The dull throb of desire settled heavy in his groin, and he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away. "Don't dothis, Daisy."

She looked up at him. "Matt Flegel asked me out."

Shit. "Bug?"

"He never liked when you called him that."

"Are you going to go out with him?"

"Do you care?"

He looked right into her eyes and answered as if he didn't want to punch Flea in the face. "No. I don't care whatyou do."

"Then I'll probably go out with him." She turned on her heels and bid him goodnight over her shoulder as if shehadn't just tried to kiss him and get something going. He watched her disappear into the tent and he turned backto the fire.

She could do whatever she wanted, he told himself as he took a seat. So could he. He hadn't had sex since he'dhad it with her on the back of the Lancer. Maybe that was his problem. Maybe he needed to get laid to get herout of his head.

He waited until the coals burned to ash before he entered the tent. When his eyes adjusted to the darkness, hediscovered that Nathan had taken the sleeping bag on the far side, which left Daisy asleep in the middle. Whatshe thought of sleeping so close to Jack, he didn't know. She seemed okay with it because she was out.

Jack took off his boots and jacket and crawled into his sleeping bag. He put his hands behind his head andstared up at the ceiling of the tent. He could almost hear her breathing. Almost hear a soft hush of breath passher lips.

He turned his head and looked at her through the darkness. Her back was to him and her blond hair spilledacross her pillow. He'd made love to her. He'd made a child with her, but he'd never spent the night with her.

Never seen her sleep.

His last thoughts as he fell asleep were of her, wondering what she'd do if he hooked his arm around her waistand pulled her into his chest.

When he woke, the ceiling of the tent was awash in predawn light. He figured he'd gotten about five hours as hegrabbed his jean jacket, shoved his feet in his boots, and headed out of the tent. Early morning shadows clung tothe campground and the buttes surrounding the lake. He built a fire and put coffee on to percolate. The sun roseover the water as he poured his first cup. Nathan was the first to join him. His son's hair stuck straight up inback, and he wore a big blue sweat shirt, jeans and his sneakers. Nathan grabbed a bottle of juice and a bag ofChips Ahoy and the two of them walked to the shore.

"Today before we leave," Jack said as he blew into his coffee, "we'll go after some channel cats."

"My dad and I went deep-sea fishing once." Nathan ripped open the bag and held it toward Jack, offering him acookie. "Have you ever done that?"

"Thanks." Jack took one chocolate-chip cookie and bit into it. "I try to fish in the Gulf at least once a year. Nexttime I go, maybe you can come along."

"Tight." Nathan stuck the bag under one arm and polished off two cookies before he spoke again. "My dad and Iused talk about stuff."

Jack took a drink and looked out over the lake, at the morning sun lighting up the surface like glass. Hewondered if Daisy had told him that she had a hot date with flea. It wasn't his place to ask. "What kind ofstuff?"

"Stuff a guy can't talk to his mom about."

"Like?" he asked and ate his cookie.

"Girls."

Ah. "Do you have something on your mind?"

Nathan nodded and took a drink of his juice.

"Maybe I can help you out. I've known a girl or two."

He looked at his toes and his cheeks turned pink. "Girls are complicated. Boys aren't that complicated."

"That's true. Girls are contrary as hell. They tell you one thing and expect you to get the meaning to somethingelse."

He turned and looked up at Jack. "You said you and dad used to look at porn. So, what I want to know is..."

blinked a few times then asked, 'Where do you touch girls? I saw a diagram in health class, but it wasconfusing. Boys aren't confusing. Everything we have is just hanging out there."

Whoa. "We're not talking about a girl's emotions are we?"

He shook his head. "My friend stole his mom's book about sex. It sounds like you have to touch a girleverywhere at once."

Nathan looked so serious. And he'd come to Jack. Not Daisy. "Any girl in particular you're thinking abouttouching?"

"No. I'd just like to have it all figured out before my first time."

"You want to be an expert right out of the chute?" Jack thought Nathan was a little young to be worrying aboutsex. Then he thought back to the NBBC and he realized Nathan wasn't too young at all.

"Well, yeah. It's going to be scary enough the first time without worrying about sucking at it."

Jack rocked back on his heels and weighed his words. He really didn't want to screw this up. Warmth spreadthrough him and tightened his chest like a fist around his heart. Suddenly, for the first time in his life, he feltlike a dad. His son had come to him with questions about sex, just like countless other sons had gone to theirfathers. Just like he had. "The first thing you have to know is that any fool can have sex, but it takes a real manto make love. If you don't feel something for a girl, then you have no business unzipping your pants."

"Yeah."

"You have to wear a condom. Always. If you're not mature enough to protect yourself and the female, thenyou're not mature enough to have sex." As he spoke, he wondered if Nathan got the irony of this conversation.

He waited for him to point out that Jack hadn't always practiced what he was preaching, and he took a drink ofhis coffee as he figured out a good response. He'd obviously have to admit that he hadn't always beenresponsible, but that -"I know about safe sex," Nathan said, interrupting Jack's thoughts.

Jack swallowed. "That's good." He smiled at his son, vastly relieved that there would be no hard questions abouthis own sex life.

"What I want to know is..." stole a look back at the tent. "Where is the clitoris exactly?"

Jack's smile fell and he opened his mouth. No words came out so he closed it.

Nathan had no problem forming his words, though. "And what the heck is a G-spot?"

Chapter Seventeen

Driving wasn't as easy as Nathan thought it would be. On his second day of driver's education, he got to drive aSaturn. Not exactly his idea of a hot car, but the other class had to drive a station wagon. By the third week, he'dmastered the Saturn and figured he was ready to take his new dream car for a spin. Jack's Shelby Mustang. Jackdidn't know it yet, but Nathan wanted to drive that car. Bad.

After the first week, he'd made a few friends with some of the other boys in his class. They didn't ride horses orlisten to crap-ola music. Some of them did chew tobacco, though, which was cool with Nathan.

On the day of classes, his mom dropped him off in front of the high school. He usually walked to Jack'safterward because it was only a few blocks away. He'd been in Lovett for a month now, and he guessed it wasn'tas bad as he thought it was the first few days he'd been here. He liked working in Jack's garage. He likedshooting the bull with the other mechanics, he thought as he walked to the back of the school.

Jack had shown him the business side of running Parrish American Classics, and it looked pretty cool. Maybehe could come here and work next summer too; and when he graduated from high school, he could work withJack and Billy full-time.

That'd be tight, but his mom would have a fit. She wanted him to go to college like his dad. She talked about itas if he had no say in it at all. She was trying to run his life like he was a little kid.

Nathan picked up a rock from the blacktop and threw it at the basketball backboard like he had that day he'dfirst met Jack. The rock fell to the ground and he kicked it.

He didn't know what to call Jack anymore. Calling him Jack felt weird, but he couldn't call him dad. His dadwas Steven Monroe, but Jack was starting to feel like his dad too. They got along pretty good now. Sometimesafter work, they just hung out and talked about cars and stuff. He'd gone over to Billy's and met the rest of thefamily, too. Billy's little girls screamed and giggled a lot, and the middle one ran with her head down and youhad to watch out for her.

Jack usually invited his mom to come along, and it was kind of like they were a family, but not. SometimesNathan caught Jack looking at his mom like he loved her. Then he'd blink or look away or say something andNathan would think he was imagining things. If Jack was in love with his mom, Nathan really didn't know howhe felt about that. Maybe it was okay since Jack was his dad. Sort of.

Jack had only made him mad one time. Nathan had gotten angry at his mom on the Fourth of July, and he'dyelled at her because she wanted to know where he was going and what he was doing. Jack had given him areally hard look and said, "You don't talk to your mother like that. Now apologize."

He would have apologized anyway. His mom bugged him sometimes, but he loved her. He hated to see how sadit made her when he yelled. It made him feel like his chest was caving in, but he never realized he was doing ituntil it was too late.

Nathan started across the field to the opening in the fence. It was Saturday and he didn't have work. Maybe he'dgo take a nap for a while or play the XBOX that his mom had brought back with her when she'd gone to Seattle.

His footsteps slowed as he watched Brandy Jo move through the opening and walk toward him. She wore a reddress with tiny straps and big chunky flip-flops on her feet.

"Hi, Nathan. I haven't seen you in awhile. What are you up too?"

"Taking driver's ed." He stood up a little straighter, then slouched to put his hands in his pockets. Brandy Jo wasabout the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. Even wearing those big shoes, the top of her head barely reached his chin.