Forever Never Ends Read Online Free PDF

continued: "And the devil said to him, 'If thou be the Son of God, say to this stone that it may be made bread.' And Jesus answered him, 'It is written that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God.'
    "And the devil led him into a high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and he said to Him, 'To Thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them, for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them. If thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be thine.'"
    Nettie was thinking that she wouldn't mind if Bill would adore her. And all of the kingdoms of her flesh would most definitely be his .
    Bill hunched forward, hands under the table, jaw clenched as if he, too, were looking out over the devil's vistas of gold and marble. He appeared to be in a state of rapture. Nettie took a sip of her soft drink. She would have loved a glass of wine, but was afraid Bill would disapprove. She swallowed and continued.
    "And Jesus answering said to him, 'It is written, thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.' And the devil brought him to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and he said to him, 'If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself from hence. For it is written, that he hath given his angels charge over thee, that they keep thee, and that in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone.'"
    Nettie wished that she were an angel. Not like the one she was going to be when she went to heaven, but one here on earth, so Bill would love her. She knew her hair was dark and angels were supposed to be blonde. And she was petite, not buxom and curvy. No wonder Bill hadn't made a pass at her, even after four months of dating.
    She glanced at him and caught him looking away and frowning in self-reproach. He must have been chastising himself for going out with such a homely girl. Maybe she was a mercy case, and Bill was being nice to her out of a sense of Christian duty. She finished the chapter and closed her Bible. She put her hands out halfway across the table, hoping he would take hold of them. Bill still looked lost in thought.
    "Would you like to watch some television?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound desperate.
    At least if they were on the couch together, he couldn't avoid touching her. And that would not be bad at all, being close to his warm, strong body, smelling his subtle masculine aftershave and maybe just a teeny hint of sweat. And maybe she could get up the nerve to lean her head oh so lightly on his shoulder until his breath was on her cheek.
    And she was thinking "couch," when she really wanted "bed," when she really wanted him to stand up and carry her in his arms and lay her gently on her clean white bedspread and lean over her with his lips and hair and hands all over—
    Bill stood, making the chair squeak on the linoleum in his haste. "I'm afraid I have to go, Nettie," he said, hands clasped in front of him like a Quaker. "Got a few phone calls to make."
    She looked down at the tabletop, hoping her disappointment didn't show.
    "But your reading was pretty. I thank you so much." He started for the door.
    "Bill?" she said, and he turned.
    Ask me out again, ask me out again , even if “out” is “in,” sitting in my apartment with a Bible. It doesn't have to be once a week.
    "Yes, Nettie?"
    "See you in church."
    Bill nodded and smiled, then ducked through the doorway into the rainy night.

***
    In bed, Tamara rolled over and felt Robert stir. He grunted and yawned, and she reached for him.
    “Hey,” he whispered in the dark.
    “We need to talk,” she said.
    “Great. Just when I was dreaming about a guest spot on ‘Larry King Live.’”
    “Tough day, huh?”
    "Lousy. Patterson's just about unbearable. The great Oompah Loompah strikes again. And that same crappy music over and over."
    "At least it's radio work."
    "Well, I'm getting a little too old to try and figure out what