Different Circles

“Well ... yeah,” he said, “but that’s hardly the same thing we’re talking about here. Those were groupies. You order them up like a pizza and they are delivered to you. No planning is involved. There is no question about whether or not she’ll give it up. She wouldn’t be there if she wasn’t going to give it up. And, while I have stumbled into the odd non-groupie threesome on occasion, I’ve never had to actually arrange for such a thing on my own and in advance. Most of the time, they just sort of happen spontaneously.”

“You’re suggesting that we try to seduce her then?” Laura asked. “Have her over and try to make things happen spontaneously.”

“You don’t make things happen spontaneously,” Jake said, lightly exasperated. “That is a contradiction in terms. And no, that is not what I was suggesting. I wasn’t suggesting anything. I was just explaining that I do not have more experience than you at this sort of thing. You have more than me. You’re the one who reeled in Molly, remember?”

“Well ... yeah,” she said. “I do remember that. Is that the answer then? Just use a lot of innuendo to suggest what we’re after and hope she picks up on it?”

“Celia is not Molly,” Jake said. “I don’t think that would work on her. She knows us too well and we know her too well.”

“What then?” she said. “Do we just ask her?”

Jake considered this for a moment. “Well ... in most other aspects of trying to obtain something you desire in life, just asking is usually the first, simplest, and most basic step.”

She thought this over and then nodded slowly. “That is true,” she said at last.

Jake made the phone call the next morning, just after they ate the sausage and red bell pepper omelets he had prepared for breakfast. Laura was cleaning up the kitchen from his efforts. Celia picked up on the third ring, as it was her private line and she recognized the number on her caller ID screen as that belonging to the Kingsleys’ Granada Hills address.

“Hello?” her voice said in his ear.

“Hey, C,” he said lightly. “Jake.”

“What’s up?” she asked, her voice all business. Laura, in the way of females of the human species, would often call just to chat with her, but Jake, in the way of males of the human species, only called to discuss business or to convey or request information.

“Just calling to see if you have any plans for the day,” he said.

“Nothing at the moment,” she told him. “I’ve been strumming out some tunes lately, but nothing that can’t be put off. Something going on?”

“No, not really,” he told her. “Laura and I are still here in LA and decided not to fly back home until tomorrow.”

“Really?” she asked, surprised. She knew that the two of them tried to spend as little time as possible in Los Angeles.

“Yeah,” he said, preparing to tell a rather large lie, though he was much better at that sort of thing than his wife. “Elsa’s grandkids are visiting for the week and we figured we’d let them have the place to themselves for another day. Anyway, we were thinking that if you were up to it, we’d come over and visit you. We really want to try out that pool of yours and I’m willing to make you dinner in exchange for some swim time.”

This was a perfectly reasonable attempt at fishing for an invitation in exchange for a service. Celia was not much of a cook, had yet to hire someone to do it for her, and was generally in the habit of ordering food to be delivered. Jake and Laura, on the other hand, had not installed a swimming pool at their Oceano home as it was considered a major (maybe even impossible) project due to the rock that their cliff was composed of. The Granada Hills house had a pool, but they rarely used it. Celia’s new house, however, had an infinity pool that looked out over the ocean. Both of the Kingsleys were envious of it and had been dying to swim in it ever since first seeing it.

“Uh ... sure,” Celia said. “That sounds like a good deal. What are you going to cook for me?”

“Anything you want,” he said.

“Oooh,” she said, delighted now. “How about some of those ribeye steaks that you grill? I have this fancy-schmancy barbeque island out next to the pool and it hasn’t been used yet. You can break it in for me.”

“Sounds good,” he said. “How about some baked potatoes and asparagus to go with it? I can do both of those on the grill as well.”

“You read my mind,” she said. “What time?”

“How about we come over around two o’clock or so? We’ll swim for a few hours and then have dinner at six?” Maybe have a threesome with you in between the two events, he did not say.

“It’s a date,” she said.

“Cool,” Jake replied.

“I guess if I’m going to put on my bikini in front of other people I should shave the fuzz off my legs and armpits.”

And in other places too, he thought lasciviously. “I’ll let you get to that then,” he told her. “See you at two-ish.”

“See you then,” she said and then hung up.