“You go get ‘em!”
She didn’t stay near the hotel, trusting that Cadence would have her back, and as much as she wanted to tell Angelica what she was doing, she was damn sure that Angelica would tell her to stop. Because she’d see it as defending Angelica. Not as defending production as a whole. Hope slid her phone out of her pocket and hunched her shoulders as she walked down the street in the quaint mountain town of Weston, Vermont.
She’d fallen in love with this tiny town almost as much as she’d fallen in love with Estes Park, Colorado, and Mountain View West, and not all of it had to do with the town itself. Hope stared at her phone and frowned.
No cell service.
That had been the hardest hit for her to get used to out here. The dead spots for cell phone coverage were enormous, and she’d heard a litany of complaints from not only Eva but also the nanny, Rishal, about it that week.
Walking even farther, Hope started up a hill. When she reached the top of it, her phone finally hit two bars of service. She opened up her contacts and immediately hit Logan’s name. It was time to take care of this. Because she was tired of nothing being done.
The phone rang, and Hope held her breath. Who knew what he was doing right then, but hopefully, he’d answer the phone for her, and it wouldn’t go straight to voicemail, especially since she’d finally found service.
“Hope, hold on a second.”
Hope’s heart stuttered. She hadn’t actually expected him to answer, but not only was he answering, he was going to take the time to talk to her. Hope gnawed on her lip as she looked around the quaint town. This place would be beautiful if it wasn’t for the pile of shit that she was dealing with at the hotel—not the managers or the owners primarily, but Josef.
Scared to move even a step, Hope held the phone to ear as she waited for Logan to come back and tell her she could talk.
“Hey there. Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay.” Hope cursed herself for saying that. She needed to be better and stronger than that at this point. She needed to hold her own and be the boss and tell him exactly what she wanted and needed. That was why she was making this call anyway, wasn’t it?
“What can I do for you, Hope?”
Licking her lips, Hope debated where to even start. How much did Logan know? How much was he left in the dark on? She hadn’t talked to him about Josef since she’d filed that formal complaint and now she was going to be stuck bringing him upto speed just so she could file another one. She really needed to do better about keeping him in the loop. He had asked her to do that, hadn’t he?
“I needed to talk to you about Josef and about Leanne.”
“Leanne?” Logan sounded concerned. “Who’s Leanne?”
Holy hell. Logan really didn’t know anything, did he? Was he relying too much on Angelica to keep him in the loop? Because no way in hell would Josef talk about Leanne. Then again, they were going to have to pay her somehow, and Logan would have to be in on that hire, wouldn’t he? How was Josef keeping this a secret from everyone in Los Angeles?
“Leanne Coates.” Hope swallowed the lump in her throat. Was she going to have to be the one to spill the beans on this? Because Angelica wouldn’t like it. “She used to work with Angelica a few years ago, before the show started?—”
“Oh yes, I know who you’re talking about.” Logan’s tone was far shorter than it had been before.
“Uh… right.” Hope gnawed on her lip again. “Well Josef hired her for two episodes while Angelica was in the beginning of her recovery from the car accident.”
“He did say that he was going to do that. He just didn’t tell me how, and I’ve been out because my wife just had our second child.”
“Oh, congratulations.” Hope drew in a deep breath and held it tightly in her lungs. Guilt ate away at her. She shouldn’t be disturbing this time for him. “I, uh… is there someone else that I should be talking to?”
“About this? No.” Logan seemed sincere. “What’s going on out there?”
“Josef hired Leanne for two episodes, but he’s pushing it like she’s going to be Angelica’s replacement for season four, and he just implied that Leanne is going to not only replace Angelica but replace me. That she’s going to be his two-for-one deal.”
Silence.
Logan didn’t say anything. Hope had to move the phone away from her ear to check to see if the call was even still connected or not, and when she saw that it was, she had to triple-check and make sure that he was still there.
“Logan?”
“Yeah.” He sighed heavily. “What exactly has he been saying?”
“Well I just got into it with him, and he told me that Leanne needed to learn the kitchens, that I needed to train her on running them, because eventually she was going to take over for me and Angelica. And eventually is for next season.”
“Hotel Bombshell hasn’t been renewed for season four yet.”
