Callum doesn’t so much as blink.
Instead, he pulls my chair out for me next to the blonde, and I sit. I very, very much could use a drink. Though the idea of eating anything right now makes me want to puke.
I also feel disoriented not sitting next to Callum, but I guess it’s customary to sit across from your partner.
The waitress is beautifully prompt in offering me a drink menu and I immediately order a gin and tonic without even looking.
“Would you like the Aspen?” she asks and I just stare, reaching for the menu again. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what–”
“It has muddled blueberries and juniper berries in it,” the girl with Noah says with a smile.
“Oh, that sounds lovely. I’ll take one of those.”
I giggle nervously and it’s an instant regret. Avery is arching an eyebrow, Barbie is disgusted with me, and Hiram’s eyes are heavy on me.
The waitress doesn’t even ask Callum what he wants. She probably knows what he wants. She probably knows what everyone wants because they all belong here, and I don’t.
Minutes later, she sets our drinks down and another server brings out some appetizers for the table to share. Oysters, caviar, and the fanciest charcuterie board I’ve ever seen.
I reach for my drink, give it a quick stir, earning me my fourteenth dirty look from Barbie and take a sip.
It’s lovely. Florally and sweet and heavy on the juniper. In other words, it tastes expensive, and I don’t hate it.
“So, Callum, you still haven’t introduced us.” Hiram says, his gaze melting a hole in my face. He’s smiling but I know better than to believe it’s real. Or that he likes me. I mean I technically work for the man, and he has no idea who I am.
“Of course,” Callum sets his drink down and smiles at me. I can’t tell if it’s real or not. On one hand, I’ve seen this man smile. Laugh even. It took getting him half naked and a little drunk, but he did it. “This is Amanda, our new ghostwriter.”
“This is Amanda?” Hiram asks, sitting up straight and sweeping his eyes over me like he hasn’t just spent the last eight minutes staring at me. “Isn’t that interesting.”
I look at Callum, hoping for a clue as to what that means. Good? Bad? I really need a bone here.
I decide to drink more instead.
“I hope it’s okay that I joined you,” I say, looking around the table. “I just started and–”
“It is kind of odd. New hires aren’t usually a part of these dinners,” Avery says flatly, and I can feel the heat rising to my face, starting in my chest.
Callum sits up straighter, takes a sip of his drink and clears his throat. “I invited her because she is my partner.”
“In…songwriting?” Avery asks.
“In life,” he states.
Shit.
Barbie looks up. “You mean like…you’re a couple? How cute. I’m Zoe.”
Of course you are.
“Nice to meet you.” I extend my hand with an equally plastic smile. This is one of those ‘we will be friends by social association but if I ran into you at the grocery store, we would pretend not to see each other’ sort of things. Also, I’d never run into her at a grocery store. She probably has Ken do her shopping for her.
And speaking of Ken.
“You’re dating?” Avery asks, looking at Callum with only his eyes. It’s almost weird looking at them from this angle. They’re twins but very much not the same person. The only thing similar between them is the fight for dominance.
“Actually, that’s why I brought Amanda along tonight. There’s something I–we– need to tell everyone.”
Double shit.
