Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
“I don’t like that look on your face,” Angelica said as she paused. “When did you even fly in?”
“Last night.” Logan rubbed his hands over his face and mussed up his hair.
“I thought you were meeting us in Virginia Beach.” Angelica walked closer to him, crossing her arms as the bustle of the day started to build. People were mulling around, doing what needed to be done, and she was just waiting for filming to start.
“That was the plan.” Logan yawned again. “Sorry. It was a late flight.”
“No apologies needed.” She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Logan wouldn’t just up and leave his young family to come out here three days earlier than planned because everything was going well.
“Right. You’ll want one after we talk.”
“Naturally.” Angelica sighed. “In here.”
She walked him into the small conference room that was the nerve center of their operation and shut the door so it was just the two of them. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know what’s crawled up your ass where it concerns Florence, but you need to pull it out and deal with it.”
Cold rushed through Angelica. She nearly froze on the spot.
She’d never expected to be called out on this.
She’d been short and avoidant and dismissive, but she hadn’t been downright mean.
Angelica took her time, sitting in one of the chairs to gather herself for the argument that she hadn’t been planning on having.
“You’re not just a costar of this show, Ange.
You’re a producer. And if you don’t start treating her better, then you’re going to have a problem with production.
This isn’t like you.” Logan stretched his legs out in front of him, like he was just getting off that plane instead of having done it hours ago.
“I know.” Angelica frowned. “I just don’t like her.”
“I don’t honestly care if you don’t like her.
She’s the showrunner, and you need to learn to work with her.
I trust she’s not pulling the same bullshit as Josef?
” Logan looked at her directly, as if he was seeking an honest answer from her, one where she could definitively say one way or another if anyone was being mistreated.
“No, she’s not.”
“In fact, I’ve heard reports that the vast majority of the crew are loving working with her. So far, you’re the only one who’s having an issue.”
Angelica breathed slowly, feeling this scolding to her core.
She knew better than to behave the way she was, but jealousy had gotten the better of her and without a direct answer from Hope about where their relationship stood, she hadn’t been sure what she was looking at when it came to Florence. “You’re right.”
“I’m… right?” Logan frowned at her. “You don’t often admit you’re wrong.”
“I don’t. So take it while you can.” Angelica uncrossed and crossed her legs again, working on getting rid of the nervous and uncomfortable energy that pushed its way through her.
Logan shook his head at her. “I will.” He then sighed heavily. “That was the small problem we have to deal with.”
“Josef?” Angelica guessed, already knowing that once again that man was wheedling his way into her life whether she wanted him to be there or not and he was the reason she was having so much damn difficulty.
Logan nodded dejectedly. “Yes, Josef, or rather the shit he’s pulling. I don’t know if you’ve looked outside—”
“I know it’s bad. Eva’s picked up on it, and they were asking her about Hope and me.” Angelica sighed. “Rex spoke with Florence about putting some extra security in place for the children on set, because they really do deserve that protection.”
“So do you and Hope.” Logan crossed his arms and pointed his toes. “But the news and the media are taking this by storm. It’s gone through the roof in terms of questions, speculations, all the drama that comes with this sort of thing.”
Angelica swallowed the lump that instantly formed in her throat. “So what do you want to do about it?”
Florence came into the room, that same sorrowful and scolding look on her face as was there almost every time Angelica had seen her. “You have to tell them.”
“I…” Angelica panicked. Her heart raced, her entire body went clammy. “I don’t want to.”
“You and Hope coming out with this information is going to put an end to all of the questions and wondering. It means that we own the information,” Florence argued.
“No, it doesn’t. It means that we were coerced by Josef to reveal things we don’t want revealed. He’s still the one in control of everything.” The fear was nearly too much. Angelica wanted to retreat back to her room and hide away so that no one could find her. She needed this.
“You’re not wrong.” Florence sighed heavily, and Angelica could finally see the weight that this was putting on her, the burden of holding everything together. “But when you and Hope come out with it, then we’ll be in control.”
“You really don’t have a choice anymore, Ange. We gave you as much time as we possibly could.” Logan looked at her squarely, that sad expression on his face that told her he wasn’t exactly happy about this situation either.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” they both said at the same time.
Logan added, “We don’t know what else he has in store for this. But if you two can take whatever he throws at us and talk about those moments like a couple, then it won’t come off as bad or detrimental, just two people in love and trying to figure out life before the whole world was watching them.”
“I don’t like this,” Angelica said.
“We knew you wouldn’t.” Florence stayed steady, not moving to offer physical comfort or even a comforting word beyond that, something Angelica was eternally grateful for. She wasn’t sure that she’d be able to manage it if that was offered. “But it must be done.”
“It must,” Logan reiterated, as if Angelica hadn’t understood that fact from the beginning.
“I need to talk to Hope.”
“We thought you might.” Logan stood up and walked out of the room.
Florence took another minute or two, seemingly hesitating before she walked out of the room and shut the door behind her.
The silence was exactly what she needed—it covered Angelica in a blanket of comfort and peace.
The world out there was spinning out of control, but in here she had what little control remained in her grasp.
At least, she’d keep telling herself that.
“What’s going on?” Hope asked as soon as she stepped inside. “Logan’s here? FloRo said you needed to see me?”
“I really wish you’d stop calling her that,” Angelica murmured, folding her hands across her belly. She shivered and stayed still. “Sit down, because we need to have a talk.”
“Shut the door?” Hope asked.
“Absolutely.” Angelica waited impatiently for Hope to shut the door and take a seat. And then she had no idea what to do or say next. How could she even start this conversation?
“You’re scaring me, Angel.”
Angelica shook her head. “After yesterday, we don’t have much of a choice left. Florence and Logan, and the rest of production, would like us to come out.”
“You mean make our relationship public.” Hope didn’t ask that like a question. She knew exactly what Angelica was saying. And she didn’t seem very happy about it either, which was a surprise. Angelica had assumed she’d be elated that she was finally agreeing to do this.
“Yes,” Angelica confirmed.
“This feels…” Hope pulled a face, scrunching up her nose and sneering her lips, “…dirty.”
“It doesn’t feel good,” Angelica concurred.
“Forced.”
“It is forced.” Angelica leaned forward, taking Hope’s hand in hers. “But you wanted this.”
“I did. I do,” Hope corrected. “But not like… this.”
Angelica nodded in agreement. “We will be able to control how this comes out.”
“Just not when.” Hope rolled her eyes and the scoffed. “If I see him, I’ll deck him.”
Angelica chuckled a little at that. This was the Hope she knew and loved. This was the extremely protective woman that she never wanted to lose. She needed this woman in her life more than anything.
“So, what are we telling them?”
“What? We can’t just throw up a picture of us kissing in the hallway on Instagram and be done with it?” Angelica’s cheeks heated with embarrassment. But this wasn’t her area of expertise. This wasn’t something she’d ever dealt with before.
“Angel…” Hope laughed patronizingly. “You know we can’t do that.”
“Why the hell not?”
“We have to go through the process and approval and see what our agents want and what press release would be useful.” Hope folded her hands together in between her knees. “This is a whole tactical mission, not just an announcement.”
“Well, I don’t think Logan and Florence are wanting us to wait very long.”
“If you think people haven’t been working on this problem and how to announce for a while now, then you’ve got your head buried even more in the sand than I thought.
” Hope sat up straight and crossed an ankle over her knee.
“I just want to talk to Rex and Eva first, so they know what shitstorm is coming.”
Angelica’s lips thinned into a line, but she nodded her agreement. “So we tell them.”
“Yes.”
“I still think we should throw up a post on Instagram. Lyric can do it.”
“So you don’t have to deal with it?” Hope fired back.
Angelica resented that comment, but she also resembled it.
Hope sometimes had a way of pulling those emotions straight out of her when she least expected it.
When she looked up at Hope and met her eyes again, something shifted.
Hope immediately moved, coming to kneel beside Angelica’s chair.
Hope held her hand tightly and reached up with her free hand to cup Angelica’s cheek.
“What are you so afraid of with telling the world?” Hope asked.
Angelica had to swallow again, the emotions trying to escape and consume her, but she couldn’t let that happen.
“Angel, I love you.”
“I know you do.” Angelica’s lips pulled into a small smile. She reached up, brushing her thumb across Hope’s lips, savoring the warmth of her skin and the softness of her body. “I’m not worried about love.”
“Are you afraid of it?”
Hope might be on to something with that, but Angelica wasn’t going to say that right away.
Love and relationships, committed ones, weren’t something Angelica was adept at navigating, though they’d managed fairly well in the last year.
She shifted and moved in, pressing their lips together.
Angelica closed her eyes, parting her mouth and deepening the embrace.
She stayed there, kissing and holding onto Hope for longer than she would have normally, but this touch centered her today. She pressed their foreheads together and closed her eyes, breathing in Hope’s breath.
“I miss you,” Angelica whispered. Nothing truer than that in this moment. “I miss just you and me.”
“In Colorado?” Hope asked, her lips brushing against Angelica’s with each word.
“Yeah, away from all of this, from the chaos, from the drama.” Angelica hummed and leaned in to kiss her again. “Telling Eva about us was so anticlimactic. I thought…” Angelica pulled away and lowered her gaze down to Hope’s fingers. “I worried she’d be upset.”
“She…” Hope stopped and shook her head. “I don’t think we’ve heard the last of it from her. It is an adjustment, but also nothing is changing or different right now because we’re acting the way we normally act on set, especially when it’s my week.”
“I know.” Angelica dashed her tongue across her lips, taking in the last little flavor from Hope that she could manage. “I know.”
Hope groaned. “If I had time to take you upstairs right now, I would.”
Laughing lightly, the bit of that joy she’d misplaced coming back into her heart, Angelica smiled at Hope. “I know that too.”
“Good.” Hope sighed. “But for now, we need to figure out how we’re going to tell the world that you’re my girlfriend.”
Angelica shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You’re impossible some days.”
“But you like it.”
“Some days.” Angelica sighed again and picked up her iPad. “I still like the simple post idea and let them run away with it. I don’t want to play into any of the fools out there.”
“You do realize that it’s only going to pick up for a while, right?” Hope stood up and leaned over Angelica’s shoulder to look at her iPad, which had Instagram pulled up on it.
“I don’t think anything is going to just calm this down, but perhaps everyone is right. It’s time to face it head on…” Angelica trailed off. “What if—bear with me for a second—what if Ronan faces it head on?”
“Angel, you can’t flip-flop between personal and work like that. It does my head in.”
“No, but really, what if he actually just calmly and succinctly addressed the issue of his reputation and simply said that he’s trying to right his wrongs and make it up to the community.
” Angelica twisted in the chair a little to look up at Hope.
“It’d be transparent, it’d be doing exactly what we told him to do through all of this. ”
“It would,” Hope agreed.
“I’m going to talk to him.” Angelica was already working through how to encourage that conversation and then navigate Ronan’s immediate dislike of the idea, because he wouldn’t like it at all.
“You do that. But before then…” Hope leaned over and tapped the iPad and opened up the camera. “Let’s take a picture for this social media post you want to make. Though it’d be a better announcement if you were going to put a ring on it.”
“What?” Angelica stiffened.
“Just a joke, Angel.”
Was it though? Most jokes had a hint of truth to them, if not a lot of truth. But they didn’t have time to discuss that—not this morning, anyway. Angelica pushed that curiosity and definite fear away and handed the iPad to Hope.
“You take the picture.”
“Oh, giving me control, are you?” Hope took the device and set it on the table. Then she held her hand out for Angelica so they could stand up and center themselves in the image. “You ready?”
“No, but I don’t have another choice.”
“There’s always another choice, Angel. You’re just choosing to make this one.”
Angelica hummed. Hope left her for two seconds to hit the self-timer on the camera and then came back. Within seconds she was wrapped up in a kiss.
This had better work the way they all wanted it to.
Because if it didn’t—every other outcome ended in disaster.