she was; she was shaking all over—she mentally willed her sister to show a little sense for a change. Say anything at all, and Sabrina would have some interesting footage. But if they kept quiet—she pressed her lips together and tried to give both Andy and Amanda an intense look. Just shut up, she thought. She’s setting us up. Just shut up and go. Don’t give it to her. Well played by Sabrina, yes. And Mae owed her sister one, and Amanda was going to get it. But it was still possible to keep a little family dignity, if only Amanda and Andy would play this cool.
They did not.
“I asked her in,” Andy snapped.
“No, she’s right, I shouldn’t have come in,” said Amanda, wildly looking around, smoothing the long hair she no longer had, then hopping on one foot to put her second flip-flop back on. “I knew it, I’m sorry. I’ll just go now.” She wasn’t meeting Andy’s eyes, or Mae’s, and she couldn’t seem to stop talking. “I should get home anyway, I don’t know why I came in, just dumb, I guess, I didn’t really have a reason . . .”
We all know your reason, thought Mae. Now that she could see Sabrina’s machine working, it was far easier to tuck away her anger over Amanda’s betrayal and follow her own script, not Sabrina’s. Fine, she had a scene. But let it be a scene of Mae calmly handling an unwanted intrusion, not losing it. She shifted her tone, hoping that Sabrina’s phone hadn’t caught her earlier. “It’s no big deal, Amanda,” she said, ignoring the looks on Amanda’s and Andy’s faces. “You said hi, and, yeah, you can just head out.” Just basically say nothing, she told herself. “Here’s your bag.” She picked up Amanda’s tote bag from the floor where it had fallen. Her phone had spilled out, along with her Frannie’s shirt from earlier.
“I see you changed before you came,” Mae said, holding one strap of the bag as Amanda reached out and took the other. Their eyes met. She wanted Amanda to know that she knew what Amanda had done—and that there would be payback. “Guess you probably weren’t planning to strip down here.” Mae held the bag for just an instant too long, knowing her face was away from the camera, and she dropped everything fake and friendly from her face while keeping her voice light. Let the viewers hear her containing her anger, but Amanda was going to see it loud and clear. “Have a nice night.”
She saw understanding in Amanda’s eyes before she turned away, hearing rather than seeing her sister slip out the door.
Amanda, it seemed, was going to break every rule. She didn’t respect the rules, or the past, or, clearly, Mae and Barbara. Or even Andy, who was still gazing after her sister, actually looking hurt, the fool. Jerk though he might be, he could probably have any single woman in this town through sheer lack of competition, and he actually had a thing for Amanda?
He’d regret it. Because if Amanda wasn’t going to play by the rules, Mae wasn’t either. Plan A had been making Mimi’s look good while Frannie’s took the crown, but Plan B was even better: Mimi’s triumphs, and Frannie’s looks like the Olive Garden wannabe that it had turned itself into. She’d highlight the authenticity that was Mimi’s, the way nothing ever changed because it didn’t need to and the hell with the kale salad. She’d use everything she had to make this story go her way, and she could do it, too. She knew how this worked, and Amanda didn’t have a clue.
Her mother was right. Mimi’s could win this thing. Mimi’s was just what everyone wanted now: local, fresh, homemade, real. She could have people coming from three states away to taste their perfectly crafted limited menu and weeping when they found out Mimi’s was out of pie.
Mae was going to run Frannie’s right into the ground, and Amanda with it.
Sabrina seemed to be waiting for something. Her phone was still out, but she hadn’t said anything. Just as Andy’s puppy-dog look was starting to change into one of confusion, Amanda appeared outside the screen door, and as Sabrina turned, Mae could see that she had her phone camera focused exactly there.
“Hey,” Amanda said. She wobbled a little, and Mae could see, if she hadn’t guessed before, that her sister wasn’t just being stupid; she was very, very drunk. “I,