Angelica held her hand out and motioned toward the back office. They walked in that direction, and as soon as they were inside, she shut the door and sat down in the empty chair, waiting for Paris to do the same.
“You said that before you and your husband bought the hotel you were a schoolteacher?”
She nodded, sliding into the chair and looking all the more like a student ready to be scolded.
“And your husband was in finance?”
“Yes, he was.” Paris frowned. “What does this have to do with anything?”
“Neither of you knows much about management and taking the hard line with your employees. In business, you can’t have soft rules that are made to be bent, and often when you run into individual owners such as yourself and your husband, that’s what is claimed to be the advantage. But your employees are taking advantage of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You need to follow the policies you’ve set. I know you’ve set them because I’ve read your handbooks, and they’re good. A bit more lenient than I would be in some cases, but not outrageously so.”
“All right.” Paris seemed pleased with that statement, as if it was a compliment.
But it wasn’t.
“But you don’t follow it, and you’ve admitted that.”
“Oh.”
Angelica hummed her agreement. “So, if you’d like, you can shadow me, and I can take the hard line and teach you how to do it. This is a business, not a classroom, Mrs. Jordanger. And untilyou recognize that and perhaps hire a hotel manager to do the dirty work that you don’t want to do, you’re going to need to be the bad guy sometimes.”
“Like you are?” Mrs. Jordanger’s brown eyes lit up.
Angelica nodded her understanding, a slight smirk on her lips at the tenuous accusation that Paris had given her. “Yes. Sometimes there are distinct advantages to having one good guy and one bad guy.”
“You and Chef Lawrence, then.”
“Precisely.” Angelica pushed her hair over her shoulder and relaxed slightly. “Who is willing to take a harder stance? You or Mr. Jordanger?”
“Me.” She sighed when she answered. “It’s always been me. His head is too much in the numbers and details, and he struggles with the interpersonal things.”
“Then you it is. Tomorrow we’ll work with the front reception staff and housekeeping and maintenance.” Angelica brushed her fingers along the edge of her skirt, which was riding up on her thigh. She hated the shorter skirts they were putting her in. Pants would be so much easier to get her job done in, and far more comfortable. “We need to start fresh with them all, lay down the law, and then start to hold people accountable when they push and break the rules.”
“All right. I can do that.”
“Good.” Angelica nodded at her. “Then I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”
Angelica stood up, gripping her iPad tightly. She still had a ton of work to do, including a call to Tatum about Mountain View that she was already an hour late on making. Though he never seemed to complain about her awkward and random work schedule. He was so laid back and lax. She loved that about him.
She slipped into the elevator and hit the button to take her to her floor. Just as the doors were shutting, Rex stuck his handin to open them again. They stared at each other. Angelica’s lips parted in surprise, and Rex’s jaw locked shut in what she could only suppose was anger or frustration. The doors were about to shut again, but he stepped inside and turned around, so they stood shoulder to shoulder.
Angelica looked up at him, waiting curiously to see what he would do or say. His eyes were red-rimmed, dark circles. He’d clearly been crying. He had stubble on his cheeks that he hadn’t shaved that morning, and his hair looked as though he’d pulled on it in every direction possible.
“Your uh… team did very well today without you.” Why did her voice seem so small? Why was she even speaking?
She could see the pain swelling in him, overwhelming him. And yet… she didn’t feel guilty about sleeping with Hope at all. Their night had been full of lust and passion and tension breaking. She’d longed for a night like that. She could find it in herself to feel compassionate toward him and his pain, but this wasn’t her fight. This wasn’t her hurt.
Rex nodded at her, finally turning his head to look. His eyes welled with tears again, threatening to spill down his cheeks.
If Angelica had doubted whether or not Hope had told him, she knew without a doubt now that she had. He hadn’t been sick at all that day. No, he’d been licking the wounds that had been inflicted on him.
“We can talk about filming in the morning,” Angelica finally said, dropping the pretense from her tone. He needed the time far more than she did. And while she was asking if he wanted to film with her or Hope, she realized at this point, she wasn’t sure which would be his preference. Because both would remind him of exactly what they’d done. Perhaps it’d be best if they could film as separately as possible.
The elevator stopped on their floor, and Angelica waited for Rex to step out. She followed him until the hallway divided intotwo and he walked down toward his room. She was tempted to text Hope and tell her that he was going there, but at the same time, she thought better of that. Best for them to work out their marital issues on their own and for her to stay out of it as much as possible.
