The house Trish lived in was incredible. It was a big old rambling Victorian. The house was warm and sunny and alive. Women came, and women went, but the house kept an entire community of women together.

The owners of the house were very accommodating. They were a professional couple with plenty of money who lived on the outskirts of town. The house was initially a financial investment but turned into an investment in each new generation of lesbians.

Jody had seen Trish pass through a few times. She looked like she was feeling pretty good. Sue was never far from her, and they seemed very comfortable together.

Jody finally got a few minutes to speak with Trish.

”Exams went well. Finals left little time to sit around and be depressed, you know?” Trish looked away, concern shadowing her eyes, ”The holidays will be another story, Jo.” She looked at Jody as her eyes filled up.

Jody put an arm around Trish’s shoulder and pulled her a little closer.

Trish wiped her eyes. ”I’m going to see my therapist on Friday. I’m going to need some help getting through this.”

”Does that mean you’re staying here for the holidays?”

”I’m going to go home just for three days over Christmas. Sue is going to come with me,” Trish smiled. ”Her family is in Texas, and it is just too much of a trip.”

Jody gave her a wink, ”Good move. Something tells me you’ll keep yourself busy over your vacation.”

Trish laughed and led Jody to the keg for a refill.

Jody took her beer and found a quiet spot to get her thoughts together. She knew she was going to experiment with her playing, and she was nervous. It wasn’t that she was afraid these women wouldn’t like her music, but that they would be staring at her, shocked at the change in her performing. In a way, she’d like to be unnoticed, but that was what she was trying to get away from.

As Jody was thinking of her song list, Sharon came up from behind her and kissed her cheek. ”Hi.”

Jody turned around, smiling, ”Hi, I’m glad you’re early.” She hadn’t expected her for another hour.

Sharon caught the anxiety in Jody’s voice and sat next to her, putting her hand on the back of Jody’s neck, ”Don’t be nervous. It’ll be fine.”

Chapter 2

Jody picked up the package of 500 CDs and the flash drive from Bernie. The CD cover simply had Jody’s name in capitalized black letters. Jody decided to save money on the packaging to have more money available for the music.

Jody gave some thought to playing a few nights at the women’s clubs that were within a few hour’s driving distance. The problem was that most of the bars had gotten away from live music and played ”club” or ”dance” music with a dj.

On her way back through town, Jody stopped The Women’s Center at the college.

Trish saw Jody coming through the windows that encased the front walls of the two rooms that made up the Center.

”Hey, Jo, what’s up?”

”Just stopping buy to see how it’s going.” Jody nodded hello to the women Trish was sitting with.

”Good timing. I’ve got some big news.”

”What’s going on?” It was good to see Trish upbeat. ”This is so exciting, Jo. I can hardly believe it. We haven’t told anyone yet, but we’re planning a full scale concert for The Annual Women’s Conference this year. I’ve been talking to an agent at Sappho Records, and we’ve got Casey Evans lined up for the concert.”

Jody’s heart nearly stopped. She could not be serious, but Trish was exuding excitement, ”Are you kidding me?”

”No way, buddy. It’s for real.” Trish fist-bumped Jody.

”How in the hell did you pull this off?” Jody looked around at the other two women who were enjoying her amazement.

”We’ve been kicking it around for awhile,” Trish said nodding to the other women, ”and I thought, `What the hell!’, let me call and see if it is even something to fantasize about. So I called, and within a few days found out that it is a possibility. They are mailing a set of contracts for us to look over. In the meantime, Julie is working on putting funding together.”

Julie was the little brunette sitting across from Jody. She was a softball player who was usually at the bar with the other athletes. ”We’ve gotten verbal commitments from Student Activities, The Women’s Center budget, and our feminist support group on campus, United Women.”

NEW YORK STATE

”Five hundred for the rest of the afternoon.”

”Get real, Bernie! I’ve already put two grand into this. Give me two more hours to lay down the lead vocal.”

Bernie’s voice dropped, ”I can’t, Jody. I’ve snuck you in here for two days at ridiculous rates. My ass is grass if the Production Manager finds out. And he’s back in the offices today.”

Jody’s right hand unconsciously brushed through her hair. Bernie did all he could. She never would have gotten this quality recording without his help.

”One take. Let me lay down the lead vocal in one take. I can’t leave it the way it is; it’ll be months before I get to finish it if I have to wait.”

Bernie looked at the clock in the engineering room. He knew he was pushing it. It was dangerous sneaking Jody in here at all, and he already gave some bullshit line about who she was and what she was doing.

”Okay, kiddo. Live. No mixing, no dubbing. We use the vocal as is. You’ve got one shot.” He hurried back to the booth without even letting Jody thank him. ”Let’s do it,” he called over the intercom from behind the glass, separating the engineering room from the tiny recording studio.

Jody stood under the mike with her headphones on, listening for the cue of music and backup vocals to start. She closed her eyes and gave a deep sigh. She hated rushing, but she knew she couldn’t think about anything except hitting the vocal right on the money. She played the song in her head like a skier visualizes a run before beginning a race. Jody opened her eyes and looked at Bernie, ”Let it roll.”

Within a second, the intro was on, and Jody Taylor laid down the final track on her five song demo CD:

Will you kiss me again?
When I meet you with your new love
Will you hold my hand?
Like you used to love

I need to see your eyes again
Even for just one brief time
Reflect the love we once had
Just to ease my mind

Is it selfish to hold on?
When I was the one to let you go
Should I carry on?
God, I wish you would tell me no