But marriage, right now, to you or Tasha or whomever, would likely lead to disaster. I’m not ready to marry. Are you?”“No! I need to graduate fi...rst, obviously. Well, unless you want to transfer to Central Michigan!”“That’s impractical because of the tuition assistance I receive here; just as it’s impractical for you to go to an out-of-state school. The other option is complete celibacy. Are you signing up for that?”“I like making love with you!”“And therein lies the source of the difficulty we. Somewhere past the eggs but before the last cup of coffee I decided notto call Maria Margulis until late afternoon. It was a good meal, but awaste of thinking time. When I got back to my room the telephone by thebed was ringing, and it was the lady herself."Have you found out anything?" she asked without preliminaries. "Is hethere?" No and yes," I said. "Your husband checked in late last evening. He leftearly this morning, minutes before I got here, and I haven't located himyet. He hasn't. “Cully, he thanked you as well, honey, trust me. I swear to God. I asked him to pray with me and we did. We knelt by the couch and prayed long and hard. I called his name and Tommy answered. Promised the Lord he wouldn’t fall again.”I was trying to segue into the realm of, well, you know. I’d initiated a ten count, at nine Girl saved me the trouble.“Cully, do you want me to tell it in great detail, or should I just give you an overview?”We’d moved into the kitchen for a second cup of tea. This. No hint of a smile or anything appeared on his face. He put up his equipment and went to wash his hands. I stood there next to him washing mine, knowing he recognized me from the parking lot and the front door. He left the restroom and I followed. He made his way through the store and I thought to myself, “No chance of getting a taste of that,” so I went about my business, picking up the last minute things for the vacation. I finished shopping and went up to find a register with no line. .