He had it all worked out. He was going to take on some extra shifts to make some extra cash, or hell, maybe he’d become an Uber driver, with plans to buy some secondhand lighting equipment and a dope digital camera, so he could properly capture his girlfriend’s hotness. “None of this iPhone filmmaking shit” would fly with him. Kimmie thought the idea was brilliant and volunteered to be one of Natalia’s “Before and After” hair models. She said as soon as they were set up, she’d fly back out for a week to help, maybe for summer vacation. Natalia and Kimmie toasted Nick for his brilliant idea, and he did that guy thing where he told them to fuck off, though it was obvious he was pleased. It was the one time Kimmie had ever witnessed Nick excited about something other than Fortnite and Natalia’s ass. Kimmie wasn’t paying him lip service, she truly felt like it was a great idea.

When she lay in bed her last night at Desert Vista, she had thought how great it would be to have a bf who believed in her the way Nick believed in Natalia, a goal Kimmie wrote down in the “long-term future life goals” section of her journal.

It was these long-term future life goals that Kimmie thought about as she walked through the park on a mission, because she only had one more thing to cross off on her “deal with past bullshit.” Kimmie had almost given up on her idea of calling out Vronsky, thinking maybe it was better to leave the past in the past. All she wanted to think about was the future, but then Lolly told her about the whole Anna/Alexander drama, and Kimmie’s anger at Count Vronsky renewed. Not only did he almost take her down, but now he was dragging down Anna.

When the doorman rang up, and the housekeeper answered, Kimmie explained she had Vronsky’s homework, taking a chance that he was at home recovering from his accident at the horse race. She was immediately buzzed up and she wondered if the housekeeper had announced her arrival. But when she walked into the apartment and the uniformed housekeeper was talking on her phone, Kimmie figured she was on her own.

She found his bedroom and knocked, announcing herself through the closed door. He called out that he needed a moment, and a few moments later he opened his door, pulling on a sweatshirt over his taped up torso. Vronsky was clearly surprised to see her, and she was about to apologize for not calling first, then bit her tongue, remembering what Natalia had said about apologies being the last refuge of spineless pussies. Kimmie was no pussy, at least not today.