"Do I look fat in this dress?" asked Joanie.
"You already know the answer to that," Chachi said. "You look absolutely stunning in anything you put on."
Joanie smiled and kissed him.
Joanie and Chachi had been invited to Jack and Karen's for dinner. Chachi was wearing black dress pants with a white shirt and black tie, and Joanie was wearing a navy blue polka dot dress with white heels. The door bell rang, and Joanie answered it. It was Patty, the babysitter.
"Thank you so much for coming over," Joanie told her. "We should be back in a couple of hours at the most."
"I wonder what Karen's like," Joanie said on the way there.
"Jack seems to be an incredibly nice guy from what I've seen of him so far. I expect his wife must be equally nice," Chachi replied.
"Guess we'll find out soon." Joanie was just a little bit nervous about meeting Jack's wife for the first time.
Soon they had arrived at Jack's home and were ringing the doorbell. Karen answered. She was petite with curly blonde hair and green eyes. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with flip flops and chewing gum noisily.
"Hello! Please come in. You must be Joanie and Chachi. I'm Karen," she said with a smile.
"Wow, I feel over-dressed," Joanie said self-consciously.
"Nah! You're fine," Karen assured her.
"Hi! Glad you could make it," said Jack. He was wearing tan slacks with a blue shirt and matching tie.
"Your house looks so nice," Joanie said. A shelf with various sports memorabilia was over the fire place, and photos of various high school football team events filled the walls. A bookshelf held a number of school yearbooks as well as romance novels and supermarket tabloids, and Joanie saw an open romance novel on a coffee table beside a chair. Karen must have been reading it just before they had arrived.
Jack wiped a layer of dust off the shelf above the fireplace with his finger and glanced at Karen, who pretended not to notice.
"I hope you guys like meatloaf and potatoes," Karen said.
"It's one of my favorites," Chachi assured her.
Joanie thought that the meatloaf tasted a little dry and wondered whether it was just her imagination. Well, at least it's not undercooked, she thought.
"How many kids do you have?" Karen asked.
"Two," Joanie told her. "Tony's eight and Lisa's five."
"I guess I'll have kids someday," Karen said resignedly. "I just really hate the thought of losing my figure."
"I got mine back," Joanie told her. "All it takes is a bit of exercise after the baby's born."
After the meal, Joanie and Chachi went into the living room while Jack and Karen got started doing the dishes. Karen was washing and Jack was drying. It was probably less than five minutes later that the phone rang, and Karen grabbed it.
"Oh, hi, Tina!" she squealed. "Just a sec, let me take it in the bedroom."
Karen sat the receiver down on the counter and hurried to the bedroom. "I've got it!" she shouted a few seconds later. Jack shrugged and hung up the phone in the kitchen. Joanie and Chachi looked at him, puzzled.
"Her friend from bingo," he explained with a sigh. "She usually calls about this time." With a look of resignation he returned to the dishes.
"Oh, please, let me help you!" Joanie cried.
"Oh, no, no, I won't hear of it. You're my guest. But thank you so much for offering," Jack said with a smile. He quickly finished the dishes and joined Joanie and Chachi in the living room.
The three of them briefly chatted about Chachi's job at the radio station, various students Jack and Joanie had that year, Tony and Lisa and how they were doing, and Jack's desire to start a family of his own. Karen stayed in the bedroom talking to Tina on the phone the entire time. When it was time for Joanie and Chachi to leave, she didn't even come out of the bedroom to say good-bye to them.
"Thank you both so much for coming over," said Jack. He looked a little sad.
"Thank you so much for inviting us," Joanie said. "The meal was delicious."
Jack smiled. "Well, you guys take care and have a wonderful night."
"You do the same," said Chachi.
"Poor Jack," Joanie sympathized when they were in the car on the way home.
"It's women like that that make me realize just how lucky I am." Chachi smiled and embraced his wife.