Beautiful women had always been a particular interest to Jimmy. Even as a boy, his earliest memories were of watching Maureen McCormick on the Brady Bunch, or Susan Dey on the Partridge Family, sitting in a bean bag chair in his parents' living room, imagining what it would be like to kiss them. His mother was busy tidying up the kitchen, and his father was fumbling with the newspaper and his older sister was talking on the phone to one of her friends. That left Jimmy to sit unnoticed in front of the television, lost in his fantasies.

When he got older, he found himself in those middle school and high school classrooms, or in a pew in the back of the church, scouring the assembled students and faithful families for willowy blonds or leggy brunettes. He couldn't imagine himself with someone like the chubby redhead, Susan Parker, who kept asking him if he would sit with her at lunch and play cards, no matter how enamored of him she appeared to be. There was something about the distant beauty of Annaliese Anderson and her discerning pout; even though she was dating the high school quarterback. Or that knowing smile of Donna Boniface, while she casually combed out her long, black hair. The curves of those hips in those tight jeans; the swell of those chests in those low cut blouses were what kept him from focusing on his books in the library.

His mother fixed him up once with a girl from the church choir; Jennifer Rosenthal. "She's such a nice girl," his mother insisted, "Why don't you give her a chance?" Of course he couldn't ignore his own mother. So he took her to a pizzeria, and a movie. She was nice. Too nice, for Jimmy. "Whatever you want," she politely told Jimmy, when he asked her if she wanted popcorn, or milk duds. When she sat down, she crossed her legs carefully, and folded her hands in her lap. She talked of singing Christmas carols, and writing poetry. She loved the poetry of Robert Burns. "Who's Robert Burns?" Jimmy had to admit.

Yes, Jennifer was very nice; probably someone who would make a good English teacher someday, or a good housewife. She would ferry the kids around in her station wagon, between ball games and dance recitals, she would make hearty lasagna for dinner without a complaint, she would wrap all those Christmas presents perfectly, the way his mother did. But that wasn't really what Jimmy thought he was looking for.

When Jennifer announced that she had been accepted at the University of Arizona's school of education, and that she was moving to Phoenix, she asked Jimmy if he would come with her. But he saw his chance and instead, told her he was going to a local school, to study liberal arts. He had found out from a friend that Annaliese Anderson had been accepted to the county college.

It was not Annaliese that he found in his first English lit class, but another shapely blond, Christine Ericson. She was a confident, talkative preppy who told him she was a math major and taking this course only to get her English credits out of the way. That was fine with Jimmy. He was interested in the long legs she was showing off in her mini skirt. He asked her if she wanted to get a cup of coffee after the lecture, and she agreed. He made fun of the professor's mannerisms at the blackboard and Christine was amused. Jimmy told her she had a cute laugh. They made out back at Christine's dorm room, and somehow got tangled up in the window curtains, and her roommate found them rolled up in them on the carpet.

After that, she proved to be independent. When he asked her for a second date, she told him she was going to a play in the city with someone else. When he offered to buy her lunch one afternoon, a tall, muscular tight end from the football team came by their table and she wound up following him out to see a guitarist in the student center. So that was the end of that.

Jimmy did not give up on his dream, however. After college, he managed to get a job in an insurance company, as a claims adjuster. It was there that he met Michelle. Michelle was what everyone commonly referred to as a 'hottie'. She had a veritable wardrobe of short skirts, tight jeans, sleeveless blouses and stockings, in all kinds of eye catching colors. After work, she could be seen in the lounge of their office, with a drink in her hand, carousing with various attendants and suitors.

Jimmy met her at an office Christmas party. He wanted to make an impression on her, and he had the balls to show up dressed as Santa Claus. He walked around the bar in this fake beard, with a sack thrown over his shoulder, handing out those tiny little liquor bottles you find in airports. Michelle came as an elf. She wore a pointed, green hat, a tight fitting tunic with one shoulder strap naughtily pulled down, and a bright, green miniskirt with green stockings and high heels. Jimmy handed her a miniature bottle, industriously gift wrapped, which she gleefully unwrapped and immediately chugged. They started talking, had a couple of drinks together, and the general concensus was that they ended up in the supply closet.

Over time, they discovered that they had a few things in common. For one thing, they both liked to drink. They had both been to Cancun on spring break, at one time or another, although they had stayed at different hotels. They were both leasing nice cars. Jimmy had a Lexus, and Michelle was driving a BMW her father had leased for her. They wanted to live in the fast lane.

Jimmy began taking Michelle out for lunch at work. They would walk out of the office building and down the block to Charley's Pub, where they would eat out on the sidewalk tables as the other beautiful people waltzed by. Michelle liked to talk, and Jimmy enjoyed her cheerful chatter; funny little things she had observed the bosses doing, and gossip about other girls in the office, and glimpses of the dreams she had. She had once wanted to be a model, but she was too short. Now she wanted to sing. Her brother's friend had this band, and they were thinking of making a recording. It all sounded interesting to Jimmy, even exciting. There was talk of exotic places like Las Vegas and Los Angeles, New York and Austin.

Jimmy just enjoyed dating good looking women. It was sort of like playing a title game against the best team in the world. He had to be at his best to win the trophy, and like a star quarterback, he honed his game. He worked out on his abs. He had his car detailed for every date. He bought pastel colored silk shirts. He wined and dined Michelle at five star restaurants and nightclubs, even if it meant racking up debt on his credit card. He told himself it would be worth it.

At first, it seemed like it was. Michelle proved to be great kisser, better than Christine. She had a particular talent for licking his lips that he found really gratifying. One night, without saying a word, she pulled off her blouse and stuck her breasts in his face. Then, he was pleasantly surprised when she dropped to her knees, unbuckled his pants, and gave him a blow job in front of the aquarium in his living room, with the fish swimming around, oblivious.

He felt then that he was falling in love with her. He started to think of what it would be like to live with her. They could split an apartment. Then, they could have amazing sex whenever they wanted, no questions asked. He asked her what she thought of this idea, and was surprised to find how non committal she appeared to be. She told him it was a great idea, but whenever he wanted to go and look at apartments she always seemed to have something else to do. They were having a surprise birthday party for one of her friends. She had a project to finish for work. She had to visit her mother.

Her mother, she told him, lived in New Jersey, and when she went to visit her, she was gone for the weekend. Jimmy offered to come along a couple of times. He said he wanted to meet her mother, but Michelle told him her mother was really sick and she didn't like having visitors. Jimmy acted very concerned and asked what was wrong. Michelle told him she had breast cancer. Then, around Mother's Day, he bought a bouquet of flowers for Michelle to give to her mother. He thought it would impress her, but instead, she told him he shouldn't have done that. Her mother didn't like flowers.

Once he invited her to meet his parents, but she did not seem herself. Certainly not the person he had taken to those office parties. After an hour, she told him she had a headache, and asked him to drive her home. When he asked her what was wrong, she looked out of the window and said she was worried about her mom.

Soon she was skirting his proposals to go to bars, and then, his querries for sex. That began to make him think. After all, the sex had been terrific. He decided to insist on moving in together, and when he did, Michelle seemed put out. She asked questions. How soon did he want to move in? Where would they live? She didn't want to move that far away. And then what would they do after that? She listened to him with her head in his hand as if it were not something she wanted to hear, and that perplexed him. He asked her to think about it. He asked her what was wrong. She told him she had a lot on her mind, but she would tell him more after the weekend.

When she got back from her trip to her mother's, on Monday, she told Jimmy her mother was very bad. She needed new medicine, it cost a lot of money, and it wasn't covered by the insurance. She was going to stay in New Jersey for a few days, but she couldn't stay in her mother's apartment. There was a seedy neighbor there, she said, and she was going to have to stay in a hotel. She was short on cash, and she wanted to know if Jimmy could spare her a couple of hundred dollars, enough to tithe her over and get some medicine until she got back. Jimmy offered to go with her, but Michelle told him it wasn't a good idea. She didn't need visitors. She needed to rest. She did not look good, Michelle told him, and that bothered her. Jimmy had to see the point in that. But he did tell her he would help her out, of course. He agreed to lend her the money so that she could be with her mom and buy some of that medicine. She seemed grateful. She hugged him and kissed him. She told him she appreciated it. He told her he would call.

Jimmy went home feeling a little confused. Michelle had seemed impressed with his generosity, and she had told him she appreciated it, but why didn't she want him to come along? If she wanted to get serious with him, wouldn't he have to meet her mother at some point? They had been dating for almost a year, but handing her all that money had given Jimmy misgivings. As soon as she had it, she seemed in a hurry to leave. She had to go, she told him. She didn't even seem to hear him call after that he would call.

When he did call, she told him she couldn't talk for long. Her mother was bad. She was spending a lot of time at the hospital. She would explain when she got back, she told him. If her mother got better, she would be back. She told him to stop calling her.

She had sounded a little annoyed, and this seemed odd to Jimmy. She did not return to work the following week, and everyone was asking him what had happened to her. He told them she was with her sick mother. After a few days, he began to get worried. He finally called, but there was no answer. What had happened to her? Had she gotten into trouble with the seedy neighbor? Or was she just at the hospital?

He was beginning to think of calling the police, when he opened his email account and saw an email from her. He opened it. It was a short letter. In it, she said that she did not have a sick mother in New Jersey. She had lied. She was in a relationship with two men in Delaware that she had met on the internet. That was where she had been going when she told him she had been visiting her mother. They were into the same things, new things, things he wouldn't understand. After he had offered to visit her mother, she realized she couldn't see him any more. She had to get on with her life. She had gone to live with the guys in the threesome, where she could be her real self.

She was not leaving him any other information, so he could not follow her. And with that, she was gone.