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Show 320 "God, those are ugly," she said. "Richie and I are really going to have to wear those things when we do the temple thing?" "Theoretically," he said. She stood up and faced him while he unbuttoned her blouse and unhooked her bra. "What a thing to find when you take somebody's clothes off," she said. She raised her arms so he could slip her skirt over her head. He knelt to slide her underpants down and she put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself while she stepped out of them. "Now aren't those much nicer?" "Much nicer," he said as they lay down. "Don't try to humor me," she said. He could not help being distracted by doubts, at the same time he was aware she was going out of her way to make things right. He kept hearing sounds in the other rooms, and car doors kept slamming outside. She stroked him gently with the back of a fingernail. Something creaked inside the closet. She whispered something in his ear that he didn't quite catch, and then drew back, her hand over her mouth. She curled up into a ball, giggling, and then suddenly threw herself on top of him, forcing him onto his back. She kissed him rapidly down the length of his chest and stomach, pausing to bite him gently before continuing down one leg while he stared at the ceiling and listened to the crunch of feet on the unpaved road out front. She was all darting knees and elbows. She rolled onto her stomach and said, "Forget it. I changed my mind." He felt his face go numb as she turned toward him on her side and gently drew a small bony foot up between his legs. The bed extended behind him into a long, sloping hill scumbled with white marigolds. She was busy with the palms of both hands. The light over the hill turned a pale apricot and he watched a speck in the remote bowl of the sky making shallow looping circles. He smelled |