Friday night, Craig returned to his hotel room after his latest concert. The set had been a good one and the audience loved the show, but Craig had a few ideas he wanted to bounce off James to improve their next performance.
He had only been in the room for a few minutes when he heard the sound of the door being unlocked followed by high pitched laughter. James had come back, but not alone.
"Hey, there you are," James greeted Craig as he walked into the room followed by a pair of groupies. "I've got someone here who wants to meet you. This is Cassie, Zara's sister," he said gesturing to a young woman in a blue striped shirt and fitted jeans who smiled at Craig when he glanced at her. "You've met Zara, right?"
Craig nodded and said, "Hi."
"So, the girls were just telling me about this great bar just down the street. We were about to head over, but the girls thought we'd better come and get you first," he joked.
"Thanks, but you should have gone ahead without me," Craig declined.
The others fell silent and unusually serious. The two women exchanged confused looks as James pulled Craig aside. "Are you kidding me?" he asked with a nod towards the two women in the room. When Craig didn't respond he tried begging, "Come on, if you won't go along for yourself, come along as a favor to me at least."
Craig sighed and gave in, "Alright. I'll meet you in the lobby, ok. I've got to make a phone call first."
"Thanks," James said with a smile. Then he went back to the girls. "Ok, he's in."
Craig waited until the group left the room before picking up the telephone and dialing. He waited, listening to the line ring until a groggy voice answered, "Hello?"
"Lucy?" Craig asked. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
"Yeah, but it's ok," she said, sounding more alert. "It's good to hear from you. How's the tour going?"
"It's great. We just finished a show . . .I should have looked at the time before I called. I'll let you get back to sleep."
"No, it's no problem really. I'm glad you called," Lucy assured him. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I just missed the sound of your voice."
"Aw, that's so sweet. I miss you too, Craig," she replied. She sounded as if she were about to say more, but stopped short.
"Listen, I've got to go. James is waiting on me. I just wanted to say goodnight."
"Goodnight, Craig."
Since Craig had left on tour, Lucy had been working on getting her life in order again. She started by taking Craig's advice and decided not to take on everything all by herself. She realized that she did need to ask for help.
Arthur assured her that he could manage the company's business and he would keep her informed if there was anything she needed to be aware of. Likewise, Reese informed her that the lawsuit was being taken care of and they would let her know about anything new that came up. The only thing left to worry about was the house and the country club. She contacted a couple of hiring agencies looking for a reputable person to coordinate events and manage the household and started interviewing.
The best applicant she interviewed that Saturday morning was a man named Justin Jordan. After greeting him at the door, they settled into the dining room for the interview.
Mr. Jordan's resume was impressive. He had been a butler all of his adult life and had worked in homes of the culturally elite. He left all of his jobs on good terms and his references were impeccable.
After discussing his work history and references, Lucy moved the resume aside and just talked with him, person to person. They talked about their tastes in music, style and other aspects of entertaining. Lucy was surprised at how many things they agreed on and at how well they got along together. Her other applicants had been either stern and difficult to talk to or they had strange tastes in style. But she and Mr. Jordan agreed on everything. He seemed almost too good to be true. She hired him on the spot.
After settling things with Andrew, Amanda shared their plans for the future with Alma. "After the wedding, I think I'm going to quit my job," Amanda began and Alma looked up with interest. "Andrew makes enough money to support us and I want to stay home when we have kids anyway. I was thinking that I might as well take care of the house and mother and give you a chance to do what you want for a change." She gave Alma a sideways glance waiting for her reaction, but the elder sister was struck speechless.
Alma barely had time to get used to the idea of how things were going to be when Amanda stunned her again, this time by asking her to be the maid of honor in her wedding. Alma was about to flatly refuse, but their mother answered for her.
"Of course she will. She's your sister and this will probably be her last chance to be in a wedding." As always, Mother had the last word. 
The three women headed to the mall on the following Saturday to shop for dresses. Amanda was very excited about the excursion and happily sorted through racks of formal dresses, occasionally pulling one or two out to try on or to have Alma model.
For her part, Alma kept quiet and did as her sister asked without comment or complaint, but only begrudgingly. Even though they had worked out how things were going to be after the wedding and the arrangement suited Alma fine, she was still jealous that Amanda was the one getting married first and she wasn't.
Only Mrs. May noticed Alma's mood and kept a close eye on her oldest daughter to make sure she didn't ruin this for Amanda. But everything went fine. Amanda picked out the dresses she wanted for the wedding and was so happy that she was oblivious to any negative feelings around her.
They were just leaving the mall, purchases made, when Amanda saw something that completely ruined her happy day.
Standing on the sidewalk in front of the mall was Andrew, flirting with a busty blonde. Amanda gasped, dropped her shopping bags, and ran for the car, sobbing.
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