Best Laid Plans by Elaine Raco Chase Read Free Book Online Page A

I was also gawky, skinny,
awkward and pimpled."
    Lucas had wiped an oil streak from
her smooth cheek and made appropriate clucking noises. "Now you are a
model."
    Amanda brightened considerably.
"You always say the perfect thing, Crosse. I envy your sisters." Her
eyelids closed, her lips formed a smirk that made him shift uneasily.
"Want to know a secret, Lucas?"
    "Oh-oh."
    "When I was twelve, I was taller
than all the boys and all the girls in my class. They picked on me and laughed
at me. I was very lonely, and moving from Army base to Army base didn't
help." Her voice had a little-girl sing-song quality. "I'd come home
from school, curl up securely on my bed and draw the ugliest clothes I could
think of for those tiny, doll-like girls to wear. I'd make believe they had no
choice but to buy the horrible designs I created, and then everyone would point
and laugh at them."
    "You were a brat."
    "It was therapy."
    "How about some Lucas Crosse
therapy? We can gorge on pepperoni pizza and see the Bogart Film
Festival."
    "Sounds infinitely better than
sour punch and dry cookies, and you are decidedly better than Randall
Henderson."
    Decidedly better than Randall
Henderson . Lucas
pushed aside the plate that held the remains of a mild, subtle red snapper. Why
was it, even twelve years later, he could still remember the name of Amanda's
first college crush? Maybe because there were so few names to recall.
    Amanda had been all work and no play,
at times morbidly self-conscious about her height and lack of suitors. He had
been there to massage her bruised ego, to make her laugh. "It's nice to
have you give the older male viewpoint, Crosse."
    She had been there to impart the
female point of view. She had never been impressed with his "big man on
campus" status, and he had been relieved. With Amanda, Lucas found he
never had to project a false image. He never thought of her as a coed. She was
a buddy. A neuter.
    Lucas' gaze became centered on the
woman behind the speaker's lectern. Amanda was no longer gawky or skinny. She
was the best friend he would ever have. Still a buddy, but definitely not a
neuter. She was strong, healthy, competent and self-assured. The ultimate
woman.
    Again the sudden richness of his
feelings began to rouse that subtle sexual tension he had experienced earlier.
Lucas relocated his emotions to Kitty. Her initial brashness had reminded him
of Amanda. Kitty was young, eager and positive but much more a social creature
than Amanda had ever been. Kitty focused on the superficial; she was not yet
mature enough to drop her social mask. Amanda had been knowledgeable enough to
realize how little flashy externals counted.
    While the audience was absorbed in
the slide presentation and speech by the director of the Cancer Society, Lucas
once again retreated to an inner world. He tried to recall how their lives had
become so entwined. Most of the seniors had gradually abandoned their freshman
buddies, but his friendship with Amanda had grown and solidified. He had met
her family during their first spring break.
    "What do you mean, you're not
going anywhere?" She'd frowned, stuffing another bathing suit into her
knapsack.
    "Just that. I'm tapped. Busted.
Broke. I ran into a few expenses that I hadn't planned on."
    "You mean you ran into Sandra
Perry, the campus barracuda." It was said with an I-told-you-so smugness
that made him blush. "Go back to your dorm and pack, Crosse. We'll cash in
my plane ticket and take the bus."
    "Are you serious?"
    "North Carolina is green in
March, Lucas, and bathed in sunshine." Amanda gestured toward her
frost-edged window. "New York still has snow, naked trees and gray
skies." She grinned at him. "Room and board are free. My dad will
love adopting you for two weeks. He'll teach you golf. All lawyers should play
golf. Do you know how many cases are settled on golf courses?"
    He had been uncomfortable about
meeting her parents. "How are you going to explain me?"
    Amanda stopped sketching and