The Coach House by Florence Osmund Read Free Book Online

home they talked about the first Cubs game they had seen together a year earlier. It was Game 4 of the World Series and Marie’s first baseball game ever, the Cubs versus the Detroit Tigers.
    “Remember the goat?” he asked her.
    “I remember asking you if that was the team’s mascot?” she mused. “But then it became obvious it wasn’t when it sat in one of the box seats in front of us. I’m still not sure I understand what that was all about, though.”
    “The man with the goat owned a tavern near the stadium, and he decided to bring it to the game. You saw the sign on the goat. Right?”
    “Yes, but I don’t remember what it said.”
    “It said, ‘We got Detroit’s goat.’He paraded it around the field as a joke I guess, until they were ushered off the field. Then they sat in those two box seats, but when it started to rain, the other fans complained about the smell, and they were asked to leave. So the owner of the goat got mad at being rejected and supposedly placed a curse on the Cubs that they would never win another pennant or play in a World Series at Wrigley Field again.”
    “Do you think they’re really cursed?”
    “Time will tell, dear. Time will tell.”
    When they got home from the Dodgers game, Richard cooked his favorite baked chicken dish for dinner. For dessert they had peach slices drenched in port wine. “Do you remember where we first had peaches like this?” he asked her.
    “I sure do. Corrie’s. Our second date.” Her mind drifted back to that afternoon. He had arrived at her apartment with a single yellow chrysanthemum in his hand, the first of many he would steal from someone else’s yard and present to her. They saw Arsenic and Old Lace and ate seafood at Corrie’s that evening.
    “You know what my favorite line in the movie was?” he had asked her. “It was when Cary Grant said, ‘Insanity runs in my family…it practically gallops.’I LOVE that line.”
    Marie grinned as she recalled the date.
    “And do you remember who suggested Corrie’s?” he teased.
    She smiled an embarrassing smile. “I did.” She had suggested Corrie’s but had never been there before. When she saw her menu didn’t have any prices on it, she knew it was going to be expensive. It was also at that dinner when Marie got a glimpse of Richard’s work ethic. She had asked him about his sales territory.
    “Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, and Michigan,” he told her.
    “Not Illinois?”
    “No, the owner’s son gets Illinois,” he said with a mocking smile. “And it just kills me. The kid barely has a heartbeat, and he’s got the best state in the Midwest.” Marie watched his face constrict. “So many missed opportunities. Well, there wouldn’t be any missed opportunities if I had this state. But…there’s not much I can do about Daddy’s boy,” he whined.
    “So why do you live in Illinois?”
    “Because some day I will have it, and it’s centrally located in my territory. You want to do as little traveling and as much selling as possible. The more sales, the more commissions.”
    “So you don’t get paid unless you sell something? You don’t get any salary?”
    “If I were to take a base salary, like most of the other salesmen, I would get a lower commission. I prefer no base salary and the highest commission possible.”
    “You must be good.”
    “I’m number one in the company, but I hate to brag.”
    “I’m impressed! What’s your edge?”
    “My edge?”
    “Why are you number one?”
    He paused before meeting her gaze. “Because I minimize the risk and maximize the rewards.”
    “That’s it?”
    He thought for a few more seconds. “I never show my hand.”
    “Really?”
    “And I never stop at the first ‘no.’”
    “So that’s what it takes?” She wondered if that was his philosophy in his personal life as well. “How come your peers haven’t figured that out?”
    “When it comes to sales, I have no peers, darlin’,” he said with