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.