He had recent images: Shelly on Asilomar Beach in Pacific Grove or at Point Lobos, on the bluffs where the park rangers were always telling you to stay away from the edge. Man, he could picture her clearly there.

He pictured her in bed.

But the first time they met, no, he couldn't see that at all.

He'd tried a lot lately.

Nicole opened the door.

“Hey there,” she said.

“Hi, babe.” He took off his cowboy hat, kissed her cheek and hugged her and felt that wonderful presence of a voluptuous woman against your body. She looked good: a pale blue silk dress with a high neckline, high heels, hair teased up and back. The makeup — well, she was a little over-the-line there, but he could tone it down with some gels on the lights. He picked up his camera bags and carried them inside.

He noticed her dangling zirconia earrings. They were pretty but he'd get lens flare off of them. They'd have to go.

“You look nice,” he said.

“Thanks, come on in. You want a drink?”

“Sure. Juice. Mineral water.”

“So you've, like, completely stopped drinking?”

“Yep,” he said.

“Good for you. You mind if I...”

“Oh, God, no. Go right ahead.”

Nicole poured two orange juices. Added vodka to hers. The bottle vibrated slightly in her hand as she poured. He smiled. “What, you nervous?”

“A little I guess. Isn't that weird? I do a sex film and no big deal. I'm on camera with my clothes on and I get butterflies in my tummy.”

“Ah, it'll be a piece of cake.” They clinked glasses. “To your new career.”

She sipped the drink, then set the glass down. Her eyes swiveled; she'd been thinking about something, it seemed. She decided to say it. “If this works out, Tommy, you think there'll maybe be others I could do?”

Tommy drank down half the juice. “I don't see why not.” Then: “I ought to start getting set up. Can you show me the kitchen?”

She led him into the large, tiled room. It was chrome and white. In the center of the ceiling was a large steel rack hanging from chains. Dozens of heavy copper pans and bowls hung from it.

“This'll work just fine.”

“We had it redone last year.”

He looked over the room. “We can use those pans. Copper looks good on camera.”

Together they began assembling the camera and lights.

Nicole asked, “Was it hard for you to, you know, get out of the business?”

“Out of porn? Yeah, financially it was a pain. What I did was assist at some film companies for a while.”

“Like what Rune's doing?”

“Rune? Oh, that girl. Yeah, like her. And eventually I started getting some jobs as a cameraman, then I directed some documentaries.”