“Well, some of the stories about him aren’t fit for female ears, but I guess everybody knows how much he hated curfews. See, the coach only needs a couple of hours sleep at night, and when he was playin’, he couldn’t stand the idea of being cooped up in his room at eleven o’clock. Said it wound him up too tight for the game. So what he mostly did was slide in his room for bed check and then sneak out afterward for some serious partying. The coaches found out about it, of course. They fined him, benched him; none of it did any good, because he’d still be out closing down the bars. Finally, he told them if they didn’t like it, they’d could either shoot him or trade him, but he wasn’t gonna change. The only bad game he had his entire first season was when they put a guard outside his room. The next day, he threw five interceptions. After that, the coaches stopped bothering him about it. ‘Course he settled down a little bit when he got older.”

“Not much, I’ll bet,” she muttered as their drinks arrived.

Bobby Tom lifted his frosty mug. “Here’s to whippin’ some Saber butt.”

“To butt whipping.” She touched her glass to his, then licked a small space in the salty rim and took a sip of her margarita.

“Miz Somerville—”

“Phoebe’s fine.” She took another sip. Later, she would regret the calories, but not now.

“I guess when it’s just the two of us first names are okay, but since you’re the owner and all, I won’t do it when we’re in public.”

“After those pictures in the newspaper, I don’t think I have to worry too much about maintaining respectability.”

“Weren’t they great! Even got my best side.” His grin faded. “You weren’t serious when you said you wouldn’t be on the sidelines tomorrow, were you?”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea. Not unless we can come up with a new good luck ritual.”

“Oh, no. We can’t do that. Even though we lost, I had one of the best games of my career against the Broncos last week. I’ve been playing football for a lot of years, and when something’s working for me, I stick with it. See, as soon as I start making changes, then I’m thinking about the change instead of how the zone is lined up and whether or not I can get open. You understand what I’m saying?”

“Bobby Tom, I’m really not crazy about having photos in all the Monday morning newspapers of the two of us kissing.”