She’d spent most of the night ignoring texts and then flat-out blocking numbers. When Dru made a point to send her screenshots of several of Twitter’s cruelest tweets regarding her physical appearance and clear gold-digging status, she decided it was time to block Dru’s number. She’d ordered takeout she knew she shouldn’t spend money on, then after checking in with her mom, she’d made a nice blanket fort for herself and cried herself to sleep.

In the morning, though, she felt oddly revived. Rage energized her and helped her realize that Dru might be an unbelievable asshole, but it had forced her to do the thing she should have done long ago.

She pulled up her spec script for Banker Down. It was old, several seasons old, but there was good stuff there. Her parents and her hometown were waiting for her and while she was still a whole day away from getting to see Sam, she was certain of one thing: She wasn’t ready to give up on her professional dreams just yet. For the rest of the day she binged the pilot of every sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, and paranormal show she could find online, and then that night, after another overpriced delivery, she started writing.

* * *

Amanda followed Sam’s directions and pulled into the guest space under his condo. She entered the code at the elevator up to his place. They’d been in touch as he traveled back to the States, then back to California, and decided it would be best for them to meet at his place. The closet Amanda called home wasn’t suitable for guests, and if this conversation got even more sad and depressing, they didn’t need the audience of Sam’s family checking in on them at the ranch. If he decided to cut her loose she’d send them all an apology for getting Sam mixed up with Dru’s dramatic shit. She knew he didn’t blame her, but she knew how this all looked from the outside and as far as they knew the one common denominator was her.

When the elevator chimed, announcing she’d arrived at his floor, it struck her just how completely wrung out she felt. When she wasn’t crying, she was writing, and when she wasn’t writing, she was stressing herself to the point of exhaustion trying to imagine how this conversation with Sam was going to go. After the initial panic, reality settled in. If she and Sam decided to stay together, large-scale public scrutiny would be a part of her life. She was strong, but she didn’t know if she was that strong.