Not sure if the feud is fake, but people hugging her like they haven't seen her in awhile is because she just came back from maternity leave. I'm sure she took an extended one...I would!
IMHO If she truly never worked there,ike Bitter Jeff says now, then they all would have kept up the pretense that she was always around, like in seasons past. It was mentioned a few times last nite that she was just back from maternity, and that's why that woman hugged her and told her how thin she looks