Read Online The Quaker Café by Brenda Bevan Remmes - Free Book Online Page A

in my entire life.”  There was a chuckle.
                  “Chase, this isn’t funny.”
                  “Actually,” he responded through muffled cracks in his voice, “it’s perhaps the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”
                  “Oh, this is just great. You’re laughing.”  She threw a UNC plastic cup that sat on the tub at the door.
                  The guffaws increased a level and now he couldn’t catch his breath. Liz snapped the door open and stood buck-naked shaking her finger in his face. Tears in his eyes, Chase doubled over. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him laughing so hard.
                  “You stop that right this minute,” she demanded, leaning down and retrieving the pink towel that was still on the floor. “This is NOT funny!”
                  Chase collapsed on the sofa holding his sides and rocked from side to side. “If you could have seen him, Liz!  Dad stood up straight, cleared his throat as if to say something, and then just turned and went for the door. He’ll never EVER watch Carolina or Ohio State again with the same expectations. He’ll keep waiting for you to make your bump and grind entrance from the sidelines.”
                  Liz let escape a long sorrowful moan. “How can I ever look him in the eye again?  What must he think?”
                  “He must think Mom has really been holding out on him all of these years.” Chase gasped and went into another contortion of laughter.
                  “OH,” Liz wailed. “Euphrasia!”  The thought that her mother-in-law would hear of this almost paralyzed her. “What if he tells your mom?”
                  “Are you kidding?  He won’t ever tell Mom. What would he say?  He just saw a great pair of boobs?”
                  Liz stood mortified.
    “I will say,” Chase said through tears, “it was a bit extreme, but I do think you’ve probably cured Dad of walking in unannounced.”
                  “Chase, listen. Stop it and listen!”
                  He wasn’t listening. “I’m sure it took his mind off the Judge, too,” he said.
                  “Chase,” Liz took a more controlled tone. “You have got to promise me you won’t ever tell anyone about this. No one!  Hear?  Not your sister, not a soul at the pharmacy. No one!  Understand?”
                  He wasn’t quite ready to let up. “Whatever possessed you?” he blurted out.
                  “We were alone. The kids were gone. I thought it would help us break the tension so I could sleep.”
                  “It did. It most certainly did.” Chase pulled Liz down on the sofa next to him and started to play with the top of the towel. Then with eyes that sparkled brighter than she had seen in months he rolled over on top of her. “I do love you, you know, very, very much.”
    “Chase, listen to me now. You must promise me or I won’t ever leave the house again . Promise me you will never tell anyone else about this. Promise me!”
                  “I promise,” he said softly.
    It wasn’t exactly the evening she had planned, but it was the one time in her life that Liz scored more points than Chapel Hill . The Tar Heels lost by seven.

Chapter Seven
     
     
    The following evening the crowd was much smaller as Liz weaved her way across the den. Billie refilled glasses from a bottle of Chardonnay in one hand and Pinot Noir in the other, and made small talk about the election with two of the county commissioners. A silk cerise ribbon which matched Billie’s slacks was pinned to her tea rose blouse and hung loosely in four strands down the left side of her bodice. Nestled into a pillow on the sofa, Webster would come alert momentarily for anyone who stopped to scratch his head. He wore a