Frankie leaned back in her chair, stretched, and yawned. She hadn’t realized how much research went into planning a trip for four people, but everyone seemed genuinely excited. Bandit rubbed up against her leg indicating it was time for his dinner. She picked up the big kitty and snuggled him against her neck. “You gonna miss your mommy? Don’t worry. Giovanni is going to look after you.” He purred in satisfaction. “Now, the big decision for me tonight is what should I have for dinner?” She nuzzled him again. “Oh, I am sure you would like me to order sushi, now wouldn’t you?”
She set him down on the floor, and he followed her into the small galley kitchen. Frankie pulled out two cans of cat food. “Tuna or salmon?” He made a cooing sound, but Frankie still could not understand cat talk. “Tuna it is.” She laughed to herself. After setting the food down on the floor, Frankie pulled out her folder of menus. “Sushi does sound like a good idea.” She picked up her phone from the coffee table, dialed Kyoto Sushi, and ordered a vegetable spring roll, a Philadelphia roll, and a tuna roll. She looked down at her cat. “Might as well have what you’re having.”
Frankie padded her way back to her laptop, which was sitting on her desk. She thought about doing a marketing plan for the spring titles but remembered what Marco had said to her weeks before. “You work-a too hard!” Maybe it was the timing and pace of publishing. You’re always working on books almost a year ahead of their publication date. Even though it was late October, she was planning the strategy for books coming out the following summer, with the anticipation that the lead titles would be huge successes. Where is my crystal ball when I need it? She snickered to herself. She closed her laptop, plugged in the charger, and addressed the inanimate techno object. “¡Hasta mañana!” Then she stopped short. “Jeez, Rachael is rubbing off on me!” Bandit meowed in agreement.
“Oh, you just shut up, Mr. Puss.” Frankie reached down to give him a long pet from head to tail. Within a half hour, her buzzer sounded. “Hello?”
“Delivery!”
Frankie pressed the button that would allow him into the foyer of the building. A few minutes later, the knock on the door signaled that her dinner had arrived.
“Hello, Hiroshi!” Frankie knew all the local deliverymen by name. He gave her a courteous and respectful bow. Frankie took the delivery tag from him and handed him the cash for her food. “Arigato!” Hiroshi answered “Thank you” in Japanese, and gave another polite bow.
Frankie answered in kind and also bowed. “Arigato!” Before she could close the door, Bandit was at her heels, eyeing the bag of sushi.
“Oh no you don’t, mister. This is mine. All mine. Now scoot.” She stepped over the tenacious kitty and began to pull the small trays of sushi and chopsticks from the bag. She knew that if she sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, she would be battling with Bandit for her own tuna, so she opted for the fold-down table against the wall. The table had two leaves so that when opened, it could accommodate six people, but tonight it was just Frankie. She knew it would be almost impossible to keep her cat off the table, so she decided to put another bowl of his food in the kitchen. He eyed her suspiciously. “Aw, come on, kitty. Let me have my dinner in peace.” He gave her an annoyed look and begrudgingly sniffed at his dish. “Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s from a can. Get over it.” She gave him another long pet from head to tail and scurried back to the table, where her raw fish was waiting. The Philadelphia roll had smoked salmon and cream cheese. She always thought that combination was strange for Japanese cuisine, but apparently it was introduced in the 1980s, when sushi became popular in America. No matter whose idea it was, it was one of Frankie’s favorites. Like a bagel with cream cheese, but instead of the bagel, it had rice.
Frankie was finishing up her dinner when her phone rang. It was Nina.
“Hey, girl! What’s up?” Frankie answered.
“I just found out they’re canceling the show. This is the last season.” Nina sounded concerned but not crushed.
“Oh no. That’s terrible.” Frankie tossed the empty trays in the trash and went over to her sofa. She figured it was going to be a long conversation. She could hear Nina huffing a bit.
“Are you OK?”
“I hope so.”
“You sound out of breath,” Frankie said.
“I’m walking with Winston. I figured some fresh air would clear my head. I just needed a friendly voice. Winston isn’t the best conversationalist.” Nina grunted.
“How many more episodes are they going to shoot?” Frankie asked.
“Three more, then we’re done. Looks like I’ll be totally free by the holidays,” Nina said halfheartedly.
“What are you going to do?”
“I have a meeting the day after tomorrow with my agent. I don’t know what she has in mind. Probably nothing. Did I ever tell you that I had an opportunity to get a secondary role in Happy Times?”
“No, you didn’t. What happened there?” Frankie asked.
“Apparently she and her partner had ‘bigger ideas,’ and I’m using air quotes. They thought it wasn’t a large enough part for me.” Nina let out a big sigh. “What irritates me is that they never even told me about it.”
“How did you find out?”
“The actress who got the part told me. I ran into her at the studio. She said she was thrilled that I had turned it down. She couldn’t thank me enough. Imagine my surprise.”
“What did you say to her?” Frankie was aghast.
“I kept my cool and told her that my agent had other things lined up.” Nina took another deep breath. “I was furious and called my agent right away, and she gave me the ‘bigger picture,’ no pun intended, speech. Meanwhile, she hasn’t sent me on an audition since June, when I came to the reunion.”
“Wow. That really stinks.” Frankie knew how frustrating and disappointing show business could be.
“And it’s almost impossible to change agents when you don’t have a gig.” Nina sounded exasperated. “Thankfully, I have some money stashed away, so I can make my overhead for the next couple of months.”
“That’s good.” Frankie thought for a moment. She wondered if that was going to put a damper on the travel plans. “Do you still want to go on the cruise?”
“Oh, babycakes, now more than ever. If anyone needs a change of scenery, it’s me. I am so fed up with this town.”
Frankie laughed softly. “I know what you mean. These four walls have been closing in on me, and the corporate world is getting less and less attractive by the day.”
“Well, maybe this trip will be the beginning of new adventures for us,” Nina said, her tone more optimistic.
“You bet. We’ll make sure of it.” Frankie was glad her friend wasn’t a hot mess over this latest news.
“I’ve been reevaluating my life and what other opportunities I might have, and where. So far, I haven’t been able to come up with much.” Nina scoffed.
“Then the timing couldn’t be better for this cruise,” Frankie offered. “Fresh air, water, food, culture, music, and a few spa treatments will do us both a world of good.” Frankie’s enthusiasm was always contagious.