Different Circles

Uncle Jake nodded. “We heard the debut of Home on the way here. She liked it and correctly interpreted the lyrics. And she does not like the song Ironic because most of what Alanis is talking about there is not, in fact, ironic.”

Celia smiled, delighted. “I’ll take an endorsement like that to one of our projects any day of the week.”

Jake had the FBO services pump his tanks half full and then they immediately left for the return flight to SLO. Celia sat in the copilot’s seat—her always preferred location when flying with Jake—and Chase sat immediately behind Jake, where she could see and talk to Celia with ease. And talk she did. She quickly recovered her voice and spent most of the flight jabbering to Celia, asking her a thousand questions about her childhood in Venezuela, her time with La Diferencia, and her recent years as a mega-star. Jake, who listened to the conversation but contributed nothing, noted that Chase had enough tact not to bring up Greg Oldfellow or the allegations that Celia dallied with her pilot out on the road. This reinforced his already strong opinion that his recently discovered niece was actually a pretty good kid.

They came in to land just past 11:30 AM and Jake parked the airplane in his rented hangar. Chase insisted on carrying Celia’s guitar case for her while Jake carried her travel bag.

“How is Teach doing?” Celia asked as they made the hike back to the GA terminal. They had not seen Celia in more than a week now.

“Looking forward to seeing you again,” Jake said with a little smile.

Celia returned the smile. “I’m looking forward to seeing her as well.”

The little inflection that each of them put on the word seeing was no accident. Both knew exactly what they meant by it. Since that day nearly two weeks ago when the three of them had a session of steamy, erotic threesome sex at Celia’s Malibu house, they had gotten together one more time for more of the same. This had also been in Malibu, after the last KVA meeting prior to the debut of Home. It had been just as good and the three of them continued not to feel regrets, shame, or any other negative emotion associated with what they were doing except for a bit of guilt that they were not feeling any regrets or shame or other negative emotions. All in all, the three of them remained very enthusiastic about the new dynamic they had brought to life and looked forward to future endeavors.

Perhaps even tonight, Jake thought now as he saw the little sparkle in Celia’s eye. This was a realistic hope. Though Laura the Prude had reigned supreme when the two of them had stayed at the Best house in Pocatello, Laura the extremely horny second trimester Nymph was still firmly in command while the Bests were staying with them. She had to hold a pillow against her mouth every time she came, but she was certainly not being prudish.

They threw the luggage and the guitar into the back of Jake’s BMW and then climbed in, Chase in the back, Jake behind the wheel. They drove back to the house on the cliff and introduced Celia to the rest of the Best clan. All were pleased to meet her, particularly the males. Grace, however, had a hard time even meeting her eyes, let alone speaking to her. She managed to shake her hand briefly, but that was the extent of their first contact.

Dinner that night was New York steaks that Elsa had procured from a high-end butcher shop in San Luis Obispo near the historic mission. While she prepared a large garden salad, sauteed mushrooms, and made her famous garlic mashed potatoes, Jake went out on the deck and fired up the large charcoal grill that sat next to the more convenient gas grill. Joey and Brian followed him out there. While waiting for the coals to burn down so he could grill the steaks, Jake drank a few bottles of his favorite beer—Foghorn India Pale Ale from the Lighthouse Brewing Company in Coos Bay—while the two generations of Bests drank their favorite beer—Budweiser from the can. They had tried the Lighthouse Ale that Jake offered them on their first night—genuinely curious about what “hoity-toity beer” would taste like—but had been hard pressed to even finish their bottles before they became warm. “It’s too strong,” Joey had proclaimed. “Too heavy,” had been Brian’s opinion. And so, Elsa had picked up a few cases of the red and white cans for the houseguests. She knew that if the Bests did not drink it all before they left, the excess would sit in the bottom of the pantry until their next visit.