Chapter 75

“So, how is LA?” Kim asked with her phone pressed to her ear while resting comfortably on her couch.

Ten days ago, they celebrated New Year’s Eve together in New Jersey. The party was nice. The following events even nicer. Kim and Fran only had to take one look at each other the next morning and knew how much fun both of them had. Now Fran and Richie were back in California and her and Jon were enjoying the little time-off they had in New York.

“Warm.” Fran replied laughing.

“I bet it is. I’m worried Jon and Jess will have a cold when they come back later.”

“Where are they?” Fran wondered.

“They are at Patriot’s Playoff game. Jon thought it would be a good idea to spend some alone time with Jesse and remind him of their deal, now that school started again.”

“Is he still hanging out with the boys who beat him up?” Fran asked.

“Well, with two of them. One boy is at a residential school for boys now and the other one has to deal with military school. The parents finally had enough of his behaviour.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, I just hope Jake and Romeo won’t give us that much trouble. I think Jess got it now. How are Jason and Ava?”

“Jason is fine. He likes his new school and he likes the warm weather, you know how much he hates scarves and caps.”

“Yeah.” Kim chuckled.

“Ava is a little confused right now, I would say. Rich and her are out for lunch.” She told her best friend.

“Confused? Why? What’s wrong?” Kim asked a little worried. If Fran and Ava might get problems, everything could get very complicated. Fran sighed.

“Her mother is wrong! You know, I really thought she would behave now that Rich and I live together, but she is and will always be a bitch. I think she doesn’t like it that Ava and I are getting along so well.”

“She doesn’t want you to see her?” Kim asked and took a sip from her hot chocolate.

“Not really, but of course she isn’t admitting it. She says Ava can come over and the girl is all happy and asks me on the phone if we can cook together or bake cookies or do some shopping, then a couple hours later, Heather calls and tells me Ava can’t come and I hear her crying in the background. Then she says it’s fine, she can spend the night, then again not.” Kim could hear Fran frustration.

“She made me so angry. Especially when I heard Ava begging her to let her go.”

“Did you lose it?” Kim wanted to know.

“No. I stayed calm. And called Richie. He had a meeting about some new designs for his clothing line and wasn’t here when Ava and Heather called.”

“Wow! I’m impressed.”

“Believe me, I was too. When I told him his baby is crying and begging her mother to see me and Jason and spend the night at daddy’s place, he got mad.”

“Oh, oh…”

“Yeah, he called her and told her if Ava isn’t at his place in the next 30 minutes, they would meet at court and she could explain to the judge why she was treating her child like this.”

“Did it work?”

“Yeah, it did. Seems Heather is really afraid of everything concerning court hearings. 20 minutes later Ava was with us. Heather didn’t even bother to get out of the car, she left as soon as Ava was out of the car. She was totally upset. It took me hours to calm her down again.”

“Unbelievable! How did Jason react?”

“Oh, he was so sweet. Of course he heard me talking to Heather and Richie on the phone and when Ava wouldn’t stop crying even though she was wrapped in a blanket and had her favorite stuffed animal, he walked into the kitchen and brought her chocolate chip cookies and milk.” Fran got a little emotional just thinking about it again. Even though Ava was becoming a teenager she needed the little stuffed dolphin her daddy bought her years ago.

“Awww, that’s so sweet. You raised a little gentleman it seems.” Kim smiled.

“Yeah, I hope so. I’m just worried what might happen when Jason and I are in New York to clean out our apartment.”

“Can’t Ava come with you? And when will you be here? I’m sure you can use some help.” Kim turned the pages in her diary.

“23^rd. The boys will be in Europe, in Germany I think and afterwards are the Grammy’s and then David’s birthday. We stay at Richie’s condo in Philly for that time before flying back to LA. Luckily Jason has no school in that time. And Joan will help us too.”

“Ok, got it.” She marked the days in her diary. “Will Joan move in with you guys in LA?”

“I don’t know. I think she really likes her places in Jersey. It sure holds a lot of memories. I don’t think she wants to leave, but she knows she is always welcome at Rich’s place…so we’ll see what the future brings.” Kim nodded even though Fran couldn’t see her.

“Oh, and Miss Locklear already told us that her daughter will not spend her days in a cheap apartment in New York and perform dirty work. She has to take care of her image now that she is a model.” Fran snorted unlady like.

“Oh my God! Is she serious?” Kim couldn’t believe her ears.

“Dead serious. And as Rich isn’t with us, there was no chance we could get her to agree to it. I’m worried what she might tell Ava while we are gone.”

“Don’t you think Ava is smart enough to see through the games her mother is playing?”

“Well, I hope so. Rich and I will sit down with her again before we are leaving. It’s very important for her to understand that Rich and also Joan doesn’t love her any less just because Jason and I showed up in the picture.”

“True. I really hope things get a little bit normal in the future.” Kim tried to get Fran to think about something positive.

“Well, I can tell you nothing is ‘normal’ here in LA. I have the unusual need to make sure my make-up and outfit is just perfect when I leave the house. Something I never had in New York, but people look at you weird when you wear just jeans and a shirt.”

“Okaaay.” Kim was stunned.

“And some mothers of Ava’s classmates actually warned me about Heather. They told me she is very scheming. Seems she even tries to manipulate them or their daughters to make Ava look good.”

“Jesus. That woman needs help!”

“Tell me about!” Fran replied dryly.

Chapter 74

 

“What are you doing, Jon?” Kim asked grinning while snuggling deeper into her pillow. He stopped kissing her neck and looked at her with lust shining in his eyes.

“Celebrating a proper New Year.” He answered and pulled the covers over their heads. Kim laughed, but pushed him away.

“Jon, Rich and Fran are next door and Ava and Jason too.”

“The kids are dead tired. They won’t hear a thing and I’m pretty sure our two best friends are already doing it!”

“Jon!”

“What? You know I am right. They could barely keep their hands off each other all night and rushed up here as soon as David and Lexi were gone.” Kim laughed.

They had a small New Year’s Eve party with some friends. All night long Rich and Fran were practically glued to each other. The red-hot dress Fran was wearing could have been the reason for it. Kim was happy for her friend. She hadn’t seen her this happy and relaxed in years.

“They could still hear us!”

“No, they won’t…” Jon covered her mouth with his and kissed her deeply.

Right across the hall Rich tried to get lucky as well.

“Rich, Jon and Kim will hear us.”

“Well, let me tell you what Jon is doing right now or better let me show you.” Rich said grinning and leaned forward to kiss Fran. Her hand on his shoulder stopped him tough.

“I don’t want them to hear us!”

“Fran, believe me! They are busy! They won’t hear us!”

She still looked at him sceptical when an idea formed in his head. When his slightly frustrated expression turned into and evil grin she knew, she was in trouble.

“What? What do you got on your mind, Mister?” He chuckled lightly and leaned down to whisper in her left ear.

“Well, then you better don’t make a sound.” Her eyes grew wide when the meaning behind his words sank in.

“But how…”

“Shhh!” he covered her mouth softly with his hand.

“Not a sound.” He repeated before pulling the sheets away and revealing her gloriously naked body. She swallowed hard. How should she be able to stay quiet? Seeing him staring at her already had her hot and ready.

Rich started with light touches at her shoulders, before letting his hands softly take care of her full breast. Fran hissed through clenched teeth when his mouth sucked on one of her now hard nipples while his hands were still massaging the other one.

He continued to place soft kiss across her body. Moving slowly, but determinant down to her most intimate flesh. She groaned when his fingertips moved over the sensitive skin of her thighs and glided through the well-trimmed triangle, before every lightly and shortly making contact with her clit.

She turned her head and pressed her head into the pillow to silence the loud moan that was escaping her lips. She could hear Rich’s deep throaty chuckle. He sure had fun.

He spread her legs and drew small circles with his fingers up her legs. Barely touching her skin and always stopping before reaching the spot where she really needed him. Her hips moved towards his touch every time his fingers came close to her core.

“God, Rich…” she moaned.

“Shhh!” he said astonished. Her eyes narrowed lightly and she gave him a disapproving look. Amused he raised his eyebrows.

“Just tell me what you want and I do it, darling.” He whispered with his chocolate brown eyes roaming freely over her heat and exposed body. His words were nearly her doom.

“God, fuck me already!” she hissed and tried to pull him on top of her.

“Your wish is my command.” He grabbed her wide spread legs and entered her in one long deep stroke.

“God, yeeeees!” Fran moaned and grabbed the metal struts of the headboard for the support. The whole evening he touched and kissed her. Whispered some rather dirty thoughts into her ear and made this tension in her grew bigger and bigger.

When all the guest had finally left all she wanted was some alone time with him, but with Kim and Jon right a across the hall and the kids next door she felt a little hesitant. Now she was not caring anymore.

“More, Rich…I need more!” she begged him and wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Shhh, darling. Not so loud.” He told her and leaned forward to capture her mouth with his, smothering her next moans.

They both started to move faster now that they could feel their much-needed release coming closer. Rich wrapped her arms around her and pulled her upper body closer to his now sweaty chest. She hissed when her breasts made contact with his hard body and moaned deeply at the sensation that was running through her body every time his chest brushed along her proudly standing nipples.

“Rich…I…I…” she bit her lower lip to not scream aloud.

He realized she was close and leaned down to kiss her passionately. Seconds later, they both groaned their release and managed to keep it at quiet as possible.

Still breathing strongly Richie managed to roll off her, only to wrap his arms around her and gather her close.

“You ok, darling?” he asked a little concerned, because she wasn’t saying anything.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” she barely managed to bring the words out. He grinned at her.

“Happy New Year, darling.”

Chapter 73

“Jon?” Kim entered his office.

“Yeah, hon?” he quickly put away his mobile.

“Hey, you promised no work!” Kim told him and wrapped her arms around him.

They would spend the last four days with the kids in New Jersey. Kim was a little nervous at the beginning, because it was the first time the kids were with them for a longer period, but everything went very well.

Actually, Romeo asked her to come with him when Dorothea picked the kids up about one hour ago.

“Well, it wasn’t work.” Jon told her while petting Kidd’s head. The dogs loved to wander around big the house or play in the huge backyard. Kidd was glued to Jon since they arrived though.

“Oh, come on…” she grinned.

“No, really. Actually I have a surprise for you.”

“Really?” she looked at him curious. He gave her a gorgeous wristlet for Christmas, beside other small items.

“Yep, it should come through the gate any minute.” He chuckled when she turned on her heel and headed downstairs. He found her peeking through the kitchen window trying to figure out what it could be when a black SUV drove through the gate.

“How did they know the code?” Kim frowned and turned to Jon.

“Oh, I gave it to them.” He had problems hiding the smirk on his face.

“You shouldn’t do that, Jon. It’s way too dangerous.” Kim told him and looked out of the window again.

“Nah, I can trust those people.” He laughed lightly when she gave him a disapproving look.

“OH MY GOD!” she squealed the next moment and rushed to the door.

“FRAN!” she screamed when she ripped it open and gave her best friend a big hug. Jon grinned at Richie who was giving him the thumbs up. They didn’t manage to pull it off for Christmas, but their girls would be together on New Year’s Eve.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I had no idea where Rich was taking me until we landed in Newark.” Fran had tears in her eyes and hugged Kim again, before Jason launched himself at his aunt.

“Uncle Jon!” Ava rushed over to him and he pulled her close for a long hug as well.

“Hi babygirl. How was your Christmas?”

“Great! Fran showed me how to bake cookies and Jason and I were playing Christmas songs on our guitars!” the girl’s eyes were shining happily. She was always much more relaxed and in balance when she spending time with her father.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, princess?” Richie watched the interaction between Jon and his daughter smiling. She turned her head and looked at him for a second. He raised his eye browns.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks for the Christmas presents. I loved the dress and the other stuff.” Jon grinned.

“You are welcome, baby. Kim helped me picking the items out.” Ava turned around and looked at Kimberly hesitating only a few seconds.

“Thank you, Kimberly.” She gave her a short hug. Kim smiled.

“You are welcome, Ava. When Steph saw the dress, she said it would be just perfect you. Seems she was right.” Ava nodded agreeing.

“Is Steph still here?” she asked Jon.

“No, I’m sorry baby. She is already back in the city with Dorothea.” Ava frowned lightly. She always liked to spend time with Steph. The girls got along pretty well.

“The boys too?” Jason asked him.

“Yeah, Jason. They are all back with their mom.” Jon said and watched amused how the boy looked at Richie before he was giving him a short hug.

“Oh, ok.” Fran and Kim looked at the boy worried. He sounded relieved that the other kids were not here.

“Can I show Jason the house, Uncle Jon?” Ava asked anxious.

“Sure, baby. You know where your room is and maybe you can show Jason his room too.”

“The blue-greenish one next to it?” she asked.

“Yes. Do you like blue and green, Jason?” Jon asked the seven year old.

“Yeah, as long as it is not pink, I’m fine.” He said and cringed his nose lightly. Jon and Richie laughed.

“I can understand that, buddy.” Rich squeezed his shoulder lightly. “Here, take your bags upstairs and put them in your room.”

“Ok, dad.”

“Sure, Richie.”

The adults shook their heads when the two kids rushed upstairs and laughed about Ava telling Jason never to enter Jesse’s room, because it was a garbage dump and smelled horrible.

“Is Jason worried to meet the other kids?” Kim asked when they sat down in the living room. Fran sighed.

“I don’t know. He didn’t say anything to me.” She looked at Richie.

“I think he met so many new people lately that he simply needs some time to let it all sink in, darling. I’m sure he’ll be fine when he meets Jon and David’s kids and Hector.” Rich assured her.

“Maybe you are right. You know he had the chance to meet some of his future class mates a couple days ago.” Fran explained to Kim.

“They were having a get-together and the school told us they would be very happy if Jason would come as well.” Richie continued.

“That sounds great. How did it go?” Kim wondered.

“Well, he was a little shy at the beginning. Clinging to Richie a lot, you know.” Kim smiled and looked at Richie, who was grinning lightly. He loved Jason and was very happy that the boy was trusting him.

“But when some of the boys started to talk about transformers he was right with them.” Fran said smiling. Jon laughed.

“That seems to be the lowest common dominator for boys these days. For girls it’s shopping, for boys transformers.” Rich nodded agreeing.

“Well, he was interested in the girls as well, I have to say.” Richie said. Fran shot him a look.

“What? I think it was cute. And he was very nice to her.” He grinned.

“What did he do?” Jon wondered.

“Well, there was this sweet little girl. Deep brown hair, huge green eyes…looking a lot like Fran.”

“Oh, please!” she rolled her eyes. Jon laughed lightly. Richie chuckled lightly.

“When they were all sitting down at the table to eat the girls were sitting on one side of the table while the boys were occupying the other side. The last available chair was right in the middle of all the boys and you could see the little girl didn’t wanna sit there at all.”

“Little Diva she is.” Fran commented.

“Oh, come on, Fran. She simply knew the boys better. And she was right as we all found out later.” Richie said.

“So, Jason got up from his chair next to a girl and asked her if she wanted to sit there. And when she sat down he even held out the chair for her.”

“I’m sure the other mothers were totally over the moon.” Kim laughed.

“Yeah, they all asked if we could arrange for a play date.” Rich told her laughing. Fran smiled lightly. She had to admit it was sweet how her son behaved. He did what his daddy always did for her and the approving glances she got from the other parents sure felt good.

“So, he made some points, huh?” Jon grinned.

“Yeah, until he joined the food fight of the boys.” Rich said laughing. Kim looked at him shocked.

“You gotta be kidding?” she looked at Fran.

“I wish he was. The boys really made as mess, while the girls left the room in a hurry.” Fran sighed. Jon chuckled.

“I don’t think it’s funny, Jon. We had to cover the backseat of Rich’s car with garbage bags before we could let him in there.” Jon laughed out loud.

“Garden hose?” he asked a laughing Richie.

“Nah, I put him under the shower with his clothes still on. Only way to get rid of most of the food pieces.” Fran shook her head.

“Please, don’t remind me. It took me hours to clean the bathroom again.”

Chapter 72

“Whew! Thanks for your help Fran.” Kim let herself fall onto the couch in her office. The floor was covered with neatly wrapped presents and expensive looking small bags.

“No, problem Kim. Gave me some time to relax before we are leaving.” Fran and Richie would fly out to LA together with Jason and Richie’s mom tomorrow afternoon. Right now, the boy was in New Jersey with his new grandma and baking tons of Christmas cookies and he promised Kim to send her some before they had to leave tomorrow.

Kim and Jon would have a quite Christmas celebration the day before for Christmas here in New York, before Dot would drop the kids off in New Jersey the next day and get some rare alone time.

Kim shook her head. She would never understand how Fran could relax while wrapping Christmas presents. However, compared to the last couple of weeks it sure was relaxing.

She had done tons of Christmas shopping, wanting to find the perfect gift for each of the kids as it would be their first Christmas together. Jon tried to tell her to relax about it, but she couldn’t. Besides she did the decoration in their apartment as well as the New Jersey house. When Jon spotted the two enormous trees she had managed to get into both living rooms, he could not help but stare at them.

As her dogs had never been in the house she made sure to find a quiet spot for them which they could use to relax from all the kids around them.

Her boss was not happy that she was quitting and had the impertinence to offer her more money. She laughed about it and asked him if he had any idea who he was talking to. At least he had the grace to look contrite and admitted that the hospital administration told him to make the offer.

The stupid realtor they had to deal with had nothing better to do then to go with Jon’s ‘my future wife’ comment to the press and now the paparazzis were following her wherever she would go, because they had the absurd idea of a wedding at New Year’s Eve.

She sighed lightly. Hopefully everything would be much calmer next year. She couldn’t wait to start re-doing her apartment so Jon could really feel at home, even though he still thought it was complete unnecessary.

“Oh, before I forget it. These are for Jason, Ava, Rich and I’m sure you find something for yourself in there too.” Kim grinned and handed her two huge plastic bags which contained lots of presents. Fran smiled.

“Here are yours…I added something for Jon and the kids.” Fran gave her two bags as well.

“Oh, Fran you shouldn’t have…” Kim protested.

“It’s ok, the presents for the kids are actually from Rich and I. He knew very well what each child would like.”

“Thanks, Fran.” Kim gave her a long hug and together they walked into the living room where Jon and Rich were patiently waiting for them to get ready for hours already.

“Are those the presents for Lloyd and Ed?” Fran wondered and pointed at two envelopes at the sideboard.

“Yeah, Lloyd’s flight for the Bahamas will leave tomorrow and Ed and his wife will get a candle light dinner delivered at New Year’s Eve.” Kim explained.

“I thought they always go out?” Fran said surprised.

“They do, but his wife doesn’t wanna leave the twins at home alone for their first New Year celebration, so I made sure the restaurant delivers.”

“You really got them to deliver? Wow!” Fran was impressed.

“Yeah, you just gotta know how.” Kim laughed lightly and knew they could no longer pro-long their goodbye.

An awkward silence filled the room and made Jon and Richie stop their conversation and look up.

To their surprise their two girls were staring at each other with tears in their eyes. Both got to their feet a little confused.

“So, that’s it.” Kim whispered and grabbed Fran’s hand. Her best friend only nodded.

“The first time in 13 years we won’t spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve together.” Her voice trembled when she finally said it out loud. Rich and Jon looked at them surprised.

“Honey, why didn’t you tell us?” Jon asked irritated. Kim smiled softly at him with tears shining in her eyes.

“Because Fran and I both knew this day would come, ….actually, well we dreamed, hoped this day would come, because it means we both are no longer alone.”

“We knew we would only be a short-time-family.” Fran whispered and pulled Kim close.

“But that’s bullshit!” Richie said forcefully. Three sets of eyes looked at him surprised. “You two are close like sisters, you are a family, so you will spend the holidays together!”

He couldn’t stand those sad eyes of his girlfriend. Fran smiled and squeezed Kim’s hands before walking over to Richie.

“And how should we do it, Rich?” She wrapped her arms around his waist and searched his eyes. “We will fly out to Ava, and Jon and Kim will be first in New York and then in Jersey.”

“We can’t just squeeze the kids into a plane, just because Fran and I wanna be together at Christmas. It wouldn’t be fair.” Kim told the two frowning men softly and stepped closer to Jon.

“But…” Jon wanted to protested.

“No, Jon. We’ll be at the East Coast and Fran and Richie will be at the West Coast.” She sighed and looked over at Fran. “It’s just a little hard this year, because it’s like a new part of our lives begins.”

“But we are with the ones we love and it’s not like we won’t see each other again.” Fran said softly and searched Kim’s eyes.

There was an uncomment exchange between them, they both knew that sooner or later they would no longer live in the same city together. Fran would move in with Richie in LA by the end of January. The whole country would separate them then, sometimes they wouldn’t even be on the same continent when Kim was travelling with Jon. They both had to move on with their lives alone.

While the two women shared another hug they missed the silent exchange between their two men. They would make it happen. Their two ladies would see each other between Christmas and New Year's Eve. They had no idea how. But they would make it work.