Conversations with Friends

When Frances tries to make a withdrawal at an ATM, she finds that her father has not deposited her allowance into her account as he told her he did, putting her in a precarious financial situation. Later that day, Valerie emails her, saying she is interested in reading some of Frances’s work. Without proofreading, Frances sends her the story about Bobbi. 

That evening, the same sickness she had before starts happening again. She tries to go to school the next day but can barely function. Practically delirious, she attempts to leave campus and spots Bobbi standing under a building’s overhang to get out of the rain. Walking toward her, Frances faints. Bobbi revives her and accompanies her home in a taxi.

At home, Bobbi draws a bath for her. As Frances regains normal functioning, the pair discuss their futures. Bobbi wants to be a professor, which surprises Frances, who never pictured her doing something so normal. Bobbi tries to explain that Frances has a habit of believing people she loves are different than everyone else, but that this is just an illusion.

Nick arrives, having been informed by Bobbi about Frances’s health scare, and he and Frances make up from their previous argument. Nick says he loves her and has told Melissa about the affair. The next day, Melissa sends Frances an email in one long paragraph. It says she realizes she hardly has the right to scold Nick given her own multiple affairs, particularly the one with his best friend while Nick was in a psychiatric hospital. However, Frances’s age does make her worried that Nick has a “thing” for very young women. Regardless of her hurt feelings, she has noticed that Nick’s mental health has improved since the affair started, so even though she resents Frances she is also glad that Frances seems to be helping him. She closes, oddly, by proposing that maybe one day she, Nick, Frances, and Bobbi can all have dinner together.

Frances did not know that Nick spent time in a psychiatric hospital and feels shocked by the gravity of this revelation. On some level, she even feels that Nick and Melissa are parents of sorts to her, ushering her into a new phase of understanding and adulthood. She responds to Melissa’s long email with: “Lots to think about. Dinner sounds good” (229).

Frances and Bobbi do indeed have dinner with Nick and Melissa after Melissa’s email, and even manage to resume their friendship foursome, despite Nick and Frances’s ongoing affair. The group even has robust discussions about politics, race, and art, with Bobbi and Nick getting along better than ever.

One day, Frances gets an email from a literary journal editor who has received her short story from Valerie and wants to publish it. She excitedly agrees, needing the money after her father’s mistake with her allowance. She worries about Bobbi’s reaction to the story and puts off telling her about it. Meanwhile, Nick notices that Frances barely has enough money to buy food. When she reveals her financial problems, Nick gives her €200, saying that it can just be a loan.

At a get-together with friends, Bobbi is unnecessarily cruel, insulting two of the friends’ intelligence. Afterward, she confesses to Frances that she has lately been tense due to the drama of her parents’ divorce. Frances realizes she and Bobbi do not frequently discuss their family lives despite their general closeness.