Jenny stood in the shower and let the hot water cascade down her back, but it did nothing to wash away the memory of Johnny’s touch on her bare skin, or the confusion that raced through her mind.
How did this happen? How did I let him get to me like that? Gayle, damn you for dying. I wish like hell you were here to talk to. But in spite of her protests, Jenny had to admit that being with Johnny had been an incredible experience. It both excited and frightened her to death.
Doris Levine had been a shy little push-over, and it wasn’t only her name that had changed that day she’d sat in front of the microphone. Jenny Reed was born a new, confident, stronger person then Doris ever could have been, and Jenny Reed was always in control. She dated in high school, but never went steady with any one boy. They all seemed to want her to be something other what she was; bigger bust, smaller waist, less outspoken, less intelligent, less independent, les
The flight attendant recognized them as soon as they were in their seats. Minutes later, she brought each of them a small bottle of Beaujolais.“I listen to you two every morning. I just love your show.”“Thank you, Michelle,” Johnny said, using his now-famous voice to read her nametag. The flight attendant’s face turned bright red.“I’ll be back with the rest of your breakfast when we’re in the air, Mr. King.”“Look what you started.” Jenny said, picking up her bottle. “Now everyone thinks I drink this stuff for breakfast.”“We wouldn’t want to disappoint your fans now would we? We have a reputation to uphold.” Johnny poured his wine into the glass.“Yeah, reputations as a couple of drunks.”“One little glass of wine won’t turn us into candidates for AA, now relax.”The plane took off into a cr
The reception for the nominees was more for sizing up the competition then actually congratulating other’s success in the industry, unless they were nominated under a different category. Jenny heard the other nominees sprout the I don’t care if I win, it’s just an honor to be nominated, line even though it was total insincere bullshit, it was the classy, professional response to being honored by their piers in the broadcasting industry. Unfortunately, one radio personally who was in direct competition with Jenny, was neither classy nor professional. Melody Miller, from rival station KLZY-FM the entire evening was telling everyone she was going to take the coveted award and dishing Jenny Reed at every opportunity. Jenny and Johnny intentionally managed to avoid a direct confrontation with her, and spent the evening in more polite conversations.“Interesting group of vultures on line over there.” Johnny said when he returned from the bar.&l
There was a brief, deafening silence followed by subdued clapping as Melody bounded onto the stage to accept her award. She held the acrylic pillar over her head in victory and shot a triumphant glare towards Jenny who was having difficulty joining in the congratulatory applause.“Sorry, Jen,” Johnny said. “I really thought you were going to win.”“To tell you the truth, so did I.” She tried to hide the disappointment in her voice. “Ya know, up until they announced Melody as the winner, I didn’t know how much I wanted that stupid award. Oh well, there’s always next year. But it would have been nice.”She smiled weakly and tried to listen to Melody’s acceptance speech, but there was a loud commotion in the back of the room that was making it difficult to hear. Everyone turned to the back of the room to see Melody’s husband, Ned, obviously drunk, trying to make his way to the stage with two se
Johnny parked the car in front of Jenny’s apartment and opened the trunk to get her luggage. She hadn’t spoken more than a few words on the flight or during the drive from the airport. Johnny thought she might be angry at him for keeping the party going till three a.m., but she’d told him she was just tired, so he let it go.Jenny was tired, but it wasn’t only fatigue that was causing her silence. Her decision to leave KKTM and the repercussions that she knew would follow, were draining all her energy.“Want me to come up?” He asked as he helped her take her things into the building.“No. You have to get home and unpack and I still have to get a gift for Ann and Don. Why don’t you pick me up tomorrow and we’ll go to the wedding together.”“Tomorrow?” He sounded disappointed. “What about later tonight?”“Johnny, we just spent a wonderful and exhausting
Johnny looked around his apartment. It seemed to him as if someone else had been living there. He was confused and more than a bit concerned about Jenny and how he was going to tell her that he was leaving KKTM.After Jenny had left the party, he tried to talk to Brian about the station and what Johnny planned to do when they returned to Los Angeles. Brian had laughed at him, calling him Denise’s albatross and telling Johnny that if it weren’t for his sister, Jenny would have sole ownership of Red Wine. Johnny nearly hit him, but he realized that Brian was drunk. He also realized that there was no way he could continue at KKTM.Johnny hadn’t spent all his time at the slot machines while he was in Vegas. He began formulating the first part of his plan early in the week. He made the right contacts, made the right moves, and finally hit the jackpot during the awards presentation.He put together the second part of his plan at the party wh
Temple Adat Elohim was located in a small section of Sherman Oaks, not far from Jenny’s apartment. Johnny met her at the front of her building and they arrived about fifteen minutes before the ceremony started.“Isn’t this beautiful.” Jenny said. “Here, you need to wear one of these.”“A yamaka?.”“You know what it is?” Jenny was surprised.“All the guys I worked with in Canada were Jewish. Didn’t I tell you? I was invited to weddings and even attended a bris. I went to so many Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs, everyone thought I was Jewish because I knew the words to the prayers and the songs. I was actually thinking about converting, but when I moved back to the States, I never found the right Temple.“I never knew that.”“My engineer’s birthday was in December, so every year we’d combine all the holidays and celebrate Chanubirthdaymas. I nev
The station was quiet when Jenny arrived at five-thirty. Johnny was still asleep when she left and she didn’t see any reason to wake him since their shift didn’t begin for another three hours.The studio felt a bit strange to Jenny after being away for an entire week. With all that transpired, and her decision to leave, KKTM didn’t feel like home to her anymore.She went into her office and mentally figured out how many boxes she would need to pack the few things that belonged to her. She went through her desk and started throwing away papers she had collected over the years. She was reading though some of them and didn’t see Brian standing in the doorway.“Spring cleaning?” He asked. “Must be that time of the month or maybe something else. You’re not pregnant, are you?”“Dammit, Brian. Why is it that whenever a woman does something a little out of character men all assume she’s either got
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