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Chapter 9: Meetings

Julie sat glumly at a table in a club, half listening to Casey and Carolee chatter. She was stirring her drink staring into space.

"And then I said, my cousin Julie," Casey said, "she's a total whore and everybody hates her." She looked at him. "Told you she wasn't listening."

"Where's your head Gaffney?" Carolee asked. "Oh my God! I so had sex with that guy." She squealed seeing someone walk in, "I should go say hi." She stood up. Julie rolled her eyes.

"So what's going on?" Casey said. "Now that you know, the crazy one is gone?"

"So you think I'm being immature?" Julie said.

"Doing what?" Casey asked.

"You know, working for Jaime instead of opening my restaurant, sleeping with Paulo instead of actually getting on with my life after breaking up with Jimmy," she rattled off, "crashing in Steve and Tammy's guest room instead of getting my own place, that kind of thing."

"No," Casey said. "Well, except for the whole Steve and Tammy's guest room thing," he shrugged. "You need to move out of there pronto before they further infect you with their dysfunction."

"They are not dysfunctional!" Julie said, "they're the most functional couple I know," Casey laughed. "What is funny?"

"Carolee and I are more functional than those too," Casey said. Julie rolled her eyes. "Whatever, you should move out here."

"Casey," she sighed.

"You only moved to New York to be with Jimmy anyway," he pointed out. "Now that you're not with Jimmy anymore, there's no reason to stay in New York."

"Restaurant scene is better in New York," she mumbled.

"Restaurant scene is more expensive in New York," he pointed out.

"I like living in New York," she said. "I'm not moving back out here."

"I still think you should," he said. "I mean, if you're going to get on with your life and all."

"It wasn't him," Carolee walked back over and sat down. "I gave him my number anyway, so we'll see how that goes."

"That guy?" Casey said pointing. Carolee nodded. "Not your team."

"He took my number," Carolee said, "he wouldn't have done that if he was gay."

"Maybe he's bi," Julie shrugged.

"You've been in New York way too long," Casey shook his head. "Didn't you know there's no such thing as bi in California anymore?"

"Well that's stupid," Julie said, "how do you explain the time you two had sex then?"

"Vodka," they said at the same time.

"Wow, I missed you two," Julie said. "Oh, Carolee I'm having breakfast with Amy before I get my plane to Minnesota tomorrow, do you want to come?"

"You just want me there so that you don't have to tell Amy that you're boinking her ex boyfriend." Carolee shook her head.

"No!" Julie said, "I wasn't planning on telling her that at all." Carolee nodded. "So come?"

"Nope," Carolee said. Julie frowned. "We're not in college anymore, you don't have to kiss Amy's ass."

"I like Amy," Julie said, "and ZBZ sisterhood is for life."

"You sound like me when we were sophomores," Carolee said. "ZBZ sisterhood is until graduation or until it gets you a job interview." Casey laughed. "And he called me," she held up her phone, "I win, he's straight. It was good to see you Julie," she hugged her.

"You too," Julie smiled.

"Bye Case," Carolee said, "don't wait up." She bounced away.

"See," Casey said. "You move here and this could all be yours."

"Arguing over what guys' sexual orientations are with you and Carolee," Julie sighed, "verses the most unique and diverse culinary environment in the country. So hard to pick." Casey laughed.

Bonnie walked into Jimmy's apartment and dropped her purse and plopped on the couch next to him.

"Hi," he said, "how was your fitting?" She sighed.

"Julie's still in love with you," he stared at her. "Or just hates me."

"What happened?" Jimmy said. "I thought Julie was in LA, that's why Tammy was fitting you today."

"You were in on that too?" Bonnie said. "I can handle being in the same building as your ex you know, I'm not Ellie."

"I know you can handle it," Jimmy said. "Tammy can't, she specifically said 'I don't feel like dealing with Julie being dramatic so could Bonnie please come for her fitting while Julie's in LA.'"

"Oh," Bonnie said. "Right, that makes sense." Jimmy kissed her. "You really can't come to Minnesota with me?"

"Bridal showers are for girls," he reminded her, "I'm going to be in Connecticut doing man things."

"Dave's getting a stripper, then?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Probably," Jimmy said. "But she's a stripper in Connecticut so less fun than one in New York."

"Oh OK then," she laughed. "I just hate going to your house without you there, I can never talk to anyone, I don't have anything in common with your sisters or your step mom."

"Claire will be there," he shrugged. "You and Claire are friends."

"Claire is my boss," she sighed. "That's not the same."

"Well, there's Kelly's friend Linda," Jimmy shrugged. "She's really smart, you two will probably get along."

"Is Linda anything like Janet?" Bonnie asked.

"There's no one like Janet," he laughed. "And Linda is nothing like her, she teaches feminist philosophy at Berkeley."

"Feminist philosophy?" She said. He nodded. "So she's a lesbian?"

"No," Jimmy said, "that's Janet, Linda's just into activism."

"Oh," Bonnie said. "That will be interesting at least." Jimmy nodded.

"And Diane," he said, "you like Diane, and Ellie," he said, she looked at him. "You have had many interesting conversations with Ellie."

"Ellie can't stand me," she said.

"Well, I wouldn't take that personally," he sighed. "Ellie doesn't really like any girls," Bonnie glared at him, "or women, or whatever. She doesn't trust them, you wouldn't either if you grew up with Annemarie for a mother."

"She likes Tammy," Bonnie said, "and Diane."

"She works really hard with Tammy because she knows that me and Tommy would freak if they didn't get along," Jimmy shook his head, "and she puts up with Diane because Tommy's her best friend and Brad's her boyfriend, but that took her a long time. You thought I was being nuts last week when I didn't want her to go to Tammy's now that Julie's home, but they hated each other at Eden Hall, it was scary to see them walk down the hallway." Bonnie nodded and kissed him. "She'll come around. She won't want to lose me."

"You'd pick me?" Bonnie whispered. Jimmy sighed. He knew he wouldn't ever come down to that. Not again, not after the time that he did pick Ellie over Julie. They would never think to test each other that way again.

"Yeah," he fibbed. "Absolutely." She kissed him again. "You're not asking me to, are you?"

"Of course not!" She said. "I mean, I've told you, I get it. She's not an ex girlfriend to you. It's not that simple."

"What about winter?" Elena said, flipping onto her stomach and looking at Brad. He smiled. "A beautiful, white January snow covered winter wedding?"

"I think that would be nice," he said, playing with her curls, she'd straightened her hair that day, but she'd sweat away the sleekness after a few rounds of sex to celebrate their new decision. "Of course if we wait until summer we can do it in Westerly."

"I don't want to wait that long," she said and kissed him. "I didn't want to wait this long."

"Fuck it," he said, grabbing her waist and she squealed. "Let's get married tonight."

"Mm," she giggled, "no! Tonight we have dinner with your family." He groaned and fell back. "Stop, these dinners mean a lot to Claire."

"I know that, honey," he said. "But can't we skip it and just stay here." He kissed her and she exhaled happily as he moved down to her neck. His tongue flicked out a few times, and she whimpered and giggled. "This is much better than eating with my family." He whispered. She giggled and moaned as he found his way inside of her. They so rarely had days like this anymore, where they lay around and did nothing but laugh and kiss and have insanely wonderful sex. After they lay quietly. "Lenny?" He said softly.

"Yes Bradley," she said.

"I didn't want to bring this up," he said, "but was the real reason you wanted to wait until after Kelly and Scottie's wedding because you knew he'd be there." She exhaled. Brad never said Dean's name if he could help it. She didn't blame him. She avoided Gabrielle if she could too.

"Not really," she said. "I guess a little, but the more I think about it, I haven't talked to Dean in five years. I don't know what seeing him would change." He kissed her.

Angela sat nervously her laptop in hand, her foot trembling in the large lobby. The Travel Channel meeting had gone really well, but one of the producers suggested she get an agent before contract negotiations. So she was waiting to meet with this producers guy now.

"Ms. Hardy?" An assistant said. Angela looked up. "He's ready to see you."

"Great," she said with a smile and followed the young woman, who looked the same age as her, maybe a little older. She walked in and looked at Josh Parker, tall, dark haired, really good looking in that young dad sort of way.

"Angela Hardy right?" He said with a friendly smile.

"Yeah," she said, "it's nice to meet you, I really don't know what I'm supposed to do here." He laughed.

"We can just talk," he said. "I hear you're brilliant, Carlie doesn't normally send me people who aren't." Angela blushed deeply. "So you're a travel blogger."

"Uh huh," Angela nodded. "I backpacked instead of going to college, wrote to keep in touch with my friends and it just sort of caught on." He nodded.

"Where are you from originally?" He asked.

"Minneapolis," she said. He smiled wider. "Does that mean something to you?"

"My step daughter went to boarding school in Minneapolis," he said.

"Blake or Eden Hall?" She asked happily. He stared at her amazed.

"Eden Hall," he said, "what is Blake?" She laughed.

"It's our rival school," she said, "what class was she?"

"2000," he said. "She played hockey, apparently she was really popular."

"Oh shit!" Angela exclaimed excitedly. Josh looked at her. "Julie Gaffney?"

"Yes," he laughed. "You know her?"

"Tommy Duncan was my boyfriend," she shrugged, as if this should clear everything up. It didn't. "Jimmy's step brother."

"Oh," he said, "right. Well, clearly I have to represent you then." Angela laughed. "Julie's in town actually." Angela smiled.

"I didn't know her that well," Angela said, "but say hi. Is your wife better?" Josh blinked. No one had asked him this in a very long time, he also hadn't really thought of Jaime as his wife, or he'd been trying not to. "I remember she had cancer when we were at school."

"She is," Josh said. "Thanks for asking." She shrugged.

Tammy sat on the black leather couch of her latest psychiatrist. She hadn't been to one in years but lately she'd been waking up in the middle of the night, her breath shallow and her chest tight. It was a feeling that she remembered clearly, the beginning of a panic attack. She could breath deeply and soothe them, but she couldn't risk them breaking out again.

"So," the doctor, a woman this time, to her relief, women usually got her drama much more. "We can start with the easy one, how long have you been in therapy?"

"Since I was seventeen," Tammy shrugged. "I've taken a break lately, and I decided it might be a good idea to come back. The next question is why I started right?"

"Usually," she laughed.

"I was having panic attacks," Tammy explained.

"Do you still have them?" She asked, making a note.

"No," Tammy said, "look, to make this easy, I'll walk you through my psychological traumas." She nodded. "OK, so, my parents got married right out of high school and had me when they were twenty, my brother a year later." She sighed. "We never had a lot of money, I mean, we probably would have but I was a fairly talented figure skater and that's a really expensive hobby."

"Did you feel guilty about that?" She asked.

"I was a kid," Tammy said, "I wanted to skate. I didn't think to feel guilty. Then when I was thirteen my dad had an affair, I saw them together, that was good times, my parents got divorced, my dad married the whore, and now they have a nifty little replacement family."

"So your parents' divorce, that was what caused the panic attacks?" She asked.

"No," Tammy laughed, "see, my mom started dating Tom then, who's like this really uptight rich guy, he tried to get my friends kicked out of our school. Big drama, anyway, see, my friend Luis fell in love with this girl Olivia, and she went to our rival school, and had this guy there, before she even met Luis. So when she told him she didn't want to see him anymore, he flipped out a little and showed up at my brother's party to harass her, but he wasn't my brother yet, anyway, then he made a move on my little brother's best friend, who had some kind of history with him, and with my brother. Her boyfriend found out about it and my best friend ended up beating him up, so then he showed up at my house to threaten her, but she wasn't there, and my boyfriend humiliated him. A few weeks later he and a bunch friends cornered us in an alley, beat us and tried to rape us." Tammy exhaled. "That's when the panic attacks started."

"Not surprising," the doctor nodded. "So you don't have them anymore?"

"Lately," Tammy whispered. "Not full blown ones by any stretch. But I've been getting a tightness in my chest and I want to nip it in the bud."

"You're sure it's psychological?" She asked. Tammy nodded. "What's going on lately?"

"My sister is getting married," Tammy said. "I have to go home, with my boyfriend, see my father and the replacement family."

"So stress," she said. Tammy nodded. "Have you ever been on medication?" Tammy stared at her. Clearly, she needed to find another doctor.

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