In Sickness and in Death Read Online Free Page B

associates over?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we might need to invite some sales people or customers or somebody like that at some point in time. Especially when the business really takes off.”
    “That’s what I was thinking.” She turned around and continued to scrutinize the room with a critical eye. “This will never do,” she muttered.
    “What? What will never do?”
    “This furniture. Look at it! Look at that ancient dinette. Can’t you just imagine serving dinner to your important customers at a table like that?”
    “It looks okay to me.”
    “Okay? It’s horrible.” She whirled around toward the living room area. “And look how ratty that old couch is. I’d be ashamed to have anybody see it, let alone sit on it.”
    “Are you telling me that we need new furniture?”
    “I would think you could see it for yourself!”
    He sighed. He knew by now that whenever her voice took on that set tone there would be no talking her out of whatever she had made up her mind to do. “Okay. Maybe we can go shopping over the weekend.”
    Over the next few days, Brian spent much of his time thinking about the purchase of new furniture. I’m deep enough in debt right now , he argued to himself . What with the car payments and the increased rental on the condo. I certainly don’t need to go out and buy furniture. But each time one part of his mind demanded that he set his foot down, another part told him that he would never be able to stand up to Adrienne’s angry outburst and the weeks of pouting that would inevitably follow. On Saturday morning, Brian reluctantly followed Adrienne’s lead as they made the rounds of the various furniture showrooms. At each store they roamed between aisles of couches, chairs and end tables; then moved on through displays of dining tables, buffets and sideboards. Regardless of how much they searched and debated, Adrienne couldn’t find anything that she really liked.
    “Why don’t we just give it up?” Brian suggested as they left the latest store. “We can look again later.”
    Adrienne glared at him. “You agreed that we needed new furniture. There are lots of places we haven’t been to yet.”
    “But,” he protested, “I’ve got a lot of work I need to do.”
    “Is that all you ever think about?”
    He shrugged. “It’s just that I’ve got several contracts that have to be reviewed this weekend and I’d really like to watch the game this afternoon.”
    “You said we’d go shopping and we’re going to shop.” She hurried toward yet another showroom with Brian trailing reluctantly behind.
    He glanced apprehensively at the white marble façade with its gilt script, Fine Furniture Salon , and slowly followed Adrienne through the double glass doors. Instead of the groupings of sofas and chairs the previous stores had contained, this interior was a wide expanse of individual rooms; each accessorized and decorated in a particular style. Soft lighting enhanced the displays so that it was not at all hard to imagine visiting in an upper manager’s living room.
    With eyes shining, Adrienne wandered from room to room, brushing her fingertips across the polished walnut or gleaming mahogany and caressing the rich velvet or silky damask.
    “Oh, look at that china.” She said, pointing to a china cabinet in a dining room.
    “Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
    Brian, seeing years of mounting debt accumulate with each enthusiastic exclamation, dejectedly leaned against a buffet while Adrienne chatted vivaciously with a salesman. She turned to Brian with a brilliant smile. “Darling, we’ll want six dining chairs, won’t we?”
    It was hopeless. “Do we need that many?”
    “Oh, I think so.”
    Brian shrugged and waited patiently while, heads together, Adrienne and the salesman perused large books of fabric samples. With little input from Brian, the salesman began writing up the order. Adrienne came over to join him.
    “What do you think of this wine