I woke up to the sound of ocean waves crashing against the shore and the call of seagulls outside the patio door I forgot to close last night. I took a deep breath in and sat up, stretching my arms overhead with a groan.

I looked out and could see the sparkling blue ocean stretching all the way along my full wall of floor to ceiling windows. Dylan was so lucky to get to wake up to this view every single day. I couldn't even imagine.

I got up and took a shower, curling my long blonde hair into tendrils, making sure I put a hair tie in my bag to put it up in a ponytail if the frizz from the humidity came roaring back. Since I looked like such a bum yesterday I decided to look nice today since I wasn't sure if the film crew was going to be following me around all day. I put on one of the dresses I borrowed from Ellie for the trip.

Her Dad's a wealthy doctor and her Mom is into fashion, so she always has way cuter clothes than me. She insisted that I take a bunch of her clothes with me this week and she even helped me put together the outfits and accessories. Ellie's literally the best and I know how lucky I am to have her as a best friend.

I walked out of the guest house and pulled my phone out of my purse and the business card Dylan gave me for Rita, my personal concierge for the week. I dialed her number and she answered on the first ring.

"This is Rita," she said with a cheery voice. She had obviously already had her coffee this morning and I was jealous.

"Hi Rita. This is Brenley. I'm awake and dressed. I was wondering what I'm supposed to do now?"

"Go ahead and come into the main house through the back door. I just finished making some waffles. You like waffles don't you?"

"I love waffles," I said with a smile.

"Perfect!"

I walked around the pool and through the back door, smelling the aroma of waffles as soon as I came inside. I followed the smell through a hallway until I got to a huge kitchen that had an enormous island in the center with a black marble counter top and see through glass cabinets. The appliances and cabinet knobs were chrome and the flooring and backsplash were white subway tile. The kitchen was ultra modern just like the rest of the house and looked like a million bucks.

"Hi there!" Rita greeted me with a warm smile. She was a short woman in her late 50's with black hair speckled with grey and when she smiled the lines around her eyes and mouth appeared. She was wearing a black wrap around dress that came to her knees and tied at the waist and a pair of black ballet flats. Her hair was pulled up in a loose bun with curly tendrils framing her face.

"Hi Rita. I'm Brenley" I said with a smile, stepping forward to shake her hand and she actually shook it and smiled back.

"Thank you for making waffles. They smell amazing."

"You're welcome sweetie. That's my job," she said, setting down a plate of hot waffles in front of me with butter and syrup. "Do you want some coffee? I was just about to make some."

"Coffee would be amazing but can I make it? I'm a barista so I make coffee all day every day and I'm pretty particular about it. How about I make you a cup too?"

Rita looked surprised and said, "Sure. Go right ahead. Be my guest."

I was relieved to see they had everything I needed. Dylan had his own coffee bean grinder and a ton of gourmet syrups and creamers to choose from and whipped topping and caramel and chocolate sauce for the top.

"I'm making you my specialty. People call it the Brenley Brew. The shop even added it to the menu because so many people asked for it," I said with a smile as I ground the beans until they were practically powder. "While I'm making this, why don't you make some waffles for yourself and you can have breakfast with me?"

"Oh I don't know if I should do that?" she said, shaking her head.

"Why not? I promise I won't tell," I told her with a smile and her worried face changed to a smile.

She thought for a second before finally saying, "Okay."

As we were cooking I told her, "I don't want you to feel weird around me Rita, like I'm your boss or something. I'm just like you, no better. Actually, I bet you make a lot more money than I do and you get to live in Malibu, California and work in a mansion with a celebrity. I live in Sioux City, Iowa and work at a little coffee shop making barely above minimum wage plus tips. I didn't even have nice clothes to wear this week, so I had to borrow some from my best friend."

"Really?" Rita asked, pouring waffle batter into the machine.

"Yeah," I told her with an exhale. "I'm not better than anybody so you can relax and be yourself around me. It'll actually be nice to have a normal person to talk to, to help me make it through this week."

"Ok," Rita said with a smile. "It'll be refreshing to have you around this week too. I kind of wish it was longer now," she laughed.

"Oh no," I said, shaking my head. "You're not keeping me here any longer than I have to be. I'll be lucky to survive a week, but any time you want to come visit me in Iowa you're more than welcome."

"I'll remember that," she nodded.

After we finished cooking, we sat down to eat together on a bar stool. Taking my first bite I closed my eyes and moaned.

"Oh that's the best waffle I've ever had. It's crispy on the outside but light and airy on the inside. It's buttery and the powdered sugar you sprinkled on it is perfect."

"Thank you," Rita smiled. "And I have to say, this is the best coffee I think I've ever had. Now I'm really going to miss you at the end of the week," she laughed, taking another sip.

"I may reconsider staying just for these waffles," I laughed, taking another bite.

As Rita and I sat there and talked and laughed, Dylan came in surprising both of us.

Rita gasped like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar and she quickly stood up and moved away from the seat.

"Please don't be mad at Rita. I asked her to sit and eat with me," I said quickly. "I really hate eating alone and she didn't want to but I begged."

Dylan stood there and looked at both of us for a second, sliding some sunglasses onto his face and said, "It's fine Rita. I'm not mad. Sit and eat. I was on my way out anyway, so no time for breakfast."

Rita hesitantly sat back down with a guilty look on her face, since she was supposed to be working. He didn't seem to mind though.

"I'll just take some coffee with me," Dylan said, grabbing a tumbler from the cabinet and reaching for the pot.

"Wait! Let me do it for you," I said, jumping up. I grabbed it from his hand and put some vanilla and caramel syrup in the very bottom of the tumbler and a squirt of whipped topping before pouring in the coffee and hazelnut creamer. I put the lid on and shook it up, handing it over to him.

He took a sip and his eyebrows raised and he looked impressed. "That's REALLY good. Honestly the best coffee I've ever had."

"Thank you," I said softly, looking down at the ground.

"So, ummmm. I've got a few things to do and I'll be back around noon to take you shopping. That's what's on the agenda for today," he said with an exhale.

"You sound so excited about it," I laughed, taking my seat next to Rita again and continuing to eat.

"Yeah well. I hate shopping, especially with women. They take forever and they try on half of the store to only walk out with two things and it's not even the two things I said I liked on them."

I laughed. "I know exactly how you feel. My best friend likes to drag me out shopping with her and I literally hate it. I'm not a fan at all. She always takes forever."

"A woman that doesn't like to shop?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're like a mythical unicorn or something. You can't be real."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head with a laugh. "Yeah well. Growing up, shopping just reminded me that I didn't have a Mom to shop with to help pick things out and we never had much money to spend anyway soooo," I said, with an exhale. "Shopping was just never fun. I usually got my clothes at Goodwill when I did go."

My face flushed red from embarrassment and I thought he must think so bad of me for that.

He stood there looking down at his mug and said, "Yeah. I used to be very familiar with the Goodwill store."

"Really?"

"Yeah, remember how I told you when I first moved here to L.A. I lived in my car for a bit? I used to search Goodwill for expensive suits to wear to auditions or I'd buy a suit and leave the tags on and return it after. You know that old saying, fake it til you make it. That's what I did. It took a while for me to get used to shopping at expensive stores and not having to look at the price tag before I buy," he said, leaning his butt against the counter and sipping his drink.

I sat there and ate my last bite of waffle in silence as he stood there looking at the floor with a far off gaze in his eyes, like he was caught up in a memory.

"Well I better get going," he said, and a second later he was out the door.

Rita exhaled with relief. "I've only worked for Mr. Chase for a month, but I've worked for other celebrities and they would have cussed me out or fired me immediately for sitting down and eating when I was supposed to be working."

I looked over at her and said, "I don't think Dylan would ever do that. He seems like a good guy. Maybe he's not like the other celebrities you've worked for," as I took a sip of my coffee.

"I hope," Rita exhaled, taking another bite of her waffle.