay?"

She nodded. He seemed momentarily mollified. "I make a big target to throw mud at.

Whoever is writing the letters is intelligent enough to realize that and use it as leverage.

He's no crackpot. This has been a well-thought-out plan to destroy my career."

"I can see how it might make life uncomfortable, but how could the disclosure of a youthful indiscretion destroy your career?"

"NASA has regained some of the credibility it lost after the
Challenger
accident."

"Thanks mainly to you."

He gave a self-effacing shrug. "But the administrators are still as jumpy as cats. They don't want anything to go wrong. They certainly don't want any scandal. And if a picture of the illegitimate son I've never acknowledged showed up on the covers of the tabloids, what do you think my chances would be for getting another mission?"

"And you want another?"

His expression implied that was the dumbest question he'd ever heard. "Damn right.

There are a limited number of missions with a limited number of crewmen for each one. I want to fly as many as I possibly can before I get too old or before a glitch shows up on a routine EKG or before some younger pilot retires me. Oh, yeah, I want to go again."

"You love it, don't you, Law?"

"It's right up there with prime rib, Ray Charles, and sex."

"I don't think I understood until now just how vulnerable you are. It never occurred to me that public exposure of this might affect your career."

"The center wouldn't fire me. But bad PR would make me dead meat around the astronaut office. I'd be training other guys to do what I'm dying to do myself." His lips narrowed. "Whoever is threatening me knows how important space exploration is to me."

"It's not me," she said earnestly, reflexively pressing her hand to her chest. "It would be much better for David, and for me, if things stayed exactly as they are. Knowing that you're his father would only complicate his life."

That sparked his temper. "Why?"

"Because you're you, that's why. What would you do with a teenage son?"

"Go to more soccer games."

"And fewer parties."

"I see you've been keeping up with me"

She fell silent. It wouldn't do for him to know that the first thing she looked for in every morning's newspaper was a mention of him in any context. As often as not a picture of him could be found in the society pages.

"There's the whistle," she said, drawing their attention back to the field.

The Tornadoes scored a point less than two minutes into the half, tying the score. But tension mounted as the minutes of the second half dwindled until only one remained on the clock. It seemed that the game would go into overtime. Everyone in the stadium was on his feet and hoarse from yelling encouragement to the players whose spirits and energy levels were beginning to flag.

"Here, stand up here where you can see better," Law told Marnie. His hands spanned her waist and lifted her to stand on the bench in front of them. "Better?"

"Much." For the first time since the game began, she had an unobstructed view of the field.

"Oh no!" Marnie, along with everyone else in the stands, groaned as a Tornadoes'

attempt at a goal missed by inches. "Get control of the ball David! Get it from … that's it,"

she hollered cupping her hands around her mouth. She jumped up and down, stamping on the bench. To secure her, Law placed his hands on either side of her waist.

"Careful there, don't fall." Then he cursed as an opposing player stole the ball from David, who had been skillfully maneuvering it toward the goal. "Get it back, David! Stay on him, stay—"

"Go, David, go!" Marnie screamed as David deftly stole the ball from right between the other players' feet without fouling him.

"Twenty seconds!" she shouted. "Fifteen, David! Help him out, guys! Block that kid!

Lord, he's been doing that to them all afternoon and they— That's a foul, ref!" she shouted, aiming an accusing finger. "Where are your glasses? Ten seconds. Oh, damn.

David, do something! Five sec—"

Her last words were drowned out by the roar that went up when David fired a shot past the goalie to score the winning point. Pandemonium broke out on the field, on the sidelines, in the stands. The fans went wild.

Cheering louder than any were Marnie and Law. Caught up in the madness of the moment, she whirled around and landed in his arms. Lifting her off her feet, he hugged her tightly and made crazy spirals between the bleachers.

"I can't believe it. I can't believe it," she chanted, laughing and crying all at once. She smiled down into Law's face. He smiled up into hers.

Then their smiles dissolved and left them looking at each other quizzically. Their eyes connected with a different emotion, but one just as potent as exultation.

Simultaneously they realized that one of his hands was supporting her derriere and the other was splayed over her back. Her arms were wound around his neck. Her knees had caught him at crotch level and her breasts were even with his mouth.

Gradually he lowered her, until their positions were reversed and she was gazing up at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes. She slowly removed her arms from around his neck, but her hands came to rest on the broad upper half of his chest.

The impact on her senses was so stunning that for several moments all she could do was stare up at him. He seemed just as surprised as she, but he recovered his equanimity first.

"Your kid's a hell of a shooter."

"Thank you," she replied huskily. Suddenly aware that she was still touching him, she dropped her hands to her sides. Law released her though she could still feel the warm imprint of his hand on her bottom.

"Want to join that melee?"

The clock had run out. On the field the players were engaged in a victory rite. Each had a canned drink, which he shook hard before opening, then aimed the spray at his fellow players.

"I wouldn't miss it," she said, and laughed.

Together they jogged down the stadium steps, climbed over the railing, and ran out on the field. David met them. Exuberantly he swept Marnie into a huge, sweaty embrace and swung her around, much as Law had done only moment earlier.

"You were wonderful, David, wonderful." She pounded him on the back and gave him a kiss that he was too excited to be embarrassed by.

"Nice going," Law said in understatement, giving David a sound wallop between the shoulder blades. Then the two of them shook hands.

"Thanks for coming, Colonel Kincaid."

"The guy who scores the winning point gets to call me Law."

David grinned, abashed. "Law, we're all going out for pizza. The whole team.

Everybody's invited. Can you come?"

"I'd love to."