Free All In The Game (Dearly Beloved) by Virginia Crane Page B

functions at school by yourself. Dammit, the night Adam graduated from high school Ralph was shacked up with his latest cupcake at the local Calusa Inn. He never had time to be part of the family but at least he wasn’t boring.”
    Amanda stepped out of the dress and put it back on the padded hanger. That last statement did her in. Rita could dis the late, unlamented Ralph all she wanted, mainly because whatever she said would be the truth. “Are you saying that Keith Manning is boring?”
    “Like a dish of vanilla pudding and it has me worried. You two have no zest.”
    “I happen to like vanilla pudding. You can do a lot with it...add shaved chocolate, a couple of drops of rum extract, or maybe some grated coconut—”
    “Jeesh, I make a simple comment and get a lesson in making desserts,” Rita huffed. “Let’s get out of here. I’m beginning feel claustrophobic.”
    Amanda slipped into the pants and shirt she’d worn to the shop. She’d heard a couple of women come to the dressing room area. They were probably too busy listening to her and Rita to get down to the business of trying on dresses. At this point did she really care?
    “I’m not leaving until this topic is settled. Look, if you’re trying to sow seeds of discontent this close to the wedding, forget it.”
    Rita simply shrugged. “Well take a look at your life since you met Mr. Perfect. You go out to dinner. You go to the movies. You go to the grocery store. You stay home and watch television on Saturday night.”
    Amanda gaped at her. “Why does that bother you, the woman with no social life?”
    “What do you mean ‘no social life’? I go out a lot.”
    “You work seven in the evening until seven in the morning at the hospital, then spend most of the day in bed. When you do venture out it’s for lunch with the girls. Why don’t you work the day shift?”
    “Because I make better money working the overnight hours. Add to that, I only work four days a week. That gives me three days off in a row, plus every other weekend off. Don’t try to change the subject. Back to you.”
    “Would you prefer Keith and I run around to the local watering holes? Before you answer, you know very well that was never my scene. We’re perfectly happy with the way things are going.”
    Because of her friend’s current attitude, Amanda was not about to hint at how some of those Saturday nights ended.
    “It doesn’t bother me,” Rita claimed, “but it should bother you. Keith is a widower, right? Any children?”
    “He has one daughter, Cheryl. Unfortunately, she can’t make the wedding, but I’ve already told you that. She and her husband and four kids live in Hawaii. We plan to visit them over the Christmas holidays. As for us, we’ve made a pact. Since this will be our last one—marriage that is—given our ages, we want the wedding to be one we will remember.”
    “Who sez?” Rita quipped.
    “Who sez what?”
    “There’s not a guarantee that this will be your last marriage. Age has nothing to do with getting married. I saw a piece on TV about a European woman who married for the fifth time and she was in her eighties. That gives you plenty of time.”
    Amanda shot Rita the hairy eyeball. “This time it’s for keeps.”
    The woman waved aside her friend’s comment. “That’s what you said when you married my cousin Ralph and said he was a real prince of a guy. How long did that last?”
    “It lasted twenty years so I think all things considered, it was a good run. As for the word prince, I hope you’re using that term loosely because he was a prince—in name only. To be perfectly honest, Ralph was a good guy in the beginning.”
    Rita sighed. “They all are.”
    Amanda draped the dress over her arm and pulled the louvered door to the dressing area aside. “I’m going to give this to the sales woman. Mrs. Silverman wants me to leave the dress here so her seamstress can make sure it’s in perfect condition. She promised to deliver it