eye contact with her mother lest she be drafted into buttering rolls or chopping sausages or something.
Outside, a dozen or so cousins were lined up. Dylan hunched over the ball, his ass up in the air. Robbie’s hands were snugged up so close under Dylan it looked like they were doing something really kinky.
“Hut. Hut hut,” Robbie called.
Dylan snapped the football into Robbie’s waiting hands. Boys on both sides of the ball ran around in a disorganized rabble. Dylan held off Earl, a fifteen year old cousin from Chicago, while Robbie lofted a pass into the far corner of the yard. It glanced off a branch and fell harmlessly short of its intended target.
“Nice throw, Detroit!” she yelled from the porch.
“Oh, that’s low, Robbie,” Earl said. “You gonna take that from her?’
“You think you can do better?” Robbie said to her. “Get on down here.”
Tightening her shoelaces, she grinned. “Of course.”
Robbie tossed her the ball as she crossed the yard. “Show us what you can do.”
“You go wide left and run a skinny post. Dylan, keep Earl off me. Pete, go about ten yards out on the right side, then slant to the left corner.”
Pete cocked an eyebrow. “Okay.”
“The rest of you can do whatever.” She turned to Dylan and whispered, “On five.”
He crouched over the ball again, and she slid her hands into position under him. Heat radiated from his crotch. His ass wiggled, rubbing her knuckles across his camo fatigues.
“Hut. Hut Hut.” She stared at Earl, daring him to cross the line early. “Hut. HUT!”
Dylan thrust the ball into her hands and jumped out at Earl. She took two steps back, caught Pete’s eye, faked a throw, then fired a pass right over Earl’s head and into Robbie’s outstretched hands. Robbie sprinted the last fifty feet to the end of the yard with two of the younger cousins hanging off him.
“Touchdown!” Robbie called from the end zone.
“Nice throw, hon,” her mother’s voice said from behind her.
“Hey, Mom. You want to play, too?”
“I don’t think Earl could take it if I embarrassed him. Listen, can you run to the store and get some ice?”
“Uh, I guess.”
“Hey, Robbie, go with your sister and get a couple bottles of pinot noir.”
Robbie trotted back over, tossed the football to Pete. “Right now?”
“Please? The food will be ready in about forty-five minutes.”
“Alright.”
Amanda went to the porch and took the twenty dollar bill her mother offered. Robbie followed her into the house. “Let me get my keys,” she said.
“Sure.”
Five minutes later they were in the car and on their way.
“So what’s up with you and Dylan?” Amanda asked.
“What do you mean?”
“How long have you been fucking him?”
“What? Are you insane?” He tried to sound shocked, but it came off as defensive.
“Are you? Can’t you get kicked out of the Corps if anyone finds out?”
“Why would you even say that?”
“Because I caught you. I saw it with my own eyes Sunday morning. And I heard it again last night.”
Robbie’s mask of indignation collapsed, his face scarlet, his eyes wide. “You can’t tell anyone. Don’t even it say it out loud.”
“Christ, Robbie, I’m not going to rat on you. I just want to know what you’re thinking.”
“I don’t know. The first time I was drunk. He just went down on me and the next thing I knew…”
“You weren’t drunk last night.”
“Well, the first time wasn’t Sunday, either. We’ve been hooking up for a few months, whenever we knew we’d have some privacy.”
“You really have to be more careful. Mom and Dad are going to catch on.”
“I know,” he whispered.
She pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, parked the car in front of the grocery entrance. “Are you actually gay or…”
“Not really. Dylan might be, but—”
“He’s not.”
“Huh?”
“Well, he might be, but he’s… uh… sampled from the other dish.”
Robbie shook his head. “You