Chapter 13 #2
“If you want to quit now, I’m not going to try and stop you.
I think that’s only fair, to let you go like you wanted to let me go.
That’s your decision to make.” Hope lifted Angelica’s hand to her lips, pressing a sweet kiss to her knuckles.
“But if you want to stay and fight, know that I’ll be standing right next to you the entire time.
I won’t let Josef bully you any longer.”
Oh how Angelica wanted to believe that.
She’d fought so long to make space for herself here on the set, and she’d never managed to do it. Every step of the way, she’d had to fight, even with Hope. And this time, she wasn’t sure if she could believe Hope, if she could trust Hope’s commitment.
“Trust me, Ange. Let me make this right with you.”
Hope’s words wrapped around her, pulling her deeply in. Angelica shook her head, those same tears filling her eyes. “I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m scared of what it’ll mean.” Angelica bit her lip. “For us.”
“It doesn’t have to mean anything for us. We work together, and if we don’t have each other’s backs, then we know what’ll happen. We saw that in season one, remember?”
Angelica nodded.
“Then, for the rest of this season, and any other season we get renewed for, we have each other’s backs. It’s us against them. Got it?” Hope squeezed Angelica’s hand tightly.
“Okay.” Angelica nodded, calm settling into her chest and her heart. “Okay. So tomorrow, I go down, and I film.”
“I…” Hope’s lips parted. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“How else do you expect me to fight? From this bed?”
“No, I just meant… are you feeling up to it?”
“It doesn’t matter if I do or don’t.” Angelica breathed in relief.
The feelings she’d had before were too convoluted.
It was much easier to think now, to plan.
She had a show to fight for and take back.
At least for this season, but she wanted it.
She wouldn’t let Leanne take one more thing from her. “I need to be ready to film tomorrow.”
“All right.” Hope grinned at her, her cheeks tightening. “What can I do to help?”
“I, uh…” Angelica fell back into the pillow, cold rushing through her. “I can’t believe I’m going to ask this.” Angelica’s cheeks burned, and she couldn’t bring herself to look into Hope’s eyes. “But I can’t ask anyone else.”
“Anything, Ange…” Hope touched her leg again and brushed her fingers on the inside of Angelica’s thigh. “Name it.”
“I need help brushing my hair. The cut and the bruise on my arm are bad, and I can’t keep my arms above my head long enough to get the tangles out. I’m afraid if I show up looking like this for Ansel, he’ll boot me right out.”
“Yeah.” Hope laughed a little. “How do you want to sit that’s most comfortable for you?”
Angelica sighed as she debated. “I think if you sit behind me.”
It took quite a bit of shifting around before Angelica pressed her back to Hope’s front, relaxing her muscles as best as she could. It was the easiest way because now she could still recline and not be tensed into one position or another.
“Tomorrow will be hard on your body,” Hope commented as she started with the brush, pulling it through the ends of Angelica’s hair and untangling those first.
Angelica didn’t want to admit that part of this plan was perhaps the one that scared her the most. She wasn’t eighteen anymore.
Hell, she wasn’t thirty-six anymore like Hope either.
She was fifty-six, and recovering from this car accident was taking so much out of her.
She held her breath as Hope hit a particularly knotted part.
“I’m sorry that I hurt you.”
Tears welled in Angelica’s eyes again but this time for an entirely different reason. Hope had never said those words to her and fully meant them. And while she was saying it because of untangling Angelica’s hair, she wanted to hear it in an entirely different way.
“I mean it, Angel…” Hope whispered, the old nickname rolling off her tongue like it belonged there. She put her hand on Angelica’s shoulder, turning so that they could look into each other’s eyes. “I’m sorry that I hurt you.”
“You didn’t—”
“I can see it in your face, hear it in your voice, and feel it in how you react when I’m nearby.
Don’t deny what I did. Just let me apologize for it.
I’m sorry, Angel. I didn’t handle last season well, and I made so many poor decisions that I hurt everyone in the process.
” Hope brushed her fingers over Angelica’s cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. Just know.”
And without another word, Hope moved back to brushing Angelica’s hair.
Silence fell over them, cascading through the room and wrapping them tightly in its comforting embrace.
They were always good when they weren’t talking, weren’t they?
But that led to complications of its own, misunderstandings, heartbreak.
Hope continued to run the brush lovingly through Angelica’s hair, finding fewer tangles with each stroke, eventually just running the brush gently through Angelica’s now smooth tresses.
How long had they been sitting there? How long had Angelica been zoned out and pulled into her own thoughts? Or perhaps she’d fallen asleep again. Hope shifted behind her, gently moving and pushing Angelica so she could slip out of the bed.
But as soon as she was gone, Angelica’s heart sank.
That connection was broken, and she wanted it back, immediately.
Angelica reached for Hope’s hand and snagged it, pulling her back slightly.
She stared at Hope’s fingers, the way their skin touched, the heat from Hope that moved into her.
She wasn’t ready to let go yet. And she should have known that was the problem from the start.
She’d given up so easily with Leanne because it hadn’t been like this.
It hadn’t been love.
“Thank you,” Angelica whispered. “About tomorrow? Will you let Rex know to plan for me to be there?”
“I can do that.” Hope shuffled her feet against the floor. “And I won’t let Josef or Leanne know.”
Angelica nodded. “Thank you for the heads-up. I can’t imagine scooting my way in there and finding her.”
Hope bit her lip, her mouth pulling into a half smile before it dropped. “Well, meeting her in person did give me one insight into you.”
“What’s that?” Angelica furrowed her brow, confused.
“You, Angel, have a type.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.” Hope winked at her. “Younger, brunette, boisterous with our opinions.” Hope laughed as she set the brush down on the desk. “Just admit it. I know you like that about me.”
“Hope…” Angelica rolled her eyes. “You’re nothing like Leanne.”
“Sure I am.”
“No, trust me, you’re not.” Angelica rested back into the bed and closed her eyes. “You have a heart.”