I slowly climb the stairs, my legs protesting. Making my way down the hall to my room seems like a small victory. I drop my purse on the floor and collapse onto my bed. Keeping my eyes open proves to be a battle I’m not capable of winning… I feel myself drifting off to sleep.
There’s a knock on my door and I sigh. I can’t blame whoever it is, it’s not even dark outside.
“Yeah?”
“Amy?”
It’s Rose. She must have heard me come in.
“You can come in,” I say.
I sit up and run my hand through my hair as I wait for her. Rose opens the door a few inches and sticks her head inside.
“Were you sleeping?”
“No… it’s fine.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah… come on in.”
She pushes the door open the rest of the way and walks into my room. Rose sits down on the end of my bed and I turn my body to face her.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Nothing really… but I heard a noise a few minutes ago… I had my window open… so I looked outside and saw someone dropping you off in a heinously bright orange car.”
I smile and nod.
“Yeah… that was Jarvis.”
“Seriously?”
“Ricardo, Dex hires him sometimes, took me there… and was supposed to pick me up, too… but I didn’t have a cell signal. No one did. He offered to give me a ride.”
“Did he behave himself?”
“Yeah… he was good. He actually thanked me, in the car, for what I did to him the other day.”
“Crazy.”
“I was surprised,” I say, “that’s for sure. But he seemed genuine… hopefully it’s not a temporary thing because it would certainly make it much easier to work with him.”
“That’s good.”
I nod and glance down.
“It is.”
Rose smiles at me, stands up from my bed and walks back toward the door.
“Are you doing anything right now?” I ask.
“No… not really. Why?”
As much as I’d like to take a nap right now, I also know that I need to get the whole car situation dealt with. It was very considerate of Dex to have Ricardo drive me, but it’s really not necessary considering I can just go get another car.
“I was thinking about going to get a new car… if you wanted to go.”
“Sure… let me just put some shoes on.”
I nod and cover my mouth as I yawn. A nap sounds fantastic right now, but I know that it would inevitably lead to me not being able to sleep tonight and I can’t afford that—tomorrow is going to be just as taxing as today was.
My body protests as I stand up, the pain in my legs being the main point of contention. One thing is for sure—by the time we finish filming Day One, I’m going to be in the best shape of my life.
I head downstairs and take out my phone while I wait for Rose. I pull up Ricardo’s number and send him a text.
Ricardo. I didn’t have cell service, so I had to get a ride back to the house. I actually need to get a ride over to the car dealership, if you’re around and available.
My phone vibrates as he responds within a few seconds.
Be right there.
Rose reaches the main floor and we head outside to wait for Ricardo.
“So, you’re buying a new car?” she asks.
“Yeah… Spencer didn’t seem to have much faith that the police would find my car in one piece and he said I might as well get one now and wait for the insurance to pay us back for the other one.”
“That makes sense.”
“Not terribly fiscally responsible,” I say, “but I’m not going to argue.”
Rose laughs and nods her head.
“I get it.”
“I never had a car and I never realized how amazing it is… it provides so much freedom. It’s funny that not even a day without mine and I’m missing it terribly.”
“That makes sense. I never really drove… and never had a car until I left Chicago.”
“Are you going to get a new car?” I ask.
“Yeah… at some point, sorry.”
“No need to apologize… I was just curious.”
“I feel bad about asking you to drive me around.”
“It’s fine, really.”
“You’d tell me if it wasn’t?” Rose asks.
“Of course… but like I said, I really don’t mind… it’s not a big deal.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’m hoping that I get the role I auditioned for… and then can afford to get a place of my own and a car.”
“That makes sense.”
I’ll be sad for Rose to not be around, but I totally get that she wants her own place and her own space. I’m sure I’d feel the same way if I wasn’t married to Spencer or if I hadn’t lived with Dex before.
Ricardo pulls up in front of the gate and we walk toward him. He punches the gate code in and we walk through while it’s still opening. Ricardo gets out of his car and opens the door for us.
“Thanks,” I say.
“You’re welcome.”
Ricardo gets back in the car as we buckle our seat belts.
“Where to?”
“The Audi dealership.”
“The one here in Beverly Hills?”
“Yes… thanks.”
Ricardo backs out of the driveway and I look over at Rose. She’s looking out the window at all the houses in the neighborhood. I recognize that look… it was the same one on my face when I came here for the first time. Every single home near Dex’s is massive and stunningly beautiful. Growing up in a small town, I had no idea that places like this even existed. There was one kid at my school, Mike Allen, who lived just outside of town. His parent’s owned the biggest home around, which we called The Mansion. Looking back on it, the whole thing was a little silly because it was just a bigger house than most of us lived in… but it wasn’t any bigger than Spencer’s house and wasn’t nearly as nice or big as Dex’s.
Ricardo pulls into the parking lot of the Audi dealership less than ten minutes after picking us up.
“Thank you,” I say.
Ricardo nods, smiles and jumps out of the car to open the door for us.
“You’re welcome. Did you need me to stay in case you don’t buy a car?”
“No… it’s fine, thanks.”
“Okay. I’ll have my phone… just text or call if something happens.”
“Thanks, Ricardo… have a good night.”
He nods and gets back in his car as we walk toward the showroom. Even though I don’t know much about cars… when I look around, they all look beautiful and I appreciate the thought that went into their design.
A man wearing a gray suit walks out of the main building and comes over to us.
“Hello,” he says, shaking my hand, “I’m Darryl.”
“Amy… and this is my friend Rose.”
“Nice to meet you. Is there something I can help you with?”
“Yeah… my car was stolen last night… so I need a new one.”
He nods and his eyes narrow as he looks at me. I can’t tell if he’s thinking or he’s skeptical of what I’ve just said. It’s possible he doesn’t believe me given how young we both look… but I’d think that at a place like this they’d be more apt to treat me like a real customer.
“Right… sorry. Your husband… Spencer… he called us earlier.”
“Oh.”
Spencer never said anything to me about calling the dealership, but it sounds like something he would probably do.
“You had the new e-tron… right?”
“Yes.”
“And it was stolen?”
“Last night, yes. We went to dinner and when the valet went to go get it… my car was gone.”
“Ouch… sorry about that.”
“It is what it is… I’ll just be glad to get a new car and move on.”
“Totally understandable. Unfortunately, we don’t actually have another one of those. I’m assuming you wanted to stick with the e-tron, right?”
“I did.”
“Let me go check with my sales manager… I’ll be right back.”
I nod in response as he turns and heads back inside.
“Dang,” Rose says, “that sucks.”
“It does.”
I guess I just assumed that I’d be able to come here and they’d have another one. It didn’t even cross my mind that they might be sold out. Letting Ricardo leave was a mistake, apparently… I should’ve asked him to stay until I was through buying a car.
Darryl walks back out of the building as I look at some of the other cars they have for sale. I’m not desperate enough to just buy anything… not yet. I was also attached to my car because Spencer bought it for me and there’s nothing I can do about that.
“So… I talked to my manager. We aren’t getting another e-tron in for at least another week.”
I wrinkle my forehead and take a deep breath.
“Is it the same as the one I had?”
“Yeah… same exact color and package.”
“Can I reserve it?”
“Yes… we just need a deposit.”
“Okay… let’s do it.”
The three of us head inside and Darryl leads us to the finance office. The desk in the middle of the room is empty and there’s two chairs on the other side of it.
“If you’ll just wait here, he will be with you in just a minute,” Darryl says.
“Thanks.”
“Would you care for a coffee, water or a cappuccino while you wait?”
“I’m fine,” I say.
“Rose?” he asks.
“I’m okay, thanks.”
He smiles and nods before turning and heading back into the showroom. I’m surprised by the friendliness and courtesy of Darryl. It’s certainly refreshing when compared to most of the people I’ve encountered in this city. I’m sure he’s a nice guy… but I have a feeling that it might have something to do with Audi being a more upscale brand—their customers expect, and receive, a higher level of service.
A man walks in, also wearing a perfectly fitting suit, and shakes our hands before sitting down behind the desk.
“Nice to meet you, Amy… Rose. My name is Mark… and I’m the head of finance here at Beverly Hills Audi. Thanks for coming in.”
“Nice to meet you,” we say, in unison.
“So, Darryl filled me in a little on your situation. I’m very sorry to hear about your e-tron.”
“Thanks… it’s kind of a bummer.”
“For sure. Darryl mentioned that you’d like to get another one?”
“Yeah… but he said it would be a week or something.”
“Unfortunately. We had one on the lot, but it sold yesterday. We don’t get a bunch of them, since they are a new model and in fairly high demand.”
“That makes sense,” I say.
“So, I’ve put your name down for the new one… I would just need you to put down a deposit and it’ll be yours.”
I put my purse up on the table and take out my credit card. I set it down on the desk and he scoops it up.
“How much is the deposit?” I ask.
“Usually just five hundred dollars… unless you want to pay more.”
I shrug and shake my head.
“It doesn’t matter. My… husband… he said to just pay for the car, so whatever you want.”
Mark frowns and then slowly nods. He stands up from his desk and walks toward the door.
“I’ll be right back.”
“He seems nice,” Rose says, once Mark is out of earshot.
“Yeah… although that was weird.”
“You mean him frowning?”
“Yes. I’m not sure what that was about.”
“Maybe people don’t usually pay for a car with a credit card a week before it gets here,” Rose says.
I nod in response. Perhaps she’s right, but paying like this doesn’t seem that out of the realm of possibilities. I’m sure Spencer knows what he’s talking about and he said that I should pay for it with the card… but maybe he thought they would have one on the lot.
Mark walks back in the room with a big smile on his face.
“Sorry about that,” he says. “I didn’t realize who you were.”
“Oh.”
I’m not really keen on anyone treating me differently because of who I am, but I guess taking advantage of it every once in a while isn’t that big of a deal.
“So, if you want… I can run the card for the whole amount right now… or you can pay for it when you come to pick it up.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“What are you driving right now?” Mark asks.
“Nothing… I got a ride here.”
It crosses my mind that I could’ve just had Ricardo bring me back to Spencer’s and I could use his car… I don’t think he’d care. I’m sure he would have suggested it had he known the wait for my car would be a week.
“Well… I’ll tell you what. If you pay for the car today… I’ll let you take one our loaner cars until yours comes in. How’s that sound?”
“That would be great.”
He smiles and stands up again.
“I’ll go run your card and be right back.”
“Thanks.”
I turn my head and watch him as he walks into the office a few doors down and hands my card to another man. I would’ve never thought to ask about borrowing a car, so I’m glad Mark suggested it. I could borrow Spencer’s… but I’d rather just drive a car that I don’t have to worry about… just in case something happened to it. Normally it wouldn’t cross my mind… and neither would the possibility that someone would steal my car.
Mark walks back into his office, hands me my card and puts a slip down on the desk for me to sign. He sits down and passes a pen to me.
“You just need to sign that… and then we can get you out of here. I’m sure there’s a lot of other places you would rather be right now.”
I chuckle as I take the pen and look down at the receipt for forty-seven thousand and change. Crazy. I shake my head and sign. Spencer must have told them what he would be willing to spend when he called because they never mentioned the price to me.
“Perfect,” Mark says, as he grabs the receipt. “You’re all set… and Darryl is pulling the loaner around to the front of the building.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
We stand up and I shake his hand.
“You’re welcome, Mrs. Thomas. Thank you for your business. We here at Audi of Beverly Hills appreciate it… and we hope it’s not the last time you buy a car from us. We hope, of course, that next time it will be under better circumstances.”
“Yeah… so do I.”
“I’ll have Darryl call you the moment your new car comes in.”
“Great.”
He smiles and nods as we walk out of his office and toward the front of the building. Darryl hops out of a small SUV and opens the door for us.
“All set?” he asks.
“Yep. Mark said you’d call when my car comes in.”
“I will.”
Darryl reaches his hand into his pocket, takes out a business card and hands it to me.
“My cell is on there. Just shoot me a text and I’ll call you the moment it rolls off the truck. If you want, we can arrange to deliver it and take the Q3.”
“Okay, thanks.”
I get in the driver’s seat and Darryl closes the door for me. I adjust the seat and give him a quick wave. We put on our seat belts and I start the car. The inside is pretty similar to my car, but I still check to make sure everything is where I think it is.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Yes.”
I pull away from the dealership and turn right out of the parking lot. I put my foot down and car jumps forward. My grip on the wheel instantly tightens and I pull my foot back. It’s not super-fast, like Dex’s car, but the power surprised me.
“I like this car, it’s cute,” Rose says.
“It is. I like it, too… but I’m not sure I could get used to driving something this high off the ground.”
“You’re a car girl. I’ve always envisioned myself driving a small SUV, just like this.”
“Well, if you want you can try it out while I have it… to see if it’s something you might want to buy.”
“Thanks.”
We come to a stop at a light. I look over at Rose and smile.
“Do you mind if we head back to the house?” I ask.
“Of course not.”
“I’m just beat from today.”
“Did you have to run a lot?”
“Not run… it was walking up and down a couple of embankments all day, just shooting a couple of scenes.”
“Crazy.”
“Yeah… Harriet pushed us pretty hard, but it was worth it.”
“What do you mean?” Rose asks.
The light turns green and I move my foot from the brake to the gas, with some care.
“It’s supposed to be a gritty, tough… sad… intense movie. By pushing us until we’re dead tired… I think it’s going to make for a great film. I mean, I’m not an expert or anything… I’m sure Dex could have a different opinion, but it seems like it’s turning into a very real feeling film.”
“That’s really cool. I hope I get a chance to do something like that eventually.”
I smile and nod my head. That’s the same thing I was thinking when I auditioned for Day One. I’m glad I’m doing it, it’s amazing, but I’ve never done anything as physically or emotionally demanding in my entire life… and I would be shocked if I ever did again.