Jack tried not to grimace as he took the sheaf of letters which seemed to always be mostly bills out of his mailbox cubby and found that today all the letters were bills, most of them marked as late or overdue.
"Hello Jack," Linda, an older woman who had the apartment below Jack's that he'd been on friendly terms with since he had moved in said as she walked up, "How are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm fine," Jack lied smoothly with a smile before tipping the letters in his hand with their red scarlet stamps of OVERDUE up to his chest when he saw Linda's eyes glance down.
"I had heard that the Portland Grill had closed," Linda said with a sympathetic smile, "I hope you were able to find something to get by."
Jack adjusted his mask unconsciously while he gave a shrug, "I've been running deliveries on my bike around town," Jack replied, "It's not what I made, but every little bit helps as long as they don't shut down takeout orders as well."
Linda nodded and opened her own cubby to pull out what looked to be two or three junk mail flyers before snapping it closed.
"Well, if you ever need a little extra money I'm sure I could find something for you to do," Linda said with a smile.
Jack laughed and shook his head, "I don't think twenty dollars to mow the grass would do much anymore, and besides the apartment complex keeps the grass mowed anyway."
"I guess they do, don't they," Linda replied and then gave Jack an odd, intense look, "But I still think I could find something that you could take care of for a bit more than twenty dollars.
"I might be able to go as much as thirty!"
"I'll keep that in mind, Mrs. Samuels," Jack said with another laugh and friendly nod before starting back to his apartment.
An hour later he was still sitting at his kitchen table going through all the bills again for the tenth time. He was already late on rent, had missed a car payment or three, and had said fuck it to his student loans almost a year ago and he still couldn't afford to get groceries this week.
As he stared down at all the bills Linda's off hand comment of finding an odd job for him to do kept resurfacing in his mind. Hell, even fifty bucks would help if it meant he could run by the grocery store, and like he had said to Linda earlier, every little bit helped.
Jack finally got up and slipped his Teva's on before walking downstairs to Linda's apartment. It was only a few moments from the time Jack knocked until Linda opened the door wearing a two piece black bathing suite and a light blue sarong coverup.
"Oh, hi Jack, you caught me just as I was getting ready to go to the pool," Linda said cheerfully.
"Hey, Mrs. Samuels," Jack said and tried not to openly stare.
Jack had noticed Linda before at the pool several times, and even though she had to be in her mid sixties she still got more than a few appreciative looks with her long, slim frame, dark brown hair that cascaded down past her shoulders, and uniform caramel tan. Even Linda's breasts were a firm C cup that Jack always suspected had more to do with modern surgery than good genetics.
"Ummm, I was actually wondering if you still might have an odd job or two for me if you were serious," Jack said after swallowing what little of his pride he still had.
"Well, first, you can start by calling me Linda," Linda replied tartly before giving Jack a more appreciative look himself, "Have you ever given massages before?"
"Massages?" jack asked in surprise, "I've... No, I've never given a massage."
"In your entire life?" Linda scoffed, "You mean you've never given a girlfriend a massage?"
"Well, yea, of course, but not a stranger," Jack replied.
"Am I a stranger?" Linda asked with a smirk.
"You know what I mean," Jack said, "And I don't think a massage would really be ok with all the Covid rules and stuff."
"I'm sure you wouldn't want to piss off Kate Brown, now would you," Linda said after looking at Jack with another smirk.
"I'm sorry, who?" Jack asked in confusion.
Linda sighed and shook her head before smiling.
"Well, Covid or not, if you want an extra job then how about you come back at two," Linda said with a smile, "I'll be back from the pool and you can give me a massage."
"I... ahhh..." Jack stammered.
"How about a hundred dollars for an hour?" Linda added, "A professional massage would cost more, but you already let it slip that you're not a professional. Who knows, It might not be too horrible a way to spend an hour for either one of us I would think."
Jack's mouth which had been hanging open in shock snapped closed at the mention of one hundred dollars. In all honesty Jack did enjoy giving massages with his past girlfriends, but that was generally because of where they tended to lead which would not be happening in this case.
"So?" Linda asked as her sarong slipped open.
Jack wasn't sure if Linda was intentionally flashing him but with her standing five foot six and his height of a little over six feet he found he had a perfect view between Linda's cleavage with her bra top bikini.
"Ahh, I think I could do that," Jack finally replied and looked up to meet Linda's twinkling eyes.