Chapter 2
"Julie! Jimmy! Great you made it!" Sandy kissed Julie on the cheek and welcomed Jimmy with a handshake. "I hope you're hungry. Kirsten is preparing a wonderful dinner. Jimmy, what do you think about a beer?"
"Sounds good." The two men disappeared into the living-room and Julie went into the kitchen where she found Kirsten cutting the vegetables. "Hey Kirsten, do you need some help?"
"Hey Julie. I'm so glad you could make it!" The women hugged and Kirsten returned to the sink followed by Julie who grabbed a tomato and began to cut.
"Wow, the fourth time this month you're helping me preparing food. You're getting better and better, you know" Kirsten laughed and grabbed another cucumber.
"Well, living a normal life without a maid and a gardener actually changed me. I realized how much I missed being a big-headed, spoiled wife of a rich man and that I need to spend more time with my family, especially Kaitlin. Since Marissa…left us…she isn't the same anymore. Maybe it's her age but…I don't know."
Kirsten looked at her friend who had stopped cutting and motioned for her to sit down.
"Julie…Kaitlin experienced much in her 16 years. She was 10 when you and Jimmy divorced. Then you married my father and she went off to Boarding school. And last year she lost her sister. So don't be too hard with her. She's only a teenager. And you know how teenagers are."
Julie smiled and wiped off a
few tears. "Thank you." Kirsten looked irritated. "For
what?"
"For…never mind. Just Thank you."
From the living-room they could hear Jimmy and Sandy encouraging some baseball players on televsion. "Well, the raost is in the oven, the dessert is in the fridge. How do you feel about joining the men?"
"GO! GO! …YEAH!" " NO! THERE'S THE BALL YOU STUPID IDIOT!"
Julie
looked unamazed at Kirsten. " Well…sounds like they have their
fun. But…"
"Right. Let's chat here. Do you want a
drink?"
Julie nodded and took a bar stool while Kirsten opened a cabinet, pouring her friend some Chardonney and herself some juice.
"Guess who I met at the club yesterday." Julie made a curious face and put her glass down. "Who? Don't say it was Taryn. This woman is so annoying these days. She is calling me constantly to invite us over for dinner to promote her idiot of a husband who is a cosmetic surgeon. Does she really think I would need new boobs? If someone needs an operation it's Taryn and that happens to be on her brain. I'm far away from NIP TUCK."
Kirsten grinned and checked the roast again. "No, it wasn't Taryn. But I think it's someone you won't be happy with. Jimmy's mother."
Julie gasped and choked over her Chardonney. "Wh..What? Veronica? No, you must be kidding! She can't be here! Jimmy told me his parents would make a trip for six months! They don't even know we remarried!"
"I knoew Veronica isn't the nicest person but she's your mother-in-law. Again. Maybe she's happy you two are together."
"Kirsten, I had to play the perfect daughter-in-law for almost seventeen years! You have no idea how horrible Christmas and family reunios were. I tried. I really really tried to please her. I even cooked and fixed her stupid christmas decoration she gave us every year."
Kirsten sighed. She could feel sympathetic to Julie. Her relationship with the Nana wasn't much better. "Well, I think you should inform Jimmy. Just in case his parents decide to visit you."
Julie nodded and remained silent. It couldn't get worse.
