"I'm wearing a basque," I said poking my tongue out at him "so there. Did you get a good look then?" You bet I did." he laughed quietly "And if you gi...e the waiter a quick peek we can get away from here without leaving a tip." Luke!" I laughed in mock shock and sitting back in my chair "That's exactly what your father said the last time I wore this dress." I can't be wrong then." Luke laughed as the waiter came back to the table with our drinks.To be honest I was really enjoying the bawdy. How could she possibly be so critical of Barbara after what had happened last night?Barbara stayed only long enough to drink a cup of coffee and invite Arlene over to a party that evening. The last thing in the world Arlene felt like was attending a party - especially one of the typically raucous kind the Carters gave - but she politely accepted, figuring that she could put in a quick appearance and slip quietly home.She arrived at the party a little before nine. She wondered if she had dressed. After dinner they decided to sit in the front porch and try the smoking again. This time Mann used a taper and smiled with the first draw on the pipe. He sat in quiet contemplation for several moments and then looked up."I have done this before," he proclaimed, removing the pipe from his lips and smiling. "The feel is off, so either the pipe or tobacco was different, or perhaps both."He chose not to speak about his method of lighting the pipe in deference to Karith, but even that seemed. Apparently I wasn’t living up to her version of the American Dream and I was disappointing her. Sharise and I had married when I got her pregnant after we had been dating for several months. She was supposedly on the pill, but I guess they aren’t foolproof, so I was going to be a daddy. I was raised to accept my responsibilities and so I told Sharise we would be getting married. I’m not so sure she was all for the idea, but she went along with it when her parents put some pressure on. We were.