Eva, Jenna, Annalise, and Mandy ran circles around them as they literally walked the entire property. One giant circle around, and then a slower circle through the pool andplayground areas. Hope’s feet were going to ache in the morning after this.
When they’d finished filming, Hope tried to catch Rachel before she walked away, but Rachel just shot her a glare, shook her head, and left. Hope stood stunned. Was this really what she was going to face going forward? The silent treatment from her sister?
“What did you do to piss her off today?” Rex asked, coming to stand beside her.
Hope bit her lower lip, watching Rachel walk off. “She hasn’t talked to you?”
“No, well, not about that. Just about Annalise and what happened last night.” Rex looked around the putt-putt golf area as the crew packed up to move locations behind him. “The rest I got from Josef this morning.”
“So what happened?”
“Annalise stole a golf cart, took it for a joy ride, and she overturned it. Angelica was there and saw the whole thing happen. She found Rachel, and then reamed into the workers at the desk, quizzing them on all their safety policies.” Rex waved to Sy, who said he was headed inside. “It was a lot of drama. Sy said he caught it on camera.”
“Camera?” Hope’s brow wrinkled. “He just happened to be around?”
“When Rach couldn’t find Annalise, I guess she found Josef and asked him. Josef told Sy to come along for the search.”
“Of course he did.” Hope’s stomach churned at that thought. “Anything for drama, right?”
“I don’t agree with a lot of his methods, but you can’t tell me that his vision of the show isn’t what’s working. We got renewed, didn’t we?”
Hope was about to point out that it wasn’t really because of Josef’s vision for the show but because of the chemistry betweenher and Angelica that got them the renewal. Which wasn’t something that Josef could have predicted. And it also wasn’t something that Rex would want pointed out either.
“You should have told me.” What she really meant was that anyone should have told her instead of just keeping her in the dark. Angelica, Rachel, Rex, Josef—someone, anyone, should have told her last night when everything was happening. But once again, she’d been thrust into the dark and she couldn’t do anything about something she was oblivious to.
“Do you need to prep for dinner tonight?” Rex asked, ignoring her statement.
Hope sighed heavily. What the hell was she doing? Nothing was going right. Rachel being here only proved that point and pulled her out of the little paradise she’d tried to create. The relationships she had were floundering deeper into the pit of despair, making it so difficult to even be herself anymore. She was always on guard when everyone was around.
This wasn’t the life that she wanted.
“No.” Hope put her hands on her hips and stared across the property. “I’m going to go for a walk, I think. Clear my head after… that.” She wasn’t sure what else to call it.
“Sure.” Rex’s voice was tight. “So are we shooting the new menu tonight or are we just scrapping that?”
“I don’t know, you’re the director.” Hope threw that at him. “You’re the one who tells me what to do.” She stepped away from him, putting her hands out to her sides as she went. “So, am I shooting with you tonight or not?”
“Damn it, Hope. Why do you have to be like this?”
Hope scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I’ll be there for the dinner service.”
She twisted on her toes and walked away. She had nothing else she wanted to say to him right now. She needed to get herhead on straight and figure out what she was even going to do next. Because living like this was getting harder by the day.
Hope pulled her phone out of her back pocket and immediately turned off her microphone. No one needed to hear what she had to say. She called Angelica and held the phone to her ear, waiting for her to pick up. But it rang and rang and rang and then went to voicemail. Hope pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at the screen as she hung up.
What the hell was going on?
Why would no one talk to her?
She walked the winding path of the hotel in the opposite direction from the way they’d gone to film that last scene. She’d noted one of the quietest places in the entire hotel was down by the golf course, and she needed that quiet now. Finding a bench, Hope sat down on it and stared at her phone.
Should she try to call Angelica again?
What would it mean if she didn’t answer this time?
She gave it another three minutes before she gave in to temptation and called Angelica.
This time, she answered. “Is this urgent?”
