"Amanda Calvert." The cab driver had stopped giving her weird looks around the third or fourth call, when he realised she was using a bluetooth headset and not talking to him or herself. "I'm sorry, but the mayor is both unavailable and unable to pass comment at this time." The smile Amanda pulled on whenever she answered business calls was becoming harder and harder to summon. She deemed it necessary, though; you could hear such expressions over the phone, it was true. She had always made damn sure it was. She was also pretty certain she had spoken to the reporter on the other end of the phone before. Freeing herself from her seatbelt, she let the idiot stumble through his spiel of questions with his 'please's and his 'I would be very much obliged's while she paid the driver and slid out of the cab. She had her own car, yes, as did the mayor. Both had been impossible to reach without effectively sending up a neon sign saying 'someone worth harassing is leaving Town Hall'. So they had shared a cab. He got out first, naturally, leaving her repeating the same messages over and over like a goddamn answer machine. If there was anything about her job that she hated, then it was this. "No, I have nothing to say on the matter either," she said a little louder, forcing the words through her teeth as she stepped into the house. There were so many things she wanted to say. Most, if not all, of them would get her fired. "But I'm sure tomorrow will be enlightening for many when the students of Scarlet Oak High post the pictures from their cellphones on their blogs. Enjoy your evening." The call was cut and she set about blocking all unknown numbers to her Blackberry. She had all the important ones - even Liliya Kennedy could get through if she really needed to. Which was the last thing anyone needed.
But now back to Amanda and her birthday. A thought that automatically began to make her feel better because it was a day focussed completely on herself. Really, what wasn't to like? Forgetting she was still wearing her bluetooth headset because it had been glued to her head all day, she drifted towards the kitchen, abandoning her Blackberry and keys on the nearest surfaces as she passed. "Cam?" Something smelled fantastic. Really fantastic. Sticking her head around the door frame she inhaled and smiled. Properly. For, oh, the third time that day? "God, that smells good. But you knew that." She reached up to pull her hair loose, choosing to ignore that she would probably have a kink left in it from having her hair in that style all day. "What are you cooking?"