“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 light squeeze that said, “Look at your life, girl. Look at your choices.” PJ was right. She was paid to put up with Dru’s abuse, but subjecting the food service staff of the greater Los Angeles area to her behavior was not some right she’d been awarded. Sometimes there were consequences for shitty behavior, and Dru had just lost pretty much the only place in town she actually liked to eat.
“Okay,” Amanda said, frustration nearly closing her throat.
PJ nodded, then turned back to the kitchen. The conversation was over. Amanda tucked the food close to her chest, then ducked her head and made for the door. If she moved fast enough there was a pretty good chance Sam wouldn’t see her while he was hearing the day’s specials. She moved smoothly, quickly, but not quickly enough. Just as she slid by him and his crew, his assistant turned and bumped into her. She stumbled back a step, her ass bumping the corner of a nearby empty table.
“Oh shit. My bad,” Sam’s assistant said.
“It’s okay.”
“Hey, it’s Cha-Cha.”
Sam of course spun around, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Amanda.”
“Hey. Nice to see you. I—uh, I have to get going.” She took off for the door, but not without feeling the brush of Sam’s fingertips on her arm as she rushed by him. He was following her. Maybe if she walked fast enough she could get back to her car and accidentally run him over before she was forced to talk to him. She hurried down the street, and just as she turned the corner where she’d parked her car down a muraled alley, she heard him call after her again.
“Amanda! You dropped your phone!”
She froze, then patted the pocket of her down vest. “Shit.” It had definitely slipped out. She headed back just as Sam came around the corner. For some reason the moment she saw him tears sprung to her eyes. She couldn’t explain it, but she didn’t want her worlds to collide. Not like this.
“What’s going on?” he asked, worry creasing his forehead.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. You’re crying.” Sure enough a few jerk-face tears slid down her cheeks. “Did something happen in there? Do I need to go back and fight a vegan?” His well-intended threat only made her cry harder. She wanted to tell him what had happened, but levels and levels of embarrassment kept her from disclosing the whole truth. Again.
“Some—one of my coworkers came in and they weren’t kind to the staff. I was trying to smooth things over so she doesn’t become the first person to ever be banned from a vegan breakfast spot.”
“Sounds like your coworker is an ass, but why are you crying?”
“Because my coworker is an ass.”
“Jesus. Right. Come here.” Amanda knew she could keep her distance, but she didn’t stop Sam from pulling her into his arms. It was a friendly hug, lacking the heat they’d shared before, which made things so much worse. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had someone really comfort her. She pulled away, suddenly, brushing the tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.”
“I just—this industry is a lot sometimes. You know?”
“I do. I definitely do.”
“I seriously do not know why I’m crying. This isn’t even about me,” Amanda said, and immediately she knew that was a lie. There had been a month where Dru refused to eat. Anything. Kaidence actually encouraged it. She was impressed with Dru’s drastic weight loss, and she was in between shows, so her complete lack of energy didn’t seem to matter. Silly Amanda was actually worried about her health. Every day she tried something different. A different restaurant, a different smoothie, a different designer protein bar endorsed by the most trustworthy of housewives.
Nothing worked until she’d tried Delightly. She’d finally gotten back to incorporating a few more places into Dru’s diet, but Delightly was her go-to. She didn’t want to think about what was going to happen now that she was literally banned from eating there. But none of that was Sam’s business and she wasn’t going to tell him.
“Delightly is just the only place our whole room agrees on. I’ve been coming here for years. I’m just upset that she was mean to PJ and his employees.”
“Hey, you busy this weekend?”
Amanda felt her eyebrow shoot up. What the hell did this weekend have to do with Dru’s tantrum. “No, why?”
“Come out to the ranch.”
“What? No. Sam, I—” Surely he couldn’t be thinking about sex at a moment like this.
“This isn’t about me. Or us. You’re clearly stressed. It just so happens I know a guy who can comp your whole stay. Did you even get to see the spa?”
“No.”