“I'm just opening a can of ravioli. It's too hot for cooking.” Jenna unhooked the can and pushed the opener to the back of the counter.
“Got a date?”
“Not tonight. Tomorrow evening I'm seeing that new guy I met at that job I had last week. He's kind of cute, with great bedroom eyes and one of those beards that's not a beard. You know, the ones that are just a line along his jaw?” Jenna gently forked the contents of the can into a bowl.
After a moment's hesitation, Chloe asked, “Which nights later in the week are you busy?”
As she separated the little meat pies, Jenna said, “Okay. What's up? You don't usually beat around the bush like this.”
Chloe dropped into one of the kitchen chairs. “I don't actually know how to ask this.”
Jenna put the bowl into the microwave, pushed a few buttons and, as the fan hummed, sat down opposite Chloe. “The easiest way is to spit it out.”
“Remember the movie you made?”
“How could I forget?”
“Well, Frank showed it to one of his friends.”
“Is that bad? I worried that you'd become some kind of a porn star but the idea didn't seem to faze you.”
Chloe held her hand up to interrupt Jenna's thought. “It's not that. Actually, I still kind of like the idea.” As Jenna watched, Chloe actually preened a bit. “His friend liked the movie so much that he wants to make one of him and his girlfriend.”
“It's not difficult. I could show him a few things about the camera and such if that's what you want.”
“Not exactly.” Chloe uncrossed and recrossed her legs, then tapped her fingers on the table. “It's a bit more complicated than that. He wants to use the room Frank and I used and he wants you to do the photography.”
“Me?”
“He's got money to burn and is willing to pay three hundred dollars to rent your services. He wants some of the great shots you got. He specifically talked about the cock-sucking part and that fabulous between-the-legs-fucking one.” Jenna tried not to wince at Chloe's blunt language. “Frank also told him that we could be trusted to give him the only copy of the movie.”
“He's going to pay?”
“I thought we could split it. My house and your talent with the camera.”
“I'm not sure I want to go into the dirty-movie business. Is it legal?”
“Sure. Why not? It's for private use only.” Chloe hesitated and her finger-drumming continued at a slightly slower pace. “I could really use the money,” she said softly. “I've got another tax bill due next month and I'm kind of strapped.”
Jenna thought about her dwindling savings, but she'd still do whatever she could to help. “I could let you have a little more rent money if you're having problems.” She looked around the kitchen, spotted her purse on the counter and reached for it. “I've got extra cash too. You don't have to go into the porno-movie business.”
Chloe held out her hand. “I don't want a quick twenty, Jenna, but thanks for the offer. I just thought this might be a way for both of us to earn a little extra cash and have some fun doing it.”
“I don't think so. Why don't you do it?”
“Take the pictures? Not me. I'm not good with a movie camera. I've tried and I pan too fast and things are never in the center of the picture. This guy specifically asked for the person who made our movie. You enjoyed making it, didn't you?”
Jenna remembered her excitement after the film was finished and the fantasies that had raced through her mind every evening since. “I guess.”
“So what's the harm? Someone wants a movie and you can provide the means. It's not rocket science and it fulfills someone's fantasy.”
Jenna considered, weakening. What was the harm, after all? She had to admit that she had really enjoyed making Chloe and Frank's movie. There was the money too, of course. “I'm busy tomorrow, you know.”
“He can do it later in the week.”
Jenna slowly shook her head. It sounded so simple, but was she beginning a slide down a slippery slope? To where? “Give me a day to think about it. And I don't want any of the money.”
“Don't be silly. I couldn't take all of it. You're doing all the work.”
“Of course you could. Put it all toward the taxes. After all I don't want to have to find someplace else to live.”
“But you already pay enough rent.”
“Think of it as a charitable foundation. The Society for the Fulfillment of Fantasies and Payment of Taxes. Agreed?” Jenna reached out to shake Chloe's hand.
Chloe burst out laughing. “I love it.” She took Jenna's hand and gave it an exaggerated shake. “Okay. We'll keep a kitty toward the taxes. It sounds like you're agreeing to do it.”
“Let me think about it until tomorrow.” She'd consider, but in her heart Jenna knew her decision had already been made.
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As the city suffered through the dog days of August, Jenna thought about the months since she had arrived in Manhattan and the ways her life had changed so dramatically. She was working a few days a week, moving from a large multinational corporation to a small law firm, from an advertising agency to a midsized publisher. She had contacts all over the city and had had dates with more than a half-dozen different, exciting and sensual men. She still saw Toby every few weeks for dinner and sex, which seemed sufficient for both of them and their busy schedules.
Two or three evenings a week she made videos for the dozens of cash-rich men and women who'd found out in one way or another about her little enterprise.
Couples had played out several different scenarios. One had arrived in wedding clothes to play out their wedding night. Another had shown up dressed as Robin Hood and Maid Marian. It had been enjoyable and arousing to make films, and she handed the couples the product immediately so there was no possibility of duplication, a worry for many.
In addition to her videography skills, Jenna became adept at both being invisible and helping the couples get over any initial nervousness. She reassured, complimented, and was generally supportive of whatever scene the couple had chosen.
Her only regret was that she hadn't told her sister about her enterprise, even when Marcy mentioned several times that she'd had disturbing dreams on nights which usually coincided with particularly arousing photo sessions. Although Marcy didn't want to discuss the nature of the dreams, Jenna was sure that her sister was somehow picking up on her excitement. She chuckled when she thought about it. She was becoming a master of amateur erotic videos and her sister was too prudish to discuss her erotic dreams.
One late August afternoon Jenna answered the doorbell to find a man with a large, gift-wrapped, deep gold chrysanthemum plant. “Ms. Jenna Bryant?”
“That's me.”
“Sign here.” The delivery man thrust a pad at her and she signed where he indicated.
In the kitchen Jenna set the plant on the table and found a card pinned to the bright yellow bow. “It's been three months and I hope things are going well. I miss you and hope we can chat soon. Remember above everything, I'm a friend.” The note was signed “Glen.”
Jenna sat down and stared at the card. Glen. Although she was busy, he was still in her thoughts. She didn't regret what she'd done at all, but she lamented the fact that such a great guy wasn't growing in the same way she was. Damn. I don't want to go back. I just wish he were here and part of this life.
Later, when Chloe spotted the flowers in the middle of the kitchen table, Jenna handed her the note. “He's really very sweet,” Jenna said. “I wouldn't have talked to him on the phone, but this is a nice way for him to stay in touch.”
“He sounds so sweet,” Chloe said, gently.
“I want him to find someone else.”
“But you're complimented too. It's great to have someone care about you.”
Jenna's smile widened. “Yeah, it is.”
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Marcy visited for the Labor Day weekend and Jenna was delighted to see her after all their months apart. Although they talked almost every day on the phone, seeing her sister in person was so much better. They hugged and giggled at the airport and on the taxi ride into Manhattan.
Jenna and Chloe had removed the camera equipment and spruced up the “motel room” so that Marcy would be comfortable staying in it. Jenna had worried about how her conservative sister and free-speaking friend would get along but, although not immediately bosom buddies, the two seemed to hit it off better than Jenna had hoped.
For the next two days the two women showed Marcy around the city that Jenna was coming to love more and more each day. They did all the tourist things. They took a double-decker bus around Midtown, then spent the afternoon at the Bronx Zoo. On Sunday they joined the mobs and took the boat to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, then walked around Battery Park. Chloe had plans on Monday, so the twins took the Circle Line, then walked north to the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum.
Jenna introduced Marcy to more exotic ethnic foods than were available in their hometown. They ate everything from souvlakis to pad thai, from West Indian jerk chicken to Indonesian curry. The conversation ranged over all subjects except sex. Jenna told her sister about her male friends, both laughing about their foibles and extolling their virtues.
Monday afternoon, over a late lunch, Jenna told Marcy about Glen's flowers. “I thought it was such a nice thing to do,” Jenna said. “Thoughtful but not intrusive.”
“We have dinner occasionally. He's really trying to strike the right balance. He's not going to push but he's not ready to move on, either. How do you feel about him, now that you've had time apart?”
“I'm not sure at all,” Jenna said. “I go days without thinking about him and then something happens, a phrase someone uses or the smell of the same after-shave he wears, and he jumps back into my mind and I remember all the good times.”
“There were good times.”
“There were. He's really a great guy.”
“But you're dating lots of other men too.”
“I don't know how to describe it. I feel like I need to taste everything before I settle down.” She snorted. “I sound like some guy talking about being leg-shackled.”
“Those feelings aren't limited to men, Jen. I'm not very experienced, either. I think I'd need to experience things before committing myself.”
Jenna watched a slight sadness slip into Marcy's eyes. “I wish you'd date more. Maybe you should come down here for a few months, live it up.”
Marcy's smile was forlorn. “You're the New York type, sexy, shapely.” Skinny. Jenna heard the word her overweight sister didn't say. “I'm not the type for barhopping and going to clubs.”
“Don't think everything here is like
Sex in the City.
There are normal people in New York too.”
Marcy shook her head. “You're Manhattan, I'm Seneca Falls. I'm content with that. Envious, but content.”
Jenna wanted to convince Marcy to emerge from her self-imposed house arrest and visit for a few weeks, but she also realized that it would get awkward. How would she explain to her superconservative sister about the movies she was making and the men Chloe entertained? “Promise me you'll say yes when any nice guy asks you out.”
“Okay,” she said with only a slight hesitation, “I promise.”
It seemed that almost immediately after her arrival, Jenna was taking a cab with Marcy back to La Guardia Airport. “It doesn't seem like it's been three whole days,” Jenna said.
“I know, and it's been wonderful. I think I'm beginning to see what you like about this city. It's so alive.”
“Seneca Falls is alive too,” Jenna said, defending their hometown, “but there is so much more here.”
The cab crossed the Triboro Bridge and Marcy gazed at the skyline. “You're not coming back home, are you.” It was a statement, not a question.
“I haven't made any long-term decisions yet. There's always the matter of a job.”
“You seem to be doing okay,” Marcy said.
In actuality she was barely making ends meet, but the last quarterly tax payment had been made with a bit to spare. Maybe she could now keep a small part of the money from the movies. “I'm doing fine,” she told her sister. “I might just look for a full-time job here, although from what I know of the market right now, that might not be too easy.”
The cab pulled up in front of the departures entrance and Marcy opened the door. “It's been just wonderful, Jen. I love you and I think I'll miss you even more.”
“And I'll miss you. We'll talk as often as we always have, promise.”