She explained: before I broke up with Jenna I would have to find my replacement. It wouldn't be fair just to leave her. Jenna was skittish and unconfident, she could go a year without a new boyfriend if no action was taken. We could even look for him together. Was guilt motivating her? I asked. No, she didn't believe in guilt. So this was just good parenting, then?
"Don't get nasty."
"Jenna doesn't need our help," I said. "I'm sure she can handle this on her own."
"She cannot," Gloria said sharply. "I know my daughter."
"So do I."
"You have sex with her. That's about it."
It would be exciting for us, she suggested. And it was the right thing to do, she assured me, but I don't think that was true, or if it was, that it mattered. I think Gloria was correct the first time. The only motive is the self, hungry and stupid, tearing through the human landscape.
We discussed it for weeks, examined it, unkinked it, and finally developed a logical plan of action. Of course it didn't work. People aren't logical, thus the proliferation of marriage.

Roger, six-foot-two in a baby blue oxford and khaki pants, finished his whiskey with an authoritative crush of ice cubes. He had just the jaw for the job: a swooping arc of bone studded with dense molars. I swirled the wine in my glass and watched the red crescents slide along the sides. Gloria giggled and sauntered into the kitchen to turn off the timer. Jenna scurried after her. Roger scratched his crotch with his knuckles.
"This is a fantastic apartment," Roger said.
"It is," I said, spinning a coaster.
"I'd love to have an apartment this nice one day."
"You've got a nice apartment."
"Yeah," he admitted, thinking it over. "But this one's nicer."
We stared at the table. Gloria had brought in cut flowers, what might have been gladioli, I didn't know. "I'm hungry," Roger said. "Are you hungry?"
I went into the kitchen and told Jenna that Roger was starving. "Bring him some crackers," I said. When she left with a tray I bit Gloria on the neck.
"Eric!"
"Let's not talk about me. You look extraordinary, as usual." Gloria fixed me a sultry look, unseasonal on this crisp October night, with its fat, hot hunger surreptitiously cruising the underneath of her lips. I ran my thumb along her jaw, admiring her elegant, angular features.
"He's better than I remember," Gloria said, and removed my hand.
"He has a horse-y face," I said. "It implies obtuseness."
"He's big. Jenna needs big."
"I'm taller than Jenna," I said.
"I know you are darling. I meant bulk. You have a slender frame. But Jenna, she's not so . . . " she trailed off.
Roger appeared in the doorway with Jenna behind him.
"Oh look," Gloria said, "we're all in the kitchen."
"Roger said it smelled too good not to take a look."
 

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