“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.”
