When she’d returned from Charming, she’d hoped the week ahead would go smoothly, or as smoothly as they usually went with Dru. She was exhausted, which was usually the case after semi-destination wedding weekends. Even though they’d stayed at a luxury ranch with the best amenities and all the fresh air a girl could handle. Between all the wedding-related activities, Dru’s texting drama, and stressing about a barely romantic situation with a certain actor who looked devastatingly handsome in a cowboy hat, she’d barely slept at all.
She’d braced herself for Dru’s bad mood when she arrived at her apartment bright and early Monday morning. Amanda knew Dru was under a lot of stress and a lot of pressure. Kaidence had hired Amanda to relieve some of that pressure. Well, a lot of that pressure. Dru relied on her in a lot of ways that had nothing to do with making sure she didn’t miss her call times. She’d buoyed Dru in a sense of reality away from the cameras and anytime Amanda went away, Dru seemed to come slightly unglued. She panicked and when Amanda came back to work, she made her pay for it.
Her comments had been a little more cutting than usual, her requests a little more absurd. And that was all after she’d spent a good ten minutes making fun of Amanda’s imaginary friends and the crappy wedding she was sure her friend had pieced together for her crappy husband and her crappy guests. ’Cause that was her opinion of Amanda. She didn’t actually know anything about her personal life, so she assumed it had to be shameful. Crappy even.
Part of her wanted to tell Dru that she’d actually been at Helene and Ignacio’s wedding, the social event of the year. She wanted to casually let it slip that she’d had to work to not be in any of the photos that would be in next week’s issue of People. She wanted to let it slip that she had a chance to sleep with Sam Pleasant. AGAIN. Instead she’d taken her barbs like she always did, with a nod and a change of subject back to what was really important. Sometimes it worked and sometimes, well, Dru was just committed to being an asshole and didn’t let up with her cruelty until she had another distraction.
This week that distraction had come in the form of a botched lunch delivery from Delightly that had sent Dru into a rage spiral the likes of which Amanda hadn’t seen in years. It had been the perfect storm of this cannot be happening. On a normal day, Amanda would order Dru’s lunch and meet the delivery person by Dru’s trailer right before the cast and crew were set to break. This time, though, the delivery had been late and they’d run into her as she was making her way across the lot.
They say in times of stress your senses are heightened and Dru being the stressed-out equivalent of a bloodhound somehow knew Delightly had sent the wrong thing. She’d ordered the carrot soup with a warm quinoa salad. Somehow Dru had clocked the package in the young woman’s hand as tomato soup and a sandwich before she’d even handed it over. Amanda watched in slow-motion horror as Dru snatched the bag out of her hand and confirmed that the order was wrong. What came next could only be described as a meltdown. Amanda didn’t want to think about the fucked-up things Dru had said over a simple mix-up.
To her credit the delivery person stuck up for herself, explaining that she was just the driver, but that just spurred Dru on. The poor woman was in tears, making a break for her car, way before Dru had run out of steam. She’d pulled out her phone and started to call Delightly, but Amanda had talked her off the ledge, offering to go herself and pick up the right order. Good thing they’d come in separate cars.
But by the time Amanda had arrived at Delightly the damage had been done. PJ had already been briefed on what had gone down by the poor delivery person, who was apparently still crying in the back.
“I cannot apologize enough,” Amanda said as she and the manager stood at the end of their vegan pastry display. His face was beet red and every vein above his shoulders was popping out. She had no idea how to fix this.
“You know you’re not the problem. It’s her! Every time she comes here she’s rude.”
“I know and I’m sorry.”
He reached for a bag on the shelf behind him stamped with the restaurant’s signature leaf in the shape of a heart.
“This is it.” He handed it over. The correct order.
“PJ—”
Amanda glanced over her shoulder on reflex as the door to Delightly opened again. The audience for this fiasco didn’t need to grow any bigger.
Of course this would be the day for Sam freaking Pleasant to come strolling in. He was with a white man in a very crisp suit and his assistant.
She turned back to PJ, her brain forcing her to deal with the more pressing issue first. “I promise. I will pick up all her takeout orders from now on. All of them.”
“I’m really sorry. We just can’t. In this case the customer was dead wrong. I have to do it. She’s banned from dining with us. What am I telling my staff if I let this slide? It goes against everything—”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry. If you want to come in and dine with us, you know you’re always welcome. But Dru is going to have to purchase her meals elsewhere. I can’t ask anyone who works for me to deal with that treatment. And frankly, you shouldn’t do it either.”
Amanda felt her stomach drop to the floor, as he put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a
