Kendalle grinned. “Have you seen the house in Malibu yet?”
She shook her head and sipped her water. “No. Not yet.”
Kendalle nodded. “You’re welcome to come by anytime you’d like. Although Pat owns the place, it’s mine right now. I’m paying him a pretty penny in rent every month.”
She then smiled. “I don’t mind. I know he bought it as an investment property and I can afford it. That car, though, ugh. I need to get myself a real car.”
Kit laughed. “You don’t like the Lotus?”
She shook her head. “No. Not my style. It’ll do in a pinch, but it’s not my ideal.” She met Kit’s eyes. “So, are you enjoying working with A-Dub? He seems pretty cool.”
Kit nodded her head. “Yeah, he’s great. It’s all happening so fast.”
She chuckled. “Oh, you just wait. It’s gonna get even faster. I can see it. You’ll probably be more famous than Pat!” She laughed and then noticed the look of apprehension in Kit’s eyes.
She grinned. “Kit, it’ll be fine. You’ll do great. And you won’t turn into an asshole like Pat. At least I hope you won’t.”
Kit couldn’t stifle her giggle. “Did you seriously just call him an asshole?”
She smiled and nodded. “I did. I’ve been calling him that a lot. Let me put it to you this way. I’ve had some colorful conversations with him. He’s gone off the deep end and while I’m a close friend, I also won’t let him destroy himself with drugs. He’s an asshole when he’s using and I like to remind him of that. His choices suck. He’s a dick and I won’t put up with it.”
Kit sighed. “Well I hope you’re better at getting through to him than I’ve been.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Pat is a stubborn shit. This I know all too well. But, when he wants to make something right and he’s determined, nothing will stop him. That gives me hope. I think once he’s off this tour, he’ll get it figured out and he’ll go back to being the cool Pat I know and love, not egomaniac, cokehead asshole, Sully Foxx. At least I hope so.”
She then met Kit’s eyes. “Listen, Kit, I will do everything in my power to help you two out if you want my help. It’s killing me to see Pat using like this and seeing him hurting without you. He told me everything that happened. It was completely unacceptable. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably be doing the same thing. I also know how much he loves you and yes, he fucked up big time.”
She continued. “I know we’re just getting to know each other, but I feel like I’ve known you forever. You’re exactly how he described you and it’s so great to see you live and in the flesh. I know you’re branching out into new areas right now and you’re not sure how Pat will figure into the mix. I get it. I’ve been there. I went through something similar with my partner when I came out of rehab years ago. Take your time to do you. That’s the best way for you to figure out what’s coming next.” She nodded and offered a kind grin.
Kit let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you for that, Keni. You hit the nail right on the head. Right now is the time for me to do me. That’s precisely what I’ll be doing. Hopefully that will give me the clarity I need. I have no idea what will happen, but I’m open to the adventure.”
Kendalle chuckled. “And that’s all you need right now, honey.”
Two weeks had passed in a whirlwind. It felt more like two years to Kit. Her single dropped on schedule. As Lew predicted, she was tracking rapidly toward gold status.
Using grief to her advantage, she pushed through and shot the video the day after Lew passed away. Her guest VJ stint went off without a hitch for her on MTV where she took over an hour for Duff who welcomed her with a glowing introduction.
Now back in L.A. she had been in the studio everyday over the last two weeks, having recorded half of the album and working on several other songs. She had eight down, four more to go, but she could feel her energy and drive waning. She was desperate for more down time.
The board meeting was scheduled to take place that morning and she could feel heavy anxiety creeping up as it approached. Jonathan assured her that she had nothing to worry about, but the butterflies in her stomach told her otherwise. She couldn’t shake her concerns. Now that Lew was gone, she doubted the motives Chris had for the label and the future of Diamond Entertainment as a whole.
Her new assistant, Candice, had hired movers to come in and start packing up Kit’s belongings, leaving the boxes open so she could rummage through them in her spare moments, deciding what she wanted to keep and toss.
She embraced the process to stay busy, yet she found it to be more heart wrenching than she had anticipated. She was bombarded with memories of her relationship with Sully and Gypsy Tango. Framed photographs were everywhere and she had to make the decision to either keep them boxed up, in storage for posterity, or to toss them altogether.
While in her front room looking through the personal items from her office that Candice had personally packed up, she came across a framed photograph from her office bookcase. She took one look at it and burst into tears. It was a photo of her and Lew taken when she won her first Grammys for songwriting and producing.
She held the framed photo to her chest for a moment before wrapping it carefully and clearly marking the contents so she could display it wherever she ended up. At the
