Chapter 81

“Hey, my friend. I miss you.” Fran’s voice made Kim smile.

“I miss you too Fran. How is L.A.?” she asked and sat down on her couch. She was just home from work. Of course, she had to work much longer than planned…again.

“Well, the weather is nice, Jason loves his new school and he already found new friends.” Fran told her and tried to sound enthusiastic, but she couldn’t fool Kim.

“Ok…but..?” her best friend asked. Fran sighed.

“But these people here are driving me crazy. I don’t seem to fit into this whole Hollywood glamour world and I miss Richie. And…Heather…well, is Heather.” Kim could hear Fran’s frustration. If she would only have a job by now, but somehow it was way more difficult to find one in LA than everyone thought.

“You ain’t getting along any better, right?”

“No, I have the feeling it’s getting worse, especially for Ava. She loves to spend time with Jason and me. That only makes Heather more bitchy.”

“She doesn’t even try to play nice?”

“No. She established the image of an actress and mother. You know single mom still having a carrier. The problems is, she is a terrible mother. She barely spends time with Ava. The public doesn’t know that though and now pics of me and the kids having ice cream or doing shopping show up in those gossip magazine.”

“I see. Losing her image worries her probably more than losing her daughter.”

“Exactly.” Fran sighed. “It’s so frustrating. I wish I could jump on the next plane and go and see Rich for a couple days to escape this twilight zone.”

“Why don’t you?” Kim wondered.

“Kim, I can’t leave Jason alone. And Joan is just back in Jersey. I can’t asked her to come out again. She really deserves some time on her own.”

“What about Richie’s housekeeper? I thought she and Jason get along well?”

“Yeah, they do…but I don’t feel comfortable leaving him alone with her for a couple days…and nights. I can’t get myself to do it.”

Kim sighed. Fran always had problems leaving her son for more than a day.

“What about you, Kim. Why are you working so much, I thought you already wanted to be with Jon by now?” Fran wondered.

“I wish I would.” Kim sighed. “I miss him like hell.”

“Tell me about it.” Fran mumbled.

“There is just so much to do and the apartment is not done yet. I think it will take a while. And I at least wanna check the work out when I come home in the evening. I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving with the work still in progress. Besides Andrew always has tons of questions even though we talked everything through.”

“You said this is the first big job for him. He probably wants to make sure he got everything right.”

“Yeah, I know. And I appreciate it…really. He is here every day and makes sure the craftsmen are working and doing everything right. Even the dogs start to like him. I found him sitting with them on the patio the other day giving them biscuits.”

“Then he really seems to be a nice guy.” Fran said laughing. Those dogs wouldn’t be nice to someone they didn’t like.

“How is it going in the hospital?” she wondered.

“Oh, Fran…believe me, you don’t wanna know.” Kim sighed and opened a bottle of her favorite wine.

“Why? What’s wrong?” her best friend asked worried.

“Well, you know we were already short on doctors. Now Maureen left, because she is pregnant…”

“Really? Oh that’s great. I’m so happy for her. I need to call her tomorrow.” Fran interrupted her excited.

“…Yeah, I’m really happy for her too, but with her being gone and Allan mysteriously getting sick every second week, it’s really getting difficult.”

“Is he ok? Or is there something we don’t know about?” Fran asked a little concerned. It really didn’t sound like Allan to stay home for nothing.

“I’m pretty sure he is ok. I think he is close to quitting as well. He barely has time left for his family and they shortened his budget for his research.”

“You gotta be kidding me? They always said his research was untouchable!”

“Yeah, I know. He was more than pissed when they told him…or better let Donald tell him. They didn’t even had the guts to come down from their offices and tell him by themselves.”

“Wow. So how do you guys keep it running?” Fran wondered.

“No idea. Somehow it works. But the problem is that every candidate that comes in to replace me, is a little shocked by it. Then I tell them their income and they leave.” Kim sighed.

“Well, that’s not surprising. If you wanna support a family with that income you have to keep it pretty tight. You just never had that problem.” Fran told her.

“Yeah, I know, Fran. But where are those doctors who wanna work to help children and don’t give a damn about where the hospital is located and how many hours they gotta work?” Kim asked.

“Well, I think you graduated from med school three years ago.” Fran said dryly.

“Haha, thanks a lot. I can’t be the only enthusiast out there.”

“I wouldn’t be sure about it.”