Chapter 4: Just Friends

I drove down to Hartford and parked not far from where I hoped to find Jenny around 6:30 that night. It looked like I was in luck. She was standing across from the diner under the lamppost, talking to another working girl. I walked up to them and stood three feet away, waiting for Jenny to notice me.

Unfortunately, her friend spotted me first and confronted me, “Show me some cash or get lost, sonny.”

Jenny turned around and smiled when she saw me, “Back-off Betty, that’s my friend, John.”

Betty’s face changed from threatening to a grin as she apologized, “Oh, that, John. Sorry honey, I will be running along now.” She waved at us and headed up the street.

Jenny came over and hugged me and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I just came down to see if you had time to get something to eat, and I brought you something.” Jenny took my hand, and we crossed the street and went into the diner and sat in a booth.

Trudy approached our booth with a pad in hand and gave me the same ‘you’re a dirtbag’ look she gave me the last time I was here with Jenny as she asked, “What can I get you this time?”

Jenny looked up at Trudy and introduced me, “This is John Paterson, and he is not a client. He is a friend and only here to have dinner with me.”

I could tell Trudy was reevaluating my right to exist, “In that case, I won’t spit on his food before I serve it.”

Jenny gave Trudy a menacing look, “You better not because if you do, I will tell everybody you are molesting the dishwasher.”

Trudy smiled and said, “It’s a deal. Now, what do you two lovebirds want for dinner?”

Jenny rolled her eyes and told Trudy, “Trudy, you’re impossible. Just bring me and my... ‘friend’ ... the dinner special if you can manage it before this 24-hour joint closes.”

Trudy laughed and assured us we would get something to eat, “It shouldn’t take long. I will bring it right out,” and walked toward the kitchen.

Jenny told me, “Don’t mind, Trudy. She is good to the working girls and keeps an eye on things around here. But she has no love for the pimps or the guys she thinks might try to take advantage of us. So what do you have in that envelope you have been holding?”

I opened the envelope, “I brought the pictures we took at the prom. In case you wanted any, I had duplicates made.” I took the pictures out and put them on the table. There was a 5 x 7 of Jenny and me with an arm around each other under a decorated arch. The rest were snapshots of Mr. Korenski, Jenny and me, Ted and Carl and their dates, mugging for the camera at our table or dancing.

Jenny was happily going through the pictures and commenting when Trudy brought our dinners and put them down in front of us. Without asking permission, Trudy picked up the 5 x 7, “You two look like you’re more than just friends in this picture.”

I was not about to let Trudy make more of it than it really was, “It’s true, we are just friends. Jenny did me a big favor by taking the night off and going with me so I would not be embarrassed in front of my friends because I could not get a date. I know what Jenny does down here, but that does not mean I will stop being her friend.”

Still giving me the evil eye, Trudy said, “Okay, John, but I’m still going to keep an eye on you. Now eat your dinner before it gets cold.”

When Trudy left, Jenny reached across and took my hand, “Thanks for not telling Trudy you paid me to go with you. If I did not have to pay my pimp, I would have given you your money back. I will never forget that night and hope you will continue to be my friend.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I came to visit every once in a while to have dinner with you?”

Jenny squeezed my hand, “I would like that, John. I would like that very much.”

I went to visit Jenny once a week for the next four weeks. I always went early in the week because those were her slow nights. If Jenny was with a client when I got there, one of the other girls would come over and chat me up to keep me company. None of them ever tried to solicit me. They all treated me like an acquaintance or friend they just happened to meet on the street. They knew I was only there to have dinner with Jenny.