“Yeah,” Jake said. “I think this last separation was a little hard on her.”
“It was,” Greg agreed. “But I do not think the primary reason was the separation itself.”
“No?”
“No,” Greg said. “I think you know what I’m referring to.”
“Mindy Snow?”
“Mindy Snow,” he confirmed. “Celia was not happy that I was working with her. Not a single bit.”
“Yeah,” Jake said, having another slug of his beer. “She did mention her disconcert with your costar on a few occasions. Especially when...” He stopped and shook his head. “Never mind.”
“What were you going to say?” Greg asked.
“Nothing. It’s not important. This beer just has a little more bang for the buck than I’m used to.”
“It does seem to be rather strong,” Greg agreed. “Even so, you cannot start a point with ‘especially when’ and then not follow through.”
“I can’t?”
“You cannot,” Greg insisted. “What were you going to say?”
Jake sighed and took another drink. “Well ... I was just going to say that Celia did not particularly enjoy it when you would mention to her how fabulously you and Mindy were getting along during the shoot; about how much chemistry you were sharing; about how you were ‘clicking’ together as a team. I mean, seriously, Greg. You’ve been married a lot longer than me and even I know you don’t tell your wife shit like that.”
“It was the truth,” he said.
“The truth,” Jake scoffed, shaking his head. “Amateur.”
“I am not!” Greg protested. “You’re saying I should have lied to Celia and told her that I hated working with Mindy?”
“You should have implied it,” Jake suggested. “And you definitely shouldn’t have gone on and on about how much fun you were having with her. Dude, seriously, we’re talking about women here! They’re not rational about that kind of shit!”
Greg thought it over for a moment, took a few more drinks of his own beer, and then slowly nodded. “All right,” he said. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Well, live and learn,” Jake said. “It’s over now, right?”
“Well, I’m still going to be in considerable contact with Mindy through postproduction and promotion.”
“But you’re all done getting naked with her, right?” Jake asked.
“Yes,” Greg said. “The sex scenes have all been shot and edited. There will be no need to revisit that particular part of production.”
“That’s good,” Jake said. “And you did manage to do the right thing and imply that you were uncomfortable filming those scenes. You get a point on your husband card for that, at least.”
“I was uncomfortable filming those scenes,” Greg insisted. “It was very awkward.”
“I bet,” Jake said. “Getting naked and rubbing against Mindy Snow is awkward indeed, isn’t it?”
“Well...”
“Don’t bullshit me, Greg,” Jake said, lowering his voice to a whisper. “She has a fantastic body, and she is sexy as hell. Don’t even try to tell me you didn’t enjoy that shit.”
“Well ... okay. I won’t try to say I didn’t enjoy it, but ... that’s what was awkward about it.”
“That you enjoyed it?”
“No,” he said. “That ... well ... that she went out of her way to make it enjoyable.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Really,” he said. “Up until we started putting together the sex scenes, she was very professional with me, just like I said. We really did have a chemistry together and we really did click on that level. I enjoyed working with her.”
“Uh huh,” Jake said.
“But once the sex scenes started ... something changed in her.”
“What did she do?” Jake asked.
“She started ... rubbing herself against me during the filming, started trying to turn me on. It was always subtle. Nothing that anyone would notice or comment on, but it was there. When we were up against each other, she would ... squirm a little, making sure I could feel her against me. She would ... you know ... grind herself against me ... against my ... you know?”
“Your dick?”
“Yes,” he said softly. “My dick. She would try to give me an erection whenever she could, and she generally succeeded. And then she suggested during one part of the main scene ... while we were naked against each other except for the crotch coverings that don’t show on camera ... that we actually tongue kiss to make it more realistic looking, more passionate. Fletch—he’s the director—agreed with her.”
“So, you did it?” Jake asked.
“We did it,” he said with a sigh. “And then she kept screwing up the take while we were doing it—deliberately I’m sure—so we had to keep French kissing each other over and over again while we were pretty much naked against each other.”
“Now that sounds like Mindy,” Jake said. “She can be an incredible tease.”
“It was actually quite maddening at times,” Greg said. “I would get back to my hotel and have to ... you know...”
“Whip your weasel?” Jake suggested.
“Uh ... yes,” Greg said, blushing now. “She would have me feeling like a teenager who had just made out in the back of a car every time I got back to my room.”
Jake nodded sympathetically. He remembered his first few dates with Mindy back in the day. That was pretty much how he had come home from all of them. “But you never did her, right?”
“I never touched her outside of the sound stage,” Greg said. “It was tempting, but I never did it.”
Jake believed him. “Did she offer?” he asked.
“Never blatantly,” Greg said. “But the implied offer was there from the first night of filming those scenes. It was so obvious that it might as well have been written in neon fifty feet high on top of the hotel. Her suite was right next to mine. I knew that all I had to do if I wanted to have her was to walk to her door and knock on it. I knew that, Jake.”
“But you resisted,” Jake said. It was not a question.
“I resisted,” he said. “It was very close a few times, but I always stayed in my room once I got there.”
“Good for you,” Jake said, feeling mixed emotions. Greg, after all, seemed to have a little more willpower than his wife and Jake himself.
“I only hope that Celia knows that I stayed faithful to her,” Greg said. “After that stupidity I did in Alaska, I know that trust is an issue.”
“She knows,” Jake said.
“How can I be sure about that?” he asked. “I mean, she seems normal to me, and she was happy to see me, and very ... you know ... enthusiastic the other night, but...”
“She knows, Greg,” Jake insisted. “She talks to me about this stuff a lot.”
“She does?” he asked, seemingly surprised by this revelation.
“She does,” he said. “And she told me before you even got here. She knows you were faithful. She says there would be no way you could talk so casually to her on the phone if you were banging Mindy Snow or anyone else. You have too much of a guilty conscience.”
Greg seemed astounded by this suggestion. “She said that?”
“She did,” Jake assured him. “You did well, Greg. You went up against Mindy Snow and walked away with your sanity and relationship intact. Not many people can say that.”
“Yeah,” Greg said, considering. “I guess I did.”
The waitress came back out, effectively ending the topic. She asked if they wanted another round.
“Hell yes,” Jake assured her. “Two more.”
“Two more coming up,” she said. “I guess you enjoyed it?”
“The best beer I have ever had,” Jake said. “Tell me something, hon. Where exactly is this brewery?”
“Are you familiar with the bay area?” she asked.
“Very,” he assured her. “But I’ve never seen this brewery before.”
“It’s on Alamontro, just past the bridge, before you get to the wharf building and that place they do the helicopter rides.”