Part 23 (1/2)

”That's no bloom,” Jay muttered. ”That's a whole f.u.c.king tropical rainforest.” He grabbed the remote control off the bar counter and turned the channel to a movie in which Arnold Schwarzenegger was pummeling a man b.l.o.o.d.y. ”There. Something less inflammatory.” Jay slid his empty bottle across the counter and gestured for another one. ”I don't know how you do it.”

”Do what?”

”Stick yourself smack in the middle of sin every day.”

”What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?”

”Jeez, you're surrounded by ... by sixteen-year-old pop princesses all day long.”

”Jessica Simpson is not enrolled at Wes...o...b..ook.”

Jay shrugged. ”You know what I mean. I know DAs who won't drive home their teenage baby-sitters. How can you look at them day in and day out and not ... notice?”

”Because I'm their teacher and that would make me as moral as a slug.” Jack grinned. ”You don't interview felons and suddenly decide to turn over a new leaf of crime, do you?”

Jay twisted the top off the bottle that the bartender set in front of him. ”No ... but sometimes I look at a drug dealer all decked out in Armani and before I can stop myself, I think: 'It's got to be a nice life, long as you don't get caught.' ”

Jack lifted the beer to his lips. ”Well,” he admitted, laughing, ”sometimes I think that, too.”

Dinner at the Marsh household was a stiff affair, with Catherine and her father sitting across from each other at a long, polished table and eating whatever she'd managed to cook for them. ”Pasta again?” Reverend Marsh asked, picking up the bowl and bringing it closer to heap on his plate.

”Sorry. We're out of meat and chicken.”

”The Lord turned water into wine. All I'm suggesting is a trip to the grocery store.”

Catherine reached for her gla.s.s of milk. ”I haven't had a chance, Daddy.”

”Ah, but that's where you're wrong. You've had the chance. You just chose to use that time for a different purpose.”

”You have no idea how amazing an opportunity it is for me to be able to play first string. I can't just throw that away.”

Ellidor twirled his fork in the spaghetti. ”Barbaric, if you ask me. All those half-dressed young girls being put through their paces by some drill sergeant.”

”Daddy, we're not half dressed. And Coach St. Bride isn't the Devil.”

The minister pinned his daughter with a stare. ”They are still not the sorts of girls you ought to be spending time with,” he said. He stood up, walked to the sideboard, and tossed a Glamour Glamour magazine onto the table. ”Which one of them gave you this s.m.u.t? It was right in your gym bag.” magazine onto the table. ”Which one of them gave you this s.m.u.t? It was right in your gym bag.”

”It's not s.m.u.t-”

Ellidor lifted the magazine and read from its cover. ” 'How to look like a siren for less than $25' 'Can you keep your man happy?' ” He glanced at Catherine. ” 'Ten s.e.x secrets to drive him wild.' ”

Catherine stared at her plate. ”Well, that one's worse than normal. It was last year's Valentine's issue. Cynthia gave it to me because there was this really cool haircut in it.”

”I brought you here to Wes...o...b..ook so that you'd be less tempted by the things that lead young women into trouble. Magazines like this are just the first step. From here, it's an easy slide to boys, to drugs, to drinking.” Ellidor sighed. ”Catherine, what would people think if they knew that the chaplain's daughter was a s.l.u.t?”

”I am not not a s.l.u.t,” she said, her voice pitched low. ”And if they saw me reading a s.l.u.t,” she said, her voice pitched low. ”And if they saw me reading Glamour, Glamour, they'd think I was like any other fifteen-year-old girl.” they'd think I was like any other fifteen-year-old girl.”

”That's the problem,” Ellidor said, touching his daughter's cheek. ”You're better than all of them.”

Catherine leaned into his palm. And thought, But what if I don't want to be? But what if I don't want to be?

”Well,” Jack said, looking up from his seat as Catherine emerged from the locker room. ”You look nice.”

It was an understatement. Dressed in a short black skirt and a tight sweater, she appeared nothing like the ragged sc.r.a.pper who'd run up and down the field under his explicit orders until he was certain she'd collapse if asked to take another step. He hadn't hadn't asked, for just that reason: If he'd wanted it, Catherine would have driven herself into the ground. asked, for just that reason: If he'd wanted it, Catherine would have driven herself into the ground.

Jack closed the salt-and-pepper composition book he used to record notes on the team's practice. ”Your dad taking you out to dinner?”

Catherine smiled wryly. ”On a weeknight? That's got to be a sin.”

Jack had wondered more and more often how a prig like the Right Reverend Ellidor Marsh had managed to create a girl as vibrant as Catherine. He knew Catherine's mother, a free spirit who didn't fit the mold of church wife, had walked out on the family when Catherine was still a toddler. Maybe that was where her personality came from.

”I am going out to dinner,” Catherine admitted shyly. ”But on a date.”

”Ah. Your father knows, of course.”

”Oh, absolutely.” Catherine glanced at Jack's book. ”You write about me in there?”

”You bet.”

”What do you write?”

”All my wicked little thoughts,” he joked. ”And a few decent plays we might try every now and then.”

The door opened, and Catherine's date entered. His eyes lit on Catherine as if she were a feast. ”You ready?”

”Yeah.” Catherine slipped her arms into her coat. ” 'Night, Coach.” At the door, the boy very properly put his hand on the small of her back.

”Catherine,” Jack said, ”can you come here for a moment?”

She came so close that he could smell the conditioner she'd used in the locker room, and the harsh pink soap from the showers. ”How well do you really know this guy?” Jack asked softly.

”I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself.” Catherine walked toward her date again. ”But Coach,” she added, ”thanks for wanting to do it for me.”

”For Christ's sake!” Jack bellowed.

For the sixth time that day, the ball had sailed right past Catherine Marsh. His intersquad scrimmage was going to h.e.l.l because his center couldn't keep her mind on the game.

Jack blew his whistle and strode angrily to the middle of the field. ”I'm sorry,” she said immediately.

”Sorry isn't going to do you a h.e.l.l of a lot of good when you get slammed in the head by a ball going twenty miles an hour! Or when we lose Districts because this team never gets itself together!” With every word she seemed to fold in on herself. ”Catherine,” he sighed. ”What's the matter?”

”Coach,” another player called. ”It's five-thirty. Can we go shower?”

He looked at his watch. Technically, it was 5:20. But this entire afternoon had been a waste of a practice, because whatever fog Catherine had contracted seemed to be catching. ”Go,” he barked. Catherine started to slink away, but he grabbed her upper arm. ”Not you.”

She took one look at him and started to cry. ”I need to get to Woodhaven.”

There was no public transit to Woodhaven, which was thirty miles away, and a cab ride's cost would seem astronomical to a fifteen-year-old without an income. But as far as Jack knew, there was nothing in particular in Woodhaven that merited a visit. ”What's there that you can't find in Loyal?”