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“And I can’t wait,” he said, ducking his head to kiss her smackingly on the mouth. “Now be quiet.”
He seated them in the last row in the two seats next to the wall. Since the theater was only a fourth filled, their choice of seats was most conspicuous.
“Chad,” Leigh said under her breath. “Perhaps I’ve never told you I’m a bit nearsighted. I can’t see this far away.”
“Doesn’t matter. As soon as they dim the lights, I’m planning on getting in some serious kissing and heavy petting.”
“I want to see the movie,” Leigh warned teasingly.
“I’ve seen it. It’s not so hot.”
“You’ve seen it?” she asked in a stage whisper that caused their nearest neighbors to turn their heads in annoyance. She lowered her voice. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“Because I wanted to get in some”
“Serious kissing,” she finished for him.
“Don’t forget the heavy petting.”
“Well, I’m going to watch the movie. You can console yourself with your junk food.”
“Junk, schmunk, it’s dee-licious,” he countered, tossing a handful of popcorn into his mouth.
Leigh settled into her seat and stared at the screen that looked to her like an animated postage stamp at the end of a dark tunnel. She curtly refused Chad’s offer of some popcorn, a slurp of his Coke, or a handful of his candied almonds.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him finish each morsel and place his empty boxes neatly under his seat. He was right. The movie wasn’t very good, but she shot him a quelling look when he surreptitiously slid his arm along the back of her seat.
With a lazy finger, he lifted a strand of hair away from her ear. “Wanna neck?” he asked with an exaggerated Texas twang.
She wriggled away from him. “No! Now behave yourself.”
“Oh, okay,” he sighed. “For decency’s sake, we’d better leave the serious kissing for when we’re alone. What about nonserious kissing?”
“Nonserious kissing we can do.” She relented. He kissed her chastely on the cheek. “Now let’s watch the movie… What’s it about?”
He whispered the muddled plot into her ear until he caught up with the scene currently on the screen. They watched the rest of the movie, though neither was really interested. When the female lead sat up in a satin-sheeted bed and the sheet slipped to beguilingly expose one rosy breast, Chad whispered out of the corner of his mouth, “Not nearly as good as these.” His fingertips slid up to her left breast and caressed it seductively.
She slapped him playfully on the arm and said, “Unchivalrous creature!” They laughed softly at their private joke.
Returning to Chad’s house seething with sexual tension, they found the Jacksons being enchanted by a well-behaved Sarah. Lois had made herself at home in Chad’s kitchen and had a supper of cold sandwiches and canned soup waiting for them.
“Pass the salt, please.”
“Leigh, you eat too much salt,” Lois chided. “You acquired that habit when you were pregnant.”
“Too much salt is bad for a pregnant woman, isn’t it?” Chad asked.
“I thought you only specialized in delivery,” Leigh teased. “How would you know anything about pregnant women?”
For a moment his hands stilled and his expression became blank. Then he shrugged and replied, “Common knowledge.” He switched subjects quickly. “These sandwiches are delicious, Mrs. Jackson. Thank you.”
During the rest of the meal the conversation flowed around her, but Leigh couldn’t shake off an unaccountable uneasiness. Did it have anything to do with Chad’s strange expression when the topic of pregnancy came up?
The Jacksons left as soon as Lois and Leigh had cleared up the dishes. Chad’s arm was settled around her shoulders as they waved them off, but she felt there was an invisible barrier between them, a restraint that had never been there before. What had happened between the time they arrived home and now to cause a breach she couldn’t even understand?
He was as awkward as she as they closed the front door and Leigh began gathering up Sarah’s and her belongings to take home. She was stuffing articles into Sarah’s diaper bag when he sat down beside her on the sofa and took both her hands.
“Leave that for a minute. I want to talk to you before I take you home.”
