Different Circles

The show ended and the house lights came up. Jake and the band returned to the dressing area, where the beer and the wine and the catered food had been set up. Everyone sat down and had a few bottles of Gatorade, followed by wine or beer or something a little harder. Coop and Laura and Little Stevie passed a joint around, smoking it until it was gone. Jake abstained for the time being. After getting their therapeutic high, everyone went to the catering table, Jake included.

They munched on barbequed ribs and potato salad and coleslaw (except for Charlie, who had been given a tofu stir fry dish) and then leaned back to let the food start to digest. Laura called first dibs on the shower.

“Why don’t I join you?” Jake offered, imagining her naked, soapy body and his hands all over it.

“No way,” Celia said. “If you go in there with her it’ll be an hour before you come back out.”

“Not an hour,” Laura protested. “Probably only thirty minutes or so.”

“Uh huh,” Celia said. “Save it for the hotel.”

“All right,” Laura pouted, heading dejectedly off to the locker room.

She came back out fifteen minutes later, smelling sexy and clean and wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a fresh t-shirt.

“You know, something occurred to me while I was showering,” she told him.

“What’s that?”

“You have a car here. There is no need to wait for the limo and the groupies and all that.”

“Unless you put in a request for this evening,” he said with a smile.

“I did not,” she said. “I know the name of the person who will have their face between my legs tonight.”

“All right then,” Jake said. “Let’s go.”

They went.

It was well past ten o’clock when they awoke, both of them naked, cuddled against each other, reeking of each other’s sex secretions. It had been a good night and they had become very well reacquainted with each other’s bodies. Jake disentangled himself from his wife and then padded into the bathroom to relieve his straining bladder. When he returned, Laura was sitting up in the bed, her naked breasts on display, while she perused the room service menu.

“What looks good?” he asked.

“I’m thinking the eggs benedict and the fruit cup for me,” she said.

“That’s what you always get when we have breakfast,” he said.

“I like eggs benedict,” she said.

“There are other things you might like too,” he suggested.

She gave him a naughty smile. “Oh, there are,” she said. “And I’ll tell you about some of them later.”

He chuckled and picked up the menu. No sooner had he gotten started in his examination of it than the telephone on the nightstand began to ring. They both looked at it.

“Who in the hell can that be?” Laura asked. “I specifically told them no wakeup call this morning.”

Jake shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” He walked over and picked up the handset. “Lynn Dolan’s room. How can I help you?”

“It’s me, Jake,” said a female voice.

“Pauline? What’s up?”

“I’m downstairs in the lobby,” she said.

“Of this hotel?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “I drove up here in the rental car. Took me five fucking hours. I had to leave at five this morning.”

“You drove here from Providence?” he asked, incredulous. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“Because there were no flights until two o’clock this afternoon,” she said.

“I mean why are you here at all?” he said. “You were going to fly back to LA tomorrow.”

“Change of plans,” she said. “Like I told you, we need to talk some serious shit. Get Laura on the line. I’m going to give the phone to the registration girl. She needs to tell her it’s okay for me to come up to your room.”

“What is this about?” Jake asked.

“I’ll tell you when I get up there,” she said. “And call Celia and have her come meet us. Suzie too.”

“What?”

“If my information is correct, they’re in the same room anyway. Just do it.”

“All right,” he said with a sigh. There was a feeling of dread and disaster starting to creep into the fibers of his being. He did not enjoy the sensation. He handed the handset to Laura. “Tell the registration girl that Pauline can come up here.”

“What’s going on?” Laura asked.

“I guess we’ll find out shortly, whether we want to or not.”

Chapter 4: Revelations

Moosehead Lake, Maine

May 16, 1996