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Chapter 20
Thebanquethallwasgorgeous. We had set the red rose arrangements on the tables. While we were in the kitchen, the rest of the staff draped beautiful twinkling lights all around the room. Camera crews were all around, with lighting and production making it even more crowded and bustling than our usual events. I didn’t get too much of a chance to look around, though, because I had to make my way through the attendees and offer them some grilled oysters. My stomach rumbled, but I pushed on. Only a few more hours of serving, and then I could finally,finally, go home.
The camera crew was focused on the entryway and the guests who were still coming in. I scanned around the room and saw the Taylors, including Ethan. I found Thea across the room, who rolled her eyes at me and nodded her head in their direction. I smiled and made my way over to them.
“Nicholas, dear, can you get me one of those oysters?” Rhonda’s whiny voice rang in my direction. “I’m positively famished.”
Nicholas looked annoyed by his wife’s request and huffed over to me. I was pretty good at blending in with everyone around, though, and just offered a small, tight-lipped grin. He huffed and took a couple oysters and napkins, then headed back over to them.
Ethan didn’t seem to pay any attention to his parents and kept scanning the room. “Have you seen Amy?” he asked.
She scoffed. “I have no interest in Amethyst King.”
Amy? Why would Amy be here?
“Ugh, I hope I don’t see her tonight,” another familiar voice said. “She’s obnoxious.” Peering around Ethan, I saw my favorite housefly all glammed up.
Hold up.Thiswas Blake’s “last-minute” conflict? She had to spend the afternoon getting ready for a glitzy benefit and couldn’t do her job?
“But where’s Scott?” she whined. “I haven’t seen him since we had dinner at his house.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. If she and Scott were together, I probably would have screamed.
Ethan ignored his cousin but responded to his mother. “You might not have any interest in Amy, but Stella does. If you’re trying to befriend her, you should be nice to Amy.”
“I don’t need any help with Stella. I’m the most influential woman in Orange County. She should want to be my friend, not the other way around.” Rhonda sighed dramatically. “Where is Stella, anyway?”
“Probably hiding from you,” Ethan muttered.
“What?” Rhonda screeched.
“Nothing.”
I backed away slowly from the Taylors, only to see Vicki, Blake’s biggest supporter at the dance studio, slide in and start a conversation with her.
My eyes shot around the room, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Amy mentioned Stella’s benefit for texting and driving . . . There was no way, right? This couldn’t be the same event?
Because if this was Stella’s benefit, that would mean Amy and Lucas were here.
And that would mean my parents could be here, too.
My stomach sank as I remembered the sticky note on the fridge. But wouldn’t she have told me sooner? Our paths hadn’t crossed much in the last few days, though.
I finally found the huge banner above the stage that must have been hung while we were in the kitchen.Say No to Texting (While Driving).
I needed to find Thea immediately and let her know she had to take over serving whichever side Amy and Lucas were on, and I prayed more intensely than I ever had in my life that my parents had refused the offer.
“Excuse me, could I get one of those?” A man’s voice wafted into my consciousness from behind me.
I turned around too quickly and stumbled over my feet, and the remaining oysters slid off the tray. “I’m so sorry,” I murmured, bending down to pick them up.Stupid, stupid, stupid.I had never dropped one piece of food in my time working, and I could not afford to make a scene right now.
“Fern?” the voice said.
Oh, good lord. There was only one person who called me that.
And if he was here, and Amy was here, too, there was one more person who might be here that I was not ready to see for the second time today.
I stood up, leaving the tray on the floor. “Mr. King, I’m begging you. Please don’t tell Amy and Scott that I’m here.”
