“I know. I—I don’t know how he’s going to react though. I mean, we talked about this. Specifically this. I practically begged him to keep this under wraps and then someone onmyend of things blows it up to the whole universe. How am I going to explain this to him? How am I going to explain this to his family? Jesus. His grandmother!” The Pleasants werenota tabloid bunch.
“No. No. Your end nothing,” Helene cut in. “Dru didn’t have to do this. She could have been happy for you. Even if she were jealous, which she clearly fucking is, she should have taken a deep breath and let you live your life. Also if she was into Sam she would want him to be happy and if he’s happy with you—”
“Yeah, that’s not Dru. She is the misery who wants all the company. This is why I didn’t tell her you and I were friends. Can you imagine how she would have tried to use that to her advantage? You and Ignacio.”
“I can’t be bought or used,” Ignacio said with a playful scoff that made Amanda finally laugh.
“Okay. So fuck Dru,” Helene went on. “You don’t work for her anymore. She can eat all the dicks. Let’s talk full damage control. Does she have anything else she can use to hurt you? Does she have any of your things?”
“No. I purposely made myself as bland and boring in her presence as possible and you see how she reacted when things changed. Jesus,” Amanda sighed, the tears rushing back to her eyes. She took a sip of water and tried not to let the tears win. “I need to talk to Sam, like, soon, and I have to find another job. Like now.” She took her phone back and like a complete fool opened her Twitter. Even with her account locked, her mentions had exploded. She quickly scrolled and stopped when she actually saw a picture of Sam coupled with a Bossip headline.
“Oh my God. This is so bad.”
“Give me your phone.” Helene took the device and set it over on the kitchen island.
“Twitter is eating me alive. I wish I could be above all this, but I can’t.”
“Amanda, stop. You’re human and this sucks. Forget all the people who want to tell me, every damn day, that I’m not half Mexican because I don’t look it. If you want I can show you all the awful things people said about me when we announced our engagement. Some woman sent Ignacio pictures of her nieces from Guatemala begging him to consider a woman from his home country instead of me. Then some ashy-ass dude actually said I was erasing the progress of the entire race for not marrying a Black man.”
“If I’d known I contained so much power,” Ignacio said, shrugging. “Everyone is going to have their opinion, but it’s what you and Sam want that matters. What can we do?”
“Yeah. We can reach out toPeopleand at least ask them to do something.” Helene picked up her own phone. “My girl over there loves positive spin and a fresh love story. I am not above calling in favors.”
“Just let me curl up in a ball and die.”
“No can do. Let us help you.”
Amanda ran her hands over her face and cupped her chin. She loved Helene so much and she never wanted to make her think that their friendship was about anything other than how well they got along and how much Amanda enjoyed her bright, loving company. “This is plenty. Just letting me come over. I mean, you guys just got back from your honeymoon and I just busted up into your house with my drama. Let me get out of your hair.” She’d started to stand up when Helen fixed her with a look that could burn a hole in the detailed crown molding high above their heads.
“Where do you have to be?”
“Nowhere. I’m just all up in your—”
“Nah, park it.”
“Helene.”
“I’m serious. Stay as long as you like. This one might be itching to get back to work, but I’m off the hook for at least another week. You sit here with me and watch awful TV and eat amazing food and figure out how to stop me from driving over to Dru’s house right now so I can throw her off her balcony.”
“She doesn’t have a balcony.”
“Shame.” Helene reached across the table and took her hand. “Let me help you. What do you want? What do you need? Tell us and we’ll see what we can do. What’s the point of friends with connections and more money than the pope if they can’t help you out?”
“I mean, friendship is the point,” Amanda said as Helene immediately rolled her eyes. She knew she wasn’t going to slink back to her hole of sadness and eventual poverty, not right away. Helene wouldn’t let her, not without a fight and what some might consider out-and-out nagging. She looked at her amazing friend and her equally amazing husband.
“Just give me a moment. I’m not programmed to prioritize my needs.”
“Oh girl, that’s my specialty. Come on. Let’s get selfish,” Helene said with a wink.
Amanda smiled back at her as a wave of sadness washed over her. The truth was, she knew exactly what she needed. “I need Sam. I need to talk to him.”
Chapter 21
Sam came back from the bathroom to see his phone screen shining in the dark. He’d changed the Do Not Disturb settings on his phone as soon as he and Jesse had landed in Bali. He knew he’d miss Amanda like crazy, but even with his international cellular plan he couldn’t spend his whole vacation with his brother texting his new girlfriend. But as he crossed the expanse of their private beachside bungalow something told him whoever was blowing up his phone wasn’t reaching out with a calm, friendly hey-how-ya-doing.
He scooped his phone up and saw the text from Walls.
Sorry to bug you, man. But you need to see this.