INSTALLMENT 30
 
 

O'leary’s 

    Katie is ready to go home the minute she walks into Oleary's. 
For the last few weeks, she's attempted to come up with ways to avoid
work.  The job isn’t bad, she thinks to herself, but it gets in the way of her
social life.  Already, she’s broken two dates with Henry and feels distant
from both him and  Nina .

  Heading into the ladies room to change, she can’t believe she didn’t go to
the casting call.  Working those long hours made her so tired she fell asleep
on her day off and missed it. 

  As she leaves the bathroom, she notices her sister staring at her from
the bar.  Groaning to herself, she approaches  Melinda   and prepares for
another lecture only her sister can give.

  “Before you start, I know I’m late for work.”  Katie blurts out.

  “Fair enough, but I can’t keep covering for you.  You need to get here on
time.”  Melinda states while turning around to serve a customer.  Katie
resists the temptation to stick her tongue out at her sister. 

  “Yes, Melinda.  I’ll be on time from here on out.  Since my dreams of
modeling have flown out the window.”

  Melinda finishes serving a customer and turns around to stare at her
sister.  She thinks to herself how shallow her younger sister is.  She bites
her tongue and just sighs. 

  “You can’t blame the job for your missing the casting call.  Lester was
generous to give you the day off, what you did with that time is your fault.
If you want to continue talking about this, I suggest you wait until both of
us are off duty.  Now get to work before Lester has a cow.”  Melinda warns
before turning to another customer waiting to place an order.

  Katie just looks at her sister and understands why she’s so bitter.  If she
ends up working there as long as Melinda, she’ll be bitter too.  As she
makes her way up front, she catches sight of the most beautiful man she
has ever seen.  If only she were single, she thought, she’d snap him up so
fast he wouldn’t know what hit him.

  Looking at her section, she perks up when she notices the man sitting in
her section.  Taking her time, she walks toward his table. Katie is overcome by
his gorgeous smile.  He stares at her.

  “Welcome to O'leary’s.  My name is Katie and I’ll be taking care of you.
Would you like to start off with something to drink this evening?” 

  “I’d like one of your specialty coffees.  Make it a coffee mocha served 
with your phone number.  The name is  Nico Rawlins 
and the pleasure is all mine.”  He offers with a devilish grin.



Richardson Home:



  Flying clothes greet Nina as she cautiously enters Gillian's  room.  Her
presence startles Gillian, who is holding up two baby doll tops.

  “Which top do you think looks better on me?”  Gillian asks comparing a
ruby red and black and white polka dot baby doll top against her body.

  “Gil, you know your signature color is red.  Why go against your
signature.”  Nina answers as she sits down on the bed.  “What’s the special
occasion?”

  “I got a call from  Dale today and he asked me to have dinner with him.  I
don’t want to jump to any conclusions so I’m trying to dress casual.  Are
you sure the red one looks better?  I was hoping for something different.”

  “Red is your signature color, go with that.  Why are you going out with
Dale for?  I thought you guys ended things last month?” 

  “We did end things.  Actually, he wanted to take a break from me and
looking back he was correct.  I was so indecisive about my life and being
dumped helped me to make a change in my professional life.”  Gillian muses.
Nina admits to herself how happy Gillian’s been since working at
Falmont Enterprises.

  “If ending things with Dale was the best thing that’s happened to you,
why go out with him?”

  “I need closure from that part of my life.  We went out for almost nine
months and it just ended without any resolution on my part.  In order for
me to move on, I need to say good-bye.” 

  “I know you don’t want to hear my opinion, but I think this is a bad idea.
If you wanted closure, you wouldn’t be throwing your clothes all over the
room trying to find the perfect outfit.  You would just go to dinner with him
as if it didn’t matter.” 

  “As opposed to you, who avoids things and pretends to feel nothing?” 
Gillian throws back.  “At least I’m going to see him and resolve things.  You,
on the other hand, have been avoiding things.  You know I’m right.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  I’ve been busy the last two
weeks down at the paper.  Who knew that journalists had downtime before
the next lead in a story comes in.  Would you have known that?”  Nina
wonders out loud while Gillian laughs.

  “You’re doing it again!  You're avoiding things.  It’s interesting how you
use work to distract you from dealing with your feelings.  At first, it was
school and now it’s this internship down at the paper.  When was the last
time you hung out with Katie?”

  “Katie is busy at her job as I’ve been at mine.  She understands what I’m
going through, she told me herself.”

  “I don’t think you’re avoiding her but her boyfriend Henry is another story. 
You know, the guy I caught you making out with a few weeks ago?”

  “Listen, I’m going to leave you to your wardrobe selection for your
'closure' date with Dale.  When is that suppose to happen?”  Nina asks.

  “Tomorrow night.”  Gillian answers while Nina just laughs.

  “You’re still into him.  I bet if he wants to get back together with you, you’ll
jump at the chance.  Good luck tomorrow night.”  Nina states before
leaving.

  Gillian is left alone thinking about whether her sister is correct or not.  She
still does have feelings for Dale, but she’s been happier since they broke up.



Falmont Home:



  Lenore makes her way down the staircase stopping only when she spots
George  in the living room.  She decides to get this out of the way and
confront him over seeing him with Lillian.

  “May I talk to you for a moment George? ” Lenore asks from the doorway,
alerting George to the fact that this isn’t a request but a demand.

  “Of course, this is a free country dear.  What do I owe this pleasure of
your time?”

  Lenore just sighs knowing George will dismiss her concerns as just mere
jealously over the past.

  “I happened to see you with Lillian a few weeks ago at the country club.”
Lenore tries to note a reaction but finds none. “I'm gathering from your
lack of a reaction, that you aren't denying it.  I hope nothing is
going on between you two."

  “What would you give you the idea that there’s something going on
between me and Lillian?”  George asks. Lenore gives him a look. 
“Let me rephrase that, what makes you think anything is going on now?”

  “You guys looked pretty cozy walking around the country club.  I
wouldn’t be surprised if you guys have been keeping company together
all this time.  You hardly talk to me anymore and I figure it's because
of her.”  Lenore tearfully replies.

  “We hadn’t seen each other in twenty six years; it was a shock to see
her.  We walked around and caught up a little bit.  I haven’t even seen her
since that day.”

  “I wish I could believe you, but seeing Lillian again bought up all of these
feelings that I thought were dealt with.  Images of my best friend and
husband having an affair still play in my head at times.  Before you ask, I
don’t know if I’ll ever get past it.”  Lenore laments as she starts to
pour a glass of sherry and sips it.

  “I don’t know what else I can do to convince you that nothing happened
between Lillian and me.  We just talked and went our separate ways.”

  “The fact you didn’t tell me says there is something to hide.  I just want
to know that you love me and that she is nothing more then a memory.” 
Lenore says thinking to herself how things would change if he ever learns
about his child with Lillian.

  “Lenore, I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember.  I know that I
don’t show it often but I do.  I regret the affair with Lillian and will spend the
rest of my life proving it to you.”

  “I know you're telling the truth.  I love you as well and I’ll trust you this
time.”  Lenore responds thinking to herself that she'll be watching both
her husband and Lillian.  She made the mistake of trusting them once
before and vows never to make that mistake again



O'leary’s



  “It is nice to meet you, Nico.  As flattered as I am about being hit on, I’m
spoken for.”  Katie replies as Nico looks her up and down.

  “Are you married?  I don’t believe I see a wedding ring.”  Nico asks while
she shakes her head.  “So what is the problem?”

  “I have a boyfriend that I’m crazy about.  Though I don’t see him that
often because of this dream job.”

  Nico nods thinking to himself how interesting she looks.

  “Has anyone told you that you could be a model?”  Nico asks taking
note of Katie’s reaction to the question. “I take it then the answer is a
yes.”

  “I don’t know why I’m saying this to a perfect stranger but I’ve always
wanted to be a model.  In fact, there was some open call for models not
too long ago that I missed out on due to the job.”

  “Interesting, what if I told you that I could help you become one?”  Nico
offers. He's proud of himself for observing her desire to be a model.  “It
won’t be easy because you did miss the open call but I think I can pull a
few strings.”

  “Normally, I would say you are crazy but I think you might be telling the
truth.  What strings would you be pulling?”

  “I put together the open call for models myself since I’m a photographer.”
Nico replies as he hands Katie one of his business cards.  He notices her
eyes widen like a child’s eyes at Christmas.

  “I will give you a call when I’m off duty.  In the meantime, one coffee mocha
is on its way.

  Katie hurries to the bar to put in the order and notices Melinda looking at
her with disapproval.  “What is that look for?”

  “I hope you tear up the business card that slime ball gave you.  He’s the
guy that tried to hit on me a few weeks back.”  Melinda stares at Nico for a
brief second before facing her sister.  “Trust me when I say that he's bad
news.  I can’t explain it but something is not right about him.”

  “Please, he’s just an attractive photographer.  I don’t see the harm in
talking to him especially if he can open a door for me to break into
modeling.  Now is that coffee ready to serve?”

  Melinda sighs before handing her sister the drink.  She stands there
staring at her sister hoping that she doesn’t end up in too much trouble. 
As she thinks back to when Nico hit on her, she wonders if anyone falls
for his charms.



Dr. Jackson Alfaro’s Office



  “Normally I don’t see patients this late but you sounded frantic on the
phone.  What seems to be troubling you, Ms. Falmont?”  Dr. Jackson Alfaro
asks staring at his new patient sitting on the couch across from him.

  “Dr. Alfaro, I feel bad for calling you on such short notice.  I just have had
a rough few weeks and I needed to talk to someone.”  Elizabeth Falmont 
explains. She feels remorseful about calling him in the middle of the night.

  “I understand.  Describe to me what has been going on and how you’re
feeling about it.”

  “I guess it started when I went to New York for a business trip a few
months ago.  I’ve always been a workaholic and felt like I needed to let
loose”

  Dr. Alfaro nods his head and waits for her to continue.  Elizabeth takes a
deep breath and continues.

  “I decided to go out and ended up meeting this free-spirited photographer
at a bar.  We do the standard flirting and I decide to take him back to my
hotel room figuring it’s my time to do something crazy.” Elizabeth pauses
to gather her thoughts.  “As you can guess one thing led to another and
we had sex with one another.  I wanted it to be a one time thing but he
had a certain charm about him.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “I felt alive and free being able to just have casual sex with this exciting
photographer.  One night, I passed out and went to the hospital where I
discovered I was pregnant.  I knew he was the father because he was
the only guy that I’d been with in the last six months.  I confided in him and
we both decided that an abortion was the way to go.  He didn’t want to be
tied down and I didn’t want to disappoint my family.”

  “What would make you think your family would be disappointed?  You are
a grown woman capable of making your own decisions.”

  “You don’t understand my family.  When I was younger, my parents had
high hopes that each of us would go far in life.  As you probably figured, my
father is the founder of Falmont Enterprises.  My older and younger brother’s
have never shown interest in running the company nor has my younger
sister Christina.  I’ve always been interested in business and my father has
grown to depend on me over the years.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I’m the child my father hopes takes over the business when he retires. 
I’ve strived since I could remember to be the best at whatever I do.  I
graduated top of my class in high school, got a degree in business in three
years and worked my way up to head of advertising in two years. 
Becoming pregnant would only complicate and disappoint my father since
he’s always had high hopes for me.  Which is more then I can say for my
mother, who could care less about me.”

  Dr. Alfaro nods as he starts to write something down in his notebook. 
He looks at his watch and then at Elizabeth.

  “I think our time is up for today.  This was a good first meeting.  Answer
me one last thing before we go our separate ways.  What made you decide
to seek counseling from me?”

  “I hired the guy as a photographer at my father’s company.  The stress of
seeing him again plus my father's disappointment in my choice has bought me to
this point.  I’ve been having nightmares for the last few nights over my
father and mother disowning me.  I know this isn't a normal reaction but it's how 
I feel inside.”

  “Interesting, when would you like to schedule another session?  I’d love
to talk more about these nightmares you’ve been having.”  Dr. Alfaro observes.

  “I’d like that sometime.  Can I call you after I check my schedule?” 
Elizabeth asks.  Dr. Alfaro nods.

  Elizabeth gets up and heads out of the office feeling more uneasy then
she did upon entering the office.  She doesn't know what is causing her sudden
nightmares and that concerns her.  She needs some nightmare free sleep and
Elizabeth hopes she is tired enough to fall asleep.