The Other Gilmore

Travels and Tombstones

The beginning of summer was a hectic time for Frankie. She went to in-person and virtual interviews, filmed auditions, and traveled whenever she could to different ballet companies. Saying goodbye to Joey and Charlie was always difficult, but Frankie knew that Jess had everything under control, and her trips were never longer than a few days.

One trip, in particular, was very exciting for Frankie. Kayla had graduated law school, and had become one of the top environmental lawyers at her firm in San Francisco. When Frankie had a chance to interview and audition for a San Francisco-based company, she couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit her best friend.

Kayla was waiting impatiently for Frankie to exit the San Francisco airport one afternoon. She had arrived far too early and had to sit in the cell phone lot for an hour. Listening to podcasts was the only way she could calm her anxious energy. As soon as her phone chimed with a text from Frankie, announcing her arrival, Kayla booked it out of the parking lot to the terminal.

"You're here!" she squealed, jumping out of the car and racing to her best friend.

"I'm here!"

Kayla nearly tackled Frankie, her excitement at seeing her friend taking over her senses.

"How are you? How was your flight? Are you tired? Did you eat? How's Jess? How're the kids? Tell me everything!"

Frankie laughed as they walked to the car. "I'm good! Life's been good. Jess is good, kids are good, everything's good."

"It can't just be 'good.' You have to give me more than that," Kayla whined as she began the drive out of the airport.

"When was the last time we talked?"

"Uh...Months ago, now."

"Damn," Frankie breathed.

"I know."

"Feels like a lifetime."

"Seriously. We can't go this long without talking or seeing each other again. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Okay, so the last time we talked was around Christmas, I think. You were telling me about the gifts you were getting the kids," Kayla said, focusing on the road in front of her.

"Right, yeah. They loved your gifts, by the way. Joey is obsessed with that robot dinosaur, and Charlie sleeps with that giant teddy bear every night."

"Really? Awe, I love that."

"You have to come home more often."

"Well, if you move to San Francisco, I can see them any time I want," Kayla replied with a smirk.

"Touché. Well, let's see. It's summer now, and a few months ago, I started feeling like something was missing in my life, so I talked to Jess, and he suggested that I start dancing again."

"This was his idea?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. Didn't expect that."

Frankie chuckled, shaking her head. "You still don't like him, do you?"

Kayla shrugged. "He's growing on me."

"We've been married for going on seven years, Kay. We have two kids."

"I'm still mad at him for leaving you."