I'd spent hours the previous night compiling a playlist for the trip. My taste in music still drew complaints from Bri and Kris, but I peppered the pl...ylist with songs I knew they'd enjoy, like Brown Eyed Girl or Tainted Love (the latter inspired a shouty sing-along from the back seat). After we crossed into Iowa, I turned off the interstate, and onto a two-lane highway, passing through a number of tiny reduced-speed communities. At one of these single-stop-light towns, we turned onto a main. Not to be so uptight about sex or so prudish about your body. I think you are very pretty and very sexy, Mrs. Jennings. I like talking about sex with the girl I am with. I like to talk about what makes her feel good and what makes me feel good and not to be embarrassed or unwilling to talk about what I may enjoy or she may enjoy or want to try. Just because a person has sexual desires to try something, regardless of how taboo it may sound, does not mean you have to do it. It’s just being. ”“Even though I did buy her?”“She does want the supposed fiction of her being your research assistant to be real.”“True. But do you think she’ll need more than I can give? Since I won’t just be with her.”“I think it’s exactly right for her. She can be loved and appreciated and be herself. Be independent. Even if there’s the monetary component, I don’t think she’ll feel bought by you. Because the relationship is real. Honest. Maybe for the first time in her life.”“Do you think I can help her. No wonder both sides of Boston was growing faster. Howard Cockerham was an excellent record keeper, but he could not decide which fork to use. I needed someone to tell him what to do, all day, every day. In other words, I needed someone like Veronica, but with a Granite State accent.All this was first impressions, from a single week of sabbatical. Still, I was fairly confident of my ground. Of the two, I expected Concord to take longer, so Johnson and I heading for Boston. I hoped for a quick.