Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
“Hope!” Josef called her name as he half chased her down the hall.
She skidded to a halt on her way to the kitchen to wait for him. That man shouldn’t run. He’d probably give himself a coronary just by attempting to. Josef breathed heavily as he stood in front of her.
“Hey. I tried to get your attention before.”
“I didn’t hear you,” Hope said, keeping her smile tight. “What can I do for you?”
“Leanne needs to film with you today.”
Hope tensed. “Why?”
“She needs to learn about the kitchens and how to run one, and she needs more screen time. Ange keeps pushing her out.” Josef’s cheeks were still quite red.
Hope pressed her lips together in a thin line. Did he honestly think that she and Angelica were still enough at odds that she would help him over her? Or was it just wishful thinking on his part? She could see where her relationship with Angelica would be confusing. Hell, it confused her most days.
“I don’t think Leanne needs to learn about the kitchens.
Unless she’s planning to work in one, she doesn’t need to understand, and we’re a bit late into filming the episode for me to go back to the basics with her.
” Though if they’d kept Katherine on, this would be a perfect opportunity to do that.
Hope bit her lip. “And I don’t want her to get in my way when we’re doing our first full run of dinner service tonight. ”
“I’m not giving you a choice, Hope.” Josef squared his shoulders, but he was such a short man that it didn’t really seem to make that much of a difference because Hope still towered over him. “You’re going to film with Leanne today.”
“No, Josef. I’m not.” Hope put her hands on her hips as if to make her point. She wasn’t going to back down on this. Not only was she tired of Josef and the way he was running this show, but she wanted to stand up for Angelica this time around. She’d agreed that she would do this.
“Yes, you are.” Josef’s cheeks puffed out.
“Why do you want her to learn the kitchens?”
“So she can do Angelica’s job next season.”
Hope frowned. “Angelica doesn’t touch the kitchens, Josef. You know that. It’s my territory.”
His jaw flapped. He hadn’t been expecting her to call him out on that, had he? Hope narrowed her gaze in a very Angelica-esque move and then she stood up straighter to add to her height.
“Are you trying to replace me, Josef?”
“If you don’t fall in line, then yes, I will replace you.”
Hope’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t known if she’d be around for season four but having that opportunity threatened now made it that much more real. She wanted to be here next season, and she wanted to be here with Angelica.
“Leanne can’t do my job. She’ll never be able to.”
“She’d be a two-for-one deal, and she’s a lot more malleable than you and Ange.” Josef’s nostrils flared.
God, this man was such a tool. Hope shoved her hands into her pockets and rolled up on her toes.
“I only have one thing to tell you, which is that if you take both Angelica and me out of this show, it will fail. I honestly don’t know what made you such a dick—maybe you’re overcompensating for something, I don’t know.
But I’m not going to let you walk all over me, and I’m not Ange. I won’t let you threaten me.”
Hope pushed her toes into the floor and stepped away from him.
“Get back here, Hope!”
“Nope! I don’t think I will!” she called over her shoulder as she barreled her way down the hallway and toward the kitchen. She didn’t have to put up with this bullshit, and she certainly wasn’t going to let him try to push her around any longer.
Stepping into the dining room, Hope locked her eyes on Cadence and immediately waved her over. They stepped outside and away from the rest of the crew and the kitchen staff.
“What’s wrong?” Cadence asked.
“Why would you think anything is wrong?”
“Because you look like Ange on a rampage. What happened?”
Hope sighed heavily and crossed her arms. “Josef.”
“That man needs to seriously fuck off.”
Snorting, Hope shook her head with a laugh. “Yeah, he does. But he’s the show runner, and despite numerous complaints, he hasn’t fucked off yet. And I don’t think he will unless a man tells him to.”
“Ugh.” Cadence wiggled and then rolled her eyes. “All right, so what’s the plan?”
“Plan?”
“To get rid of him. I know how to hide bodies, you know. I work in Hollywood.”
“Oh my God.” Hope put her hands up. “Cadence!”
“Joking! Joking!” Cadence laughed. “But seriously, what’s the plan?”
“He’s trying to get Leanne to film with us today. I guess Angelica keeps pushing her out of the scenes, which doesn’t surprise me. But I need you to keep her out of my kitchens. Seriously. I don’t want her to stick one toe beyond those doors.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“I’m going above everyone’s head.” Hope pulled her phone out of her pocket.
“Right now. So I need you to distract them because I’m not going to be in there when they show up to pitch their fit.
Treat them like they’re toddlers not getting their way.
Slow and with repetition. They won’t get it this time around, but maybe by season four they will. ”
“Hope.” Cadence snagged her arm to hold her back for a second.
“Yeah?”
“Good fucking luck. You’re going to need it.”
Hope smiled at her, and then she broke out into a full grin. “I’m going to make damn sure that this bullshit stops sooner rather than later. I’ve had my fill of it.”
“You go get ‘em!”
She didn’t stay near the hotel, trusting that Cadence would have her back, and as much as she wanted to tell Angelica what she was doing, she was damn sure that Angelica would tell her to stop.
Because she’d see it as defending Angelica.
Not as defending production as a whole. Hope slid her phone out of her pocket and hunched her shoulders as she walked down the street in the quaint mountain town of Weston, Vermont.
She’d fallen in love with this tiny town almost as much as she’d fallen in love with Estes Park, Colorado, and Mountain View West, and not all of it had to do with the town itself. Hope stared at her phone and frowned.
No cell service.
That had been the hardest hit for her to get used to out here. The dead spots for cell phone coverage were enormous, and she’d heard a litany of complaints from not only Eva but also the nanny, Rishal, about it that week.
Walking even farther, Hope started up a hill. When she reached the top of it, her phone finally hit two bars of service. She opened up her contacts and immediately hit Logan’s name. It was time to take care of this. Because she was tired of nothing being done.
The phone rang, and Hope held her breath. Who knew what he was doing right then, but hopefully, he’d answer the phone for her, and it wouldn’t go straight to voicemail, especially since she’d finally found service.
“Hope, hold on a second.”
Hope’s heart stuttered. She hadn’t actually expected him to answer, but not only was he answering, he was going to take the time to talk to her.
Hope gnawed on her lip as she looked around the quaint town.
This place would be beautiful if it wasn’t for the pile of shit that she was dealing with at the hotel—not the managers or the owners primarily, but Josef.
Scared to move even a step, Hope held the phone to ear as she waited for Logan to come back and tell her she could talk.
“Hey there. Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay.” Hope cursed herself for saying that. She needed to be better and stronger than that at this point. She needed to hold her own and be the boss and tell him exactly what she wanted and needed. That was why she was making this call anyway, wasn’t it?
“What can I do for you, Hope?”
Licking her lips, Hope debated where to even start.
How much did Logan know? How much was he left in the dark on?
She hadn’t talked to him about Josef since she’d filed that formal complaint and now she was going to be stuck bringing him up to speed just so she could file another one.
She really needed to do better about keeping him in the loop. He had asked her to do that, hadn’t he?
“I needed to talk to you about Josef and about Leanne.”
“Leanne?” Logan sounded concerned. “Who’s Leanne?”
Holy hell. Logan really didn’t know anything, did he?
Was he relying too much on Angelica to keep him in the loop?
Because no way in hell would Josef talk about Leanne.
Then again, they were going to have to pay her somehow, and Logan would have to be in on that hire, wouldn’t he?
How was Josef keeping this a secret from everyone in Los Angeles?
“Leanne Coates.” Hope swallowed the lump in her throat. Was she going to have to be the one to spill the beans on this? Because Angelica wouldn’t like it. “She used to work with Angelica a few years ago, before the show started—”
“Oh yes, I know who you’re talking about.” Logan’s tone was far shorter than it had been before.
“Uh… right.” Hope gnawed on her lip again. “Well Josef hired her for two episodes while Angelica was in the beginning of her recovery from the car accident.”
“He did say that he was going to do that. He just didn’t tell me how, and I’ve been out because my wife just had our second child.”
“Oh, congratulations.” Hope drew in a deep breath and held it tightly in her lungs. Guilt ate away at her. She shouldn’t be disturbing this time for him. “I, uh… is there someone else that I should be talking to?”
“About this? No.” Logan seemed sincere. “What’s going on out there?”
“Josef hired Leanne for two episodes, but he’s pushing it like she’s going to be Angelica’s replacement for season four, and he just implied that Leanne is going to not only replace Angelica but replace me. That she’s going to be his two-for-one deal.”
Silence.
Logan didn’t say anything. Hope had to move the phone away from her ear to check to see if the call was even still connected or not, and when she saw that it was, she had to triple-check and make sure that he was still there.
“Logan?”
“Yeah.” He sighed heavily. “What exactly has he been saying?”
“Well I just got into it with him, and he told me that Leanne needed to learn the kitchens, that I needed to train her on running them, because eventually she was going to take over for me and Angelica. And eventually is for next season.”
“Hotel Bombshell hasn’t been renewed for season four yet.”
“I know that.” Hope pouted. She wanted it to be, though.
She wanted to be able to spend more time with Angelica and perhaps explore what they were just finding, this time without some of the complications that they had before.
“But Josef is convinced it will be, and he’s making threats that Ange and I won’t be around even if it is renewed. ”
Again, Hope was met with silence.
And again, she had to check her phone to see that the call was still connected.
“Logan?”
“What else is he doing?”
Hope looked around Weston, still trying to figure out exactly what she could tell him, what she could trust him with. Because she didn’t want to make things any more difficult than they already were. But still, someone had to be able to do something about this, right?
“He’s pushing Leanne into every single scene, he’s trying to drum up conflict where it doesn’t belong again, and quite frankly, he’s the entire reason the mood on set is shit.
If he were gone, we’d be fine. But he’s pushing everyone to the brink of what they can handle, with threats, and he’s trying to pit everyone against each other, which is just making this whole situation get out of control. ”
Logan sighed heavily. “Production was hoping to make it through to the end of this season.”
“For what?” Hope furrowed her brow and then lifted her hand to rub out the line in the center of her forehead. “Because he needed to be gone last season, what he did—”
“Should have landed him in serious water, but Rachel never filed a report against him—legal or otherwise.”
“And what he did to Ange?” Hope asked, trying to bring Logan around to the fact that Josef had been overstepping boundaries for years now, and they really needed to do something about it and stop catering to him just because he was a man.
“Isn’t acceptable.”
“So why are you sitting on your hands like it is?” Hope’s voice rose with anger. “I’m sick and tired of you men doing absolutely nothing. You know why there are groups like the MeToo movement? It’s because of idiots like you.”
Logan sighed again. “I know. And I also know that it’s not as simple as firing everyone who makes idiotic comments or does stupid things.
He’s the showrunner, and replacing him is far more difficult than simply finding someone to fill his spot.
But I do promise you that the complaints aren’t falling on deaf ears. ”
“Well, it feels like they are.” Hope pouted, even though Logan couldn’t see it. “Because I’m sick and tired of having to fight for this.”
“Tell you what, I’ll come out there.”
“What?”
“I’ll meet you in Saint Paul, next week, and I’ll be there to witness firsthand what he’s doing.”
“He’s not going to do anything if you’re there.” Hope bit her lip. “Josef is smarter than that.”
“He might be. But he can’t hide his true nature forever,” Logan said. “I’ll meet you in Saint Paul, Hope. I promise. I’m not going to let him continue to do these things.”
“Forgive me if my trust in you is slim, because you’ve let him continue to do it until now.”
“Understood. And I’m sorry that I’ve failed you on that front. It’s complicated, and I’m not used to navigating these things, which I know is a poor excuse.”
“It is,” Hope said, not letting him up on that.
“You’re right. I’ll talk to Ange about that and get her opinion on the matter and on where to go from here. She’s the expert in those things.”
That thought didn’t sit well in Hope’s stomach, but she wasn’t exactly going to tell him that either. Biting her lip, Hope looked out at the neighborhood around her. “I need to get back to filming.”
“You do that, and I’ll see you in Saint Paul in three days. All right?”
“Okay,” Hope answered. “Don’t disappoint me again.”