no, Steph. Not for tonight. It’s so, I don’t know, so flamboyant.”
“But it’s a party and that light, pretty party dress will make you feel like a party. And anyway, what’s wrong with a little flamboyance? Let’s look at this as a coming-out party for a new Jessie, a JessicaLynn party.”
“That’s silly.”
“It is not silly. Let’s look at it this way. If you decide to leave sometime soon—and I’m not for one moment suggesting that you should—you’ll never see any of these people again. If you stay, they’ll have met the new you and I’m sure they’ll love you as much as I do. Let’s create a new look for you to match your new life.”
“Oh Steph, I don’t know.”
“I know you very well, JessicaLynn Hanley, and somewhere inside you a little JessicaLynn-voice is saying, ‘Do it. Have some fun for a change.’ Another, louder Jessie-voice is saying, ‘That’s ridiculous. Be yourself, conservative and proper.’ Tell that Jessie-voice to stuff it and let JessicaLynn out.”
Jessie laughed. “You do know me well, don’t you. That’s exactly what’s going through my brain. I would really like to be JessicaLynn, fun-loving party-girl, but on the inside I’m still Jessie, proper and restrained.” When Steph didn’t respond, Jessie raised an eyebrow. “The flowered dress?”
“The flowered dress.”
“The strappy sandals we bought to go with it?”
Steph nodded, then added, “And no tightly organized French twist. Wear your hair softer, maybe even loose.”
“But that’s not me,” Jessie protested softly.
“It’s JessicaLynn.”
“It’s JessicaLynn,” she whispered. “Okay. I’ll wear the dress and the shoes, but I don’t know about the hair.”
“Yippee. JessicaLynn gets to come out and play.”
The party was scheduled for eight o’clock so the three friends had a bite to eat around six. Then Jessie went to her room, took a long shower, and scrubbed her long red hair until it squeaked. She wrapped herself in a towel, then wandered into the bedroom, opened the closet door and stood before the full-length mirror. Her fine, soft hair was already drying and flowing softly around her shoulders. The summer sun had turned the ivory skin on her face, arms, and legs a soft peachy color.
She hadn’t really looked at herself in years, so Jessie took a deep breath and dropped the towel. Her figure was softer and more rounded than it had been in high school. Her breasts were high and full, her nipples deep smoky-pink. Her hips were wide enough to accentuate her small waist. Her legs were long and shapely. She smiled. I should be thinking about my thick thighs and my not-too-flat stomach, she thought. But JessicaLynn wouldn’t do that.
She put on a white lace bra and panties, added a short half-slip, and then she was ready for the dress. Jessie took the hanger from the closet and, without looking in the mirror, pulled it over her head and zipped it up. She looked down and all she could see was the deep shadowed valley between her breasts. She wiggled her hips and pulled up at the neckline. “I can’t do this,” she said. Then she glanced up and looked at her reflection. “Wow,” she said.
The dress was perfect. It hugged her upper body and cascaded in soft flowing lines over her hips and thighs. The skirt fell to just below her knees and below her short slip it was slightly translucent. She looked five years younger than she had looked a half an hour before and, she admitted to herself, she felt ten years younger.
She struggled with the tiny straps on her sandals and finally got them adjusted to her satisfaction. Again she looked at herself and grinned. “Okay, JessicaLynn, what about this hair?” Part of her wanted to put it into her traditional French twist but she stopped herself. She brushed it until it was soft and dry and pulled it back from her face. She tried a ponytail at the back of her head, then one at the nape of her neck, and finally one on top of her head. None of them were right. She pulled it one way, then another. Nothing looked the way she wanted.
She almost surrendered and put her hair up in her usual style when she remembered a long silver-colored comb she had once pushed into the fold of her twist. She found the comb in the bottom of her cosmetic bag and used it to pull one side of her hair back behind her ear. “Oh my God,” she muttered as she saw the sexy woman in the mirror. “Is that me?”
It is if you want it to be, JessicaLynn said in her mind.
But is this the conservative midwesterner you’ve always been? Jessie asked.
No. And so what? JessicaLynn answered.
But what would Rob think?
Out loud, JessicaLynn said, “Who gives a fuck!” She dusted her cheeks with blush, pencilled on a line of eyeliner, and colored her lips with a coral lipstick. “Well, JessicaLynn, here goes.”
Chapter
3
Jessica walked into the kitchen where Steph and Brian were doing a few last-minute things for the party. They had bought several party platters at the local gourmet food store and, while Steph filled a bowl with mixed nuts, Brian was dropping fresh fruit into the blender. Steph was wearing a white cotton halter-top dress with a navy belt and sandals. Brian wore identical colors, a white short-sleeved shirt, white duck slacks with a navy belt, and navy deck shoes.
“Did you two dress to match on purpose?” Jessica asked.
At the sound of her voice, Brian and Steph turned. “Holy cow,” Steph said while Brian just whistled long and low. “You look fabulous.”
“Now I see what I’ve always known,” Brian said, staring. “You are not only a lovely looking woman, you’re sexy as hell.”
“JessicaLynn,” Steph said, “you’re amazing.”
“JessicaLynn?” Brian said.
“We decided that the person you’ve seen for the past week is Jessie, but it’s time to let her sensual alter ego out.” Steph waved her arm at the gorgeous woman standing in the doorway. “This is JessicaLynn.”
“Actually, I’d prefer to be Jessica for the moment. I’m not yet ready to become JessicaLynn but this,” she swirled her skirt, “isn’t Jessie either.”
“Okay, what’s this name thing you two have got going?” Brian asked.
Jessica motioned for Steph to explain. “Jessie lives in the midwest. She’s a bit conservative and sexually repressed.”
“Steph!”
“Well, she is,” Steph said.
As Brian laughed, he asked, “And JessicaLynn?”
“She’s a swinger. She loves sex and games and fun.” Steph gave her husband a peck on the cheek. “Like us, darling.”
Brian looked at Jessica and, after a moment, said, “You’re telling me that you’re halfway there.”
“Not
