Chapter 27
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Angelica’s lips quirked upward as she stared at her phone.
Hope: A little birdie named Lyric told me we have extra time today before we wrap and have the party.
Looking up, Angelica met Hope’s gaze across the table in the dining hall.
They’d started using that space for their morning meetings since it fit them better, but still, it was tight and cramped.
Angelica had settled the last few days. She hadn’t expected the shift to be so poignant, but it was.
Even though she and Hope hadn’t had a chance to truly talk about that shift, she knew it was coming.
Sliding her thumb against her phone, Angelica typed.
Angelica: The little birdie isn’t wrong, assuming there’s no major drama in the next few hours.
Hope: I did promise Katherine I’d talk with her before we left.
Angelica pursed her lips and stared at that message.
She’d thought that they were going to talk with each other, not someone else about work related things.
And that, in and of itself, was a startling fact.
She couldn’t remember the last time she wanted to avoid work to simply be in a lover’s presence.
Angelica: Did you want me there when you talk with her?
Hope: Yes.
“Ange, what do you think?”
Angelica froze. She had no fucking clue what Rex was even talking about.
She’d been absolutely distracted by Hope and the texting conversation that they were having across the table.
She spun through everything she could remember of what was being discussed, and she couldn’t even come up with one lick of a trailhead to begin to answer his question.
“We can make that happen,” Cadence said, shooting Angelica a harsh look before flicking her gaze to Hope. “Do you think, Hope?”
“Uhh… yeah,” Hope agreed.
Was she just as clueless?
Angelica really needed to pull herself together.
She needed to make sure that she kept her head in the game when it came to her job, because with Leanne still hanging around, she couldn’t let up on that control just yet.
Josef still wanted her out, and until that problem was taken care of, she was going to find herself on the defensive no matter what.
“Good.” Cadence snagged her iPad. “Then let’s get to it.”
She stood up, and Hope followed, shooting Angelica a curious gaze. Angelica stayed right where she was as everyone dispersed, but Rex continued to stare at her. “Stay a minute, will you?”
“Yeah, sure.” Angelica settled into the chair, hoping that he would fill her in on whatever it was that she’d missed without being an ass about it.
It took a few more minutes before they were alone, but Rex just continued to stare at her instead of saying anything.
Discomfort swelled in her chest, filling every crevice and cavity that it could find.
He just continued to stare at her, as if waiting for her to say something, but she had no context as to where to even begin.
Finally, Rex’s face pinched. “If you and Hope…” he stopped. Rex pursed his lips and stared down at the table in front of him for a good few seconds before he looked back at Angelica. “If you and Hope start something up again…”
Angelica’s stomach plummeted.
Were they really that obvious?
He had insider knowledge for sure, he understood his ex-wife better than anyone else on set, including Angelica herself at this point. Was he just picking up on the lack of tension? Or was there something else that—
“It’s going to be difficult for me,” he said.
“Just because that was part of the reason we divorced. Not the whole of it, but part of it.” Rex sighed and then looked around the room, as if checking to see if anyone else was there.
He finally leaned in, lowering his voice.
“You were distracted this morning, Ange. You have no clue what we were even talking about or where you’re supposed to be right now, do you? ”
“Rex—”
He put his hand out in front of him. “If you’re going to do this, then you need to be more careful than you were just now.
Do you understand? Josef’s out for blood, specifically yours, and he’s not going to let anything fly under the radar if he can use it to his advantage. I’d hate to see you taken down by him.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you’re not saying.” It took everything in her to keep herself still and in control. But she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her squirm.
“You and Hope—I’m not…” he stopped again, looked around the room, and then lowered his voice, “Just be careful, Ange. I’m not sure the crew can take the tension like we had last year, and I’d hate for this to blow up.”
“Rex.” Angelica put her hand on top of his on the table to stop him. “I’m not entirely sure how to handle this.”
“I’ll figure myself out.” He gave her a wan smile and finally looked in her eyes. “But right now we have a common enemy, and I worry what will happen if you and Hope become that again.”
Angelica nodded slowly. “I’ll work to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Good. Just be careful. Josef has it out for you, and I never fully understood why.”
Angelica sighed, pursed her lips, and then sat back in the chair.
“Because he knows that I’m smarter and better than him at this job, and he’s scared of what that means.
So instead of using my expertise, he’s making me the pariah so he can retain control.
And he’s not above using everything he has in his arsenal against me.
Friendship be damned with him, that’s what I’ve learned. ”
“What do you mean everything?”
“If he were to find out about last season, with Hope? He’d absolutely use that against me, and he’d crush her just to make sure that it happened.” Angelica crossed her arms and nodded toward the door when she heard Leanne’s voice. “I won’t let that happen if I can avoid it.”
“I’m the only one who knows,” Rex confirmed. “I never told anyone.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.” She hadn’t been looking for confirmation, but it was nice to have anyway.
“I like my job, Ange. And while I was nervous about what this season would bring, I don’t want to give this up.
I want to be here next season, and I want this show that we’ve built from the ground up to still be around.
We’re making something good here, something that people are connecting with.
Yeah, I know that the majority of it is you and Hope, it’s that chemistry that the two of you have, but it’s more than that.
We’re a family here, whether you want to admit that or not. ”
“What do you mean?” Angelica furrowed her brow at him.
Rex sighed. “Look around at the crew, Ange. It’s mostly the same people, and when we spend such an intense time together, the relationships built during filming aren’t ever going to end.
I’m happy for you, and for Hope, and for whatever that means, and I’ll figure that out for myself if it continues, but what happens here affects everyone. You can’t separate yourself from it.”
Angelica tensed. Was that a warning or just a deep understanding? She couldn’t quite tell, and had he said that to her last year, she would have taken it as a warning, as a threat, but now it felt different.
“Be careful, Ange. I’d hate for you to get hurt.
” Rex moved his legs to the side of his chair and stood up.
He looked down at her, dark brown eyes wide as he locked his gaze on hers.
“And you’re supposed to be filming a scene with Katherine and Hope out at the picnic table.
I’m doing final interviews with Jess and Mel this morning. ”
“Right.” Angelica’s cheeks burned. “Thank you.”
He nodded at her.
“I mean that, Rex. Thank you. I do appreciate it.”
“Don’t fuck it up. She’s a good woman, and she deserves happiness.” Rex shoved his hands into his pockets and walked out of the dining room.
Angelica sat in her seat, staring after him. This season was full of surprises—more than she had ever expected.
Hope: You coming?
Angelica pursed her lips at her phone and then smiled at it.
That conversation with Rex meant more than she’d thought it would.
It was permission and acceptance, none of which she thought she’d needed, but she had.
Typing up a quick response, Angelica finally moved so that she could walk out to the picnic table to meet up with Hope. It was time they get to work.
“So you’ll pick her up from the airport?” Angelica held her phone to her ear while the wrap party continued in the dining room. She had stepped out to make this phone call, one that she didn’t want to wait on, and it was the only time that Tatum had been available.
“Yes, I’ll be there personally.”
“Good.” Angelica’s lips curled upward into a smile. “Thank you, Tatum.”
“Anytime, you know that.” He always was so sweet. “Ange?”
“Yeah?” Angelica paused in her attempt to end the phone call and get back to work. While the wrap party wasn’t something she necessarily enjoyed, she did want to make sure that she was present for it.
“I want to ask you again if you’ll seriously consider buying Mountain View West. I know you won’t have an answer for me right away, but please, seriously consider it.”
Angelica froze. She glanced back toward the dining room filled with crew and people from the hotel, minus Katherine because Jess and Mel had refused to let her back into the hotel after firing her.
Angelica hadn’t been too pleased about that, but she’d let it slide knowing that Katherine was going to be in a much more supportive environment soon.
“You know that’s not in my long-term plans, Tatum.”
“It wasn’t.” Tatum’s voice was still the calm and steady tone that she’d come to expect from him. “But that doesn’t mean it can’t be.”
“Tatum…” She had to seriously think about it, she had to finally figure out why she was holding back on this.
Because he wasn’t buying the that’s not the way I work line any longer.
And it was probably because of situations like this, where she acted far more like owner than manager.
Which was very true of the hotels she managed in Los Angeles and San Francisco as well.
“I told you before that I’d think about it. ”
“And it’s been long enough that I’d like an update about what you’re thinking.”
Angelica scoffed, which made Tatum chuckle. She did have a soft spot for him. She always did. He reminded her of Christian, of the relationship they used to have when he was younger, before their parents got in the way of them being siblings. That’s exactly what this was.
“I’ve never owned a hotel before,” Angelica finally said, again glancing toward the room with everyone in it.
“But you’re perfectly capable of doing it.”
“I am,” she answered. “But that doesn’t mean the concept isn’t still terrifying.”
As soon as those words were loosed, Angelica felt them rock her soul.
The truth in those words was more than she’d ever said out loud to anyone before about the situation.
She knew she could do it, but that fear of failure was so strong that she’d avoided it for decades.
Imposter syndrome wasn’t something she ever believed she had, but she’d just lied to herself so well for decades that she had come to believe the lie itself.
“I don’t know if I can do it—emotionally,” she added just for clarification. “It’d be a big step, a lot of responsibility, and well, with the show… I’m not sure where my priorities lie right now.”
“Thank you,” Tatum said, sounding happier than before. “I think that’s the best answer I’ve ever gotten from you about it.”
“Is that a good enough answer for now?”
“It is.”
“Okay.” Angelica squeezed her hand into a fist. “Is that everything?”
“Yes.”
“Lyric will send you Katherine’s flight information.”
“I’ll look out for the email. See you soon, Ange.”
He hung up quickly, saving Angelica from a long, drawn-out goodbye, which she was thankful for.
But she didn’t go back into the dining room right away.
What was it with mountain towns and truths that she couldn’t avoid?
Between her confessions to Hope this week and now this, Angelica was on a roll with doling out her deepest secrets.
“Angel? Everything okay?”
Angelica turned to look into Hope’s concerned gaze.
“Yeah. It’s fine.” She swallowed the lump in her throat that formed almost instantly.
No one was around, and she couldn’t resist the urge.
She took a few steps and snagged Hope’s fingers, lacing their hands together.
Pushing up on her toes as best as she could, she pressed their lips together in a gentle kiss.
“What was that for?” Hope asked.
“No reason.” Angelica’s cheeks rushed with heat. “Just wanted a kiss.”
“Well, then, if that’s the case...” Hope pulled Angelica back in. She slid her free hand behind Angelica’s head and kissed her again, deepening the kiss.
Angelica hummed, parting her lips and dashing her tongue out against Hope’s mouth.
She shivered and leaned in, their bodies pressing together as she lost herself in the kiss.
She wanted more of this. She wanted to be able to be free with their relationship.
Not yet, of course. But eventually. She didn’t want to have to hide behind smokescreens any longer.
When Hope pulled away, Angelica grinned at her. “I’m looking forward to going to Saint Paul.”
“Me too.” Hope giggled. “More nights with you.”
“Yes.” Angelica flushed with arousal. “Yes, more nights together.”
“We should get back before anyone else comes looking for you.” Hope stepped away, but she still kept their hands locked together.
“No one else is going to look for me.”
“You might be surprised,” Hope responded, tugging a little to get Angelica moving. “People have been asking where you’re at.”
Angelica frowned. Maybe Rex was right. There was a family here, and she shouldn’t keep pushing them away. Maybe it was time to stop holding back and let someone else in. Angelica nodded and took a step, still holding onto Hope’s hand. Perhaps she could do this with Hope. Strength in numbers, right?
“Ange?”
“Yeah?”
“We’ve got this,” Hope said, squeezing Angelica’s hand before letting go.
“Yeah, we do.”