Chapter 43
Chapter
Forty-Three
“Come in!” Angelica called after the knock on her door.
She didn’t look up from the paperwork on her desk as she waited for whoever it was to announce what they needed. But when she was met with silence, she finally raised her gaze.
Hope.
She stood just inside the doorway, fingers gripping onto the purse that she carried as if it was her only lifeline to the outside world.
Angelica immediately straightened in her seat, setting her pen down next to the papers she’d been working on and swallowed the ball of emotion that was trying to escape.
I didn’t expect to see you here.
Why are you here?
What now?
All those thoughts crossed her mind, but she didn’t voice any of them. Angelica stayed still, staring across the room at yet another woman she’d loved and lost. Instead, she waited. She hadn’t called Hope here, and she had no idea why she’d actually shown up.
And now of all days.
The voicemail that Hope had erratically left hadn’t been deleted from Angelica’s phone, and it’d been quite helpful when she’d been called into a follow-up meeting with the same executives.
But Angelica hadn’t called or texted Hope back.
It was better if they broke that part of their relationship as cleanly as possible.
So what now?
Angelica leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms and her legs as she continued to eye Hope over. She didn’t look good. She looked stressed, hurt, broken. Quiet. That’s what it was. Angelica wasn’t sure she’d ever been in Hope’s presence when she was this staunchly quiet.
“I have a meeting I need to leave for,” Angelica finally said, raising her eyebrow in Hope’s direction. “Was there something urgent you needed to discuss?”
“Josef, he uh…” Hope swallowed hard, glanced at the door behind her, and immediately shut it. She walked forward slowly, coming to stand on the other side of Angelica’s large desk, still gripping the strap of her purse tightly. “You never called me back about my message.”
“I didn’t see a need to.” Angelica turned in her chair slightly, keeping herself facing Hope.
She was going to have all of the power in this conversation.
She had to. Because one push in the right direction and she’d be a bumbling fool all over again, and she couldn’t have that.
She’d barely managed to get herself together enough to make it through her workdays.
“Didn’t see a need?” Hope scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Come on, Angel, we’ve worked together for two years now, and you can’t even bother to call me back.”
“You don’t have a right to call me that anymore.” Angelica planted both feet on the ground, opening her stance. “And no, I didn’t see a need. Josef has been trying to come after me since filming started with season one. This attack isn’t anything new.”
“Because of Leanne?” Hope’s voice echoed through her office.
Angelica shook her head slowly. “Because I’m an easier target than himself. Because if he really wanted to look for the problems at hand, he’d be the one to have to change, and well, he is a man after all.”
Angelica breath came in short rasps.
“So, no, I didn’t see a reason. I’ll always be the one under attack, especially by a producer and showrunner who sees the next young thing that is so much better than the washed-up old woman they don’t feel they really need.
And you can object to that line of thought all you want, Hope.
But it’s a fact. That’s exactly how they view me.
” Angelica stood up and started collecting her iPad and the other things she would need for the meeting.
She reached for the blazer that she’d tossed on the back of her chair and slid her arms into it, not even bothering to look at Hope.
She’d been harsh, but she’d been honest. Josef and the others would protect Hope, but Angelica wasn’t going to be afforded those same courtesies.
She’d known that from the very beginning.
It had partly been behind her motivation to have a production title instead of simply a star title.
“We need to discuss the wrap party and what you’d like your involvement to be in that.” Angelica paused, pressing her hand down on her iPad as she leaned over it slightly. “We can do that now or we can do it via email. Whatever works best for you.”
“Is this how it’s going to be then?” Hope came closer, walking around Angelica’s desk so they were standing face-to-face with nothing in between them.
Angelica swallowed hard. Hope never did give her physical space, did she? Was she even aware that she did that?
“You made your choice, Hope,” Angelica whispered. “You can’t renege on it now.”
Angelica held her ground. She had to, because if she didn’t, she was liable to make another mistake. Only this time, she knew it would take her down entirely.
Hope’s lips parted, and Angelica could see the objection begging to come out. But Hope held back. She shook her head slowly and took a step backward. “Since you obviously don’t need my help, then I think we’ve come to an arrangement.”
The use of that word wasn’t lost on Angelica.
Hope and her damn arrangements, ones that sounded as though the rest of those involved even had a choice in them.
How much of the open relationship had been Hope’s pushing and how much had Rex been allowed to speak up?
Angelica clenched her jaw tightly, her teeth pressing against each other so she could hold her damn tongue.
“I’ll be in charge of all of the food for the wrap party. You can handle the rest.”
Angelica pursed her lips, holding her ground. Hope’s mouth opened like she wanted to say something else, but she closed it again. She let out a little sigh as she turned and reached the door. Angelica was just about to let her guard down when Hope spun around and eyed her again.
“I hope you’re happy,” Hope said, her voice tender and soft. “And I really mean that, Ange. I hope you can find joy and love.”
And then she was gone.
Angelica staggered back into her chair, plopping her ass down in it and closing her eyes.
That had been the hardest conversation she’d ever had.
Screw breaking up with Leanne. That had nothing on this.
Angelica released a breath of pent-up tension and anger and hurt, tears forming along the brims of her eyes.
Lyric: Outside, ready when you are.
She stared at her phone and dropped her chin to her chest to take just one more moment for herself.
A relationship that barely lasted two months shouldn’t be this hard to walk away from.
She and Leanne had been together for almost a year before they’d ended everything.
What she and Hope had had was a whirlwind affair and nothing else.
She just had to remember that every time they saw each other, and maybe she’d survive into tomorrow. Taking one last steadying breath, Angelica stood up, snagged her iPad, and left her office. She had a meeting with production that she needed to get to, one that she couldn’t miss.
Angelica slid into the seat next to Lyric, who gave her a curious expression before turning the car on and pulling out of the hotel parking lot.
“I saw Hope leaving.”
Angelica hummed and pursed her lips, but she didn’t give a verbal answer.
“Everything good?” Lyric asked, flashing Angelica a glance that said far more concern than actual curiosity.
God love this woman. She was so caring, way more than Angelica deserved.
“Yeah. Fine.” Angelica opened her iPad and started to work on the drive. She was woefully behind in more ways than one, and she needed the extra hour that the drive was going to take to get a head start on catching up. She didn’t need to explain that to Lyric. She’d understand. She always did.
The hour drive was exactly what she’d needed to settle herself.
As she walked into the conference room, Angelica took her seat next to Rex and gave him a small smile as she settled in and prepared for what was coming next.
Rex said nothing to her, not that she expected him to.
And having just come from seeing Hope, she didn’t exactly want to mention anything either.
“This is Cadence Turner,” Josef said as he stepped into the room, followed by a young woman with wide hips, a black T-shirt with some band logo across it, a leather jacket, and piercings all up her ears.
Angelica had to hide the smile as she looked down at her iPad to pull up the questions that had been prepared.
Once everyone was settled and introduced, Josef began the speech he’d no doubt prepared.
“With the production of Hotel Bombshell taking off and our series views expected to increase this season, we’re growing and expanding.
Rex had the hard job of doing all the work himself this season, but we’re looking for an assistant director who will compliment his style and vision. ”
Cadence gave Josef a small smile, but when her eyes locked on Angelica, that smile turned into a flirtatious smirk. Rex flicked his gaze from Cadence directly to Angelica, and he blinked at her.
“I didn’t realize you and Ms. Turner knew each other,” Rex said.
Angelica chest tightened instantly. “We don’t. Not really. We met at a networking event late last summer. That’s it.”
Rex didn’t seem convinced, however.
But he focused back on Cadence. “We’re aware of your credits and the work you’ve done. We’re not here to debate that. What we need to know is how well you and I will work together, and how well you’ll work with my wif—Hope.”
Angelica paused at that. She looked from Cadence to Rex curiously and back again. “You don’t want the new AD to work with me?” She’d assumed with everything that had happened in San Diego that the go-to would be to separate further from her.
Rex frowned, his face paling. “No,” he said, simply. Then he focused back on Cadence. “Our show is quick moving and semi-scripted, which means that we need to be ready to turn on a dime.”