a lickâordered catering brought in when she had a party, but the house smelled like sheâd done it all herself.â
âYou think Frank ships this dreck in from outside?â
âThis? Donât be silly.â
âMaybe we should drop in on the Reverend Blake Fisher and see if heâd oblige us by putting on a show wedding.â
âDo you think he would?â
âWho wouldâ¦Frank and the onion orâ¦?â
âFisher and the ceremony, of course.â
âI have no idea. My experience with any sort of clergy, and Blake Fisher in particular, is limited to solving a felony murder and a theft involving the contents of his safe. But, why wouldnât he? He likes you, Ruth. Didnât you almost offer him a faculty position? I bet he would if he thought you might start attending on Sundays.â
âBut I didnât and I wonât and he knows it. Maybe you should instead. You could sing in the choir, be an altar boy or something.â
âI donât think theyâre called altar boys in the Episcopal church and aside from being Jewish and not baptized, a status I assume to be a precondition for membership, I canât carry a tune in a basket.â
âIâve heard that choir. Youâd fit right in. Is there a reason we are planning this now? I mean weâve only been back a few days and the craziness we got ourselves into up in Maine has leaked into the grapevine. People are full of that, not what our plans are.â
âTwo reasons. Abe and Dolly want us out for Sunday dinner. That would be lunch anywhere else, but the traditional, big heart attack meal of the week is always served around noon on Sunday at Chez Schwartz. We have not been invited for our company. They will ask, they will probe, and they will have it out of us unless we have something else to discuss. Also, my people are pestering me. We need to stop the questions.â
âThen I guess we should meet with Fisher before Sunday so we will have something to report.â
âIâll call him and set up a time. Send me your âcanât make itâ times and Iâll see what we can do.â
âWhat about tonight?â Ruth said.
âTonight? Sorry, tonight what?â
âI am getting the stink eye from some of my more traditional faculty and one or two board members. They find the sight of the townâs top cop slouching in my house after dark for what they fantasize as unbridled sex unacceptable.â
âI donât slouch and they wouldnât if you hadnât refused to be bridled for so long.â
âYou know what I mean. And if I stay over at your poor excuse for an apartment, I have to sneak back home like a naughty school girl hoping her parents didnât notice sheâd been out all night with a boy. Can sex with a bride be considered anything but bridled?â
âGood question. Do horses have unbridled sex, do you suppose?â
âEnough already. What about it? Where do we go tonight?â
âI think tonight, I donât slouch and you donât sneak. We go our separate ways and live chastely, at least in public, until we get the Reverend Fisher to sanctify our union.â
âHow long can you manage celibacy?â
âTwo or three days ought to do it. Over the weekend we can go to the A-frame and shed our bridles to our heartsâ content.â
âYouâre sure about that, because I have that desk full of paperwork to tackle and having you off the premises would make it go more quickly.â
âYou have my assurance that I am fine with it. Maybe we could do a little heavy necking on the way to your house, though.â
âWhen was the last time you made it in the backseat of a car?â
âBefore your time.â
âYou mean you did? With who? Never mind, I donât want to know.â
âA lifetime ago and it was all about teenaged hormones, both hers and mine, that