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“Yeah, Katy girl. I need to go do something.”
She hugged me. “I’m sorry things are so hard right now. I can tell you’re tired.”
I shrugged. “Can you tell Mom and Dad that I’ll be home late tonight?”
She nodded. “I love you.”
Tears filled my eyes as I remembered why I was working so hard. For Katy, for Mom, and for Dad. “I love you too.”
I followed Thea out the door and texted Lisa at the same time.
Had to go. Hope you can handle everything yourself.
Thea filled me in on the way out the door. We wouldn’t just be serving, we’d be setting up the event with the hotel staff, too. Apparently, it was a huge event. They needed us there ASAP, so we barely had time to run home and change.
I pulled into my driveway and ran inside. I grabbed a clean set of catering clothes out of the closet, threw them on, and ran into the bathroom to check my appearance. As much as I didn’t want to care, I had to look presentable in front of all the fancy OC people. But it wasn’t anything a little makeup and dry shampoo couldn’t fix. I spent a few minutes fixing myself up, then bolted back downstairs.
I figured I could take a minute to find a quick snack, since I hadn’t eaten all day. I glanced at a sticky note on the door of the fridge, a note from my mom saying something about being out with my dad and Katy tonight and that I needed to take care of myself for dinner. I threw the note in my bag so I could look at it more closely later. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had a chance to hit up the grocery store this week, so we didn’t have anything fresh. I grabbed a handful of trail mix and figured that could tide me over for the rest of the night.
I plugged the address into my phone and let my map app lead me to the hotel. Zooming down my street, I blasted some old *NSYNC and tried to pump myself up for an evening of working hard, smiling at all my rich and snooty neighbors, and serving food I couldn’t eat. But even Justin’s smooth falsetto couldn’t get me excited. I yawned all the way down the coast. Once I saw my destination, though, I was startled awake.
“This can’t be right,” I murmured to myself. I double checked my phone and Thea’s text. Nope, I was at the right spot. The Royal Cove Hotel, Orange County’s most pretentious spot. Guaranteed to be an event attended by all the Trophy Wives.
And, just as I suspected, camera crews were all around the hotel.
It was okay. I could do this. My parents didn’t watch the show, so they wouldn’t see if I was on. I’d be able to hide, make extra money, and everything would be fine.
The valet took my car away, and I headed into the banquet hall at three thirty. Thea waved me over.
“There you are!” she exclaimed. “We need to wheel out these giant tables and help get them set up with tablecloths and everything.” She had a ten-foot round table on its side next to her and gestured for me to help her. They were so heavy, but we were tough ex-dancers. Nothing was too hard for us.
We set up the tables, set tablecloths, brought out chairs, then helped the florist get the arrangements all on the tables. It was more physical work than usual, but I pushed through. Before we knew it, the camera crews came in and were setting up for a night of shooting.
“Girls, you need to sign these waivers,” Mark said, bringing over two clipboards and pens. “Since the camera crew is here, they need you to sign off in case you’re on TV.”
Thea and I nodded and took the clipboards. Just because I signed didn’t mean I’d be in the line of sight of the cameras. I would stay hidden and out of the way. Thea signed her name and headed off to help with the food, but I read through the waiver carefully. If there was one thing I had learned from Scott, it was to read carefully before I signed anything. The waiver seemed pretty standard, but I didn’t have much to compare it to.
“Ivy! Help!” Thea called from the kitchen. I set down the waiver and ran over to help her balance a giant stack of trays. We brought them into the kitchen and worked with the chefs for the rest of the prep time.
We could hear the sounds of guests coming into the banquet hall while we furiously assembled the appetizers and put them on trays. Around six, Mark sent us out into the banquet room to serve everyone.
I had no idea what I was in for.
