“I’m a woman who wouldn’t back down.” Angelica shrugged. “He thought he could control me and he found out otherwise. Beyond that, there’s no one specific thing that happened that would point to him doing this. He needed someone to be his victim, and I was his chosen one.”
Hope hummed disappointment. Why did the world have to be so cruel sometimes? She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed heavily. “So what do we do now?”
“Nothing,” Logan answered. “Production has lawyers that will handle this. They’ll tell us what they need and what they don’t want us to do going forward.”
“I’ll let my lawyers know,” Angelica said. “And we go from there. For now, let’s get work done. Because that’s all we can really do.”
Chapter
Forty
The to-dolist on Angelica’s iPad didn’t seem to be getting any smaller. For everything she marked off, it seemed that more was added to it. But at the same time, if she paused long enough to look around, everything was coming together so well.
Construction on the lobby would finish up overnight, and staff training was already underway for all employees. Hope had the kitchen up and running with their new menu and as much of the experience as they could manage for now. They still had some things that needed to come in for the full experience to be there. And Hope had done beautifully training hospitality.
But she was exhausted.
Every second of the last week had been spent trying to keep up appearances—at least the majority of it. Angelica had never been good at that, but she didn’t want the rest of the crew to know exactly what was going on. And perhaps that was a mistake in the long run, but for right now, she couldn’t handle them interjecting their opinions into the situation.
“How’s it going?” Hope asked, pressing her fingers against the small of Angelica’s back to get her attention.
“I need a break,” Angelica said. “Not just tonight, I need this break coming up.”
“I think we both do.”
Angelica leaned back into Hope’s touch using the comfort from the physical connection as much as she could. She didn’t want to admit it out loud because that wasn’t her style, but she did enjoy that they didn’t have to hide this anymore. Everything was out in the open—at least everything that could be.
“What else do you have to do tonight?” Hope asked.
Sighing, Angelica glanced down at the to-do list and nearly groaned. It would be impossible for her to finish everything on it before they were due to leave. She’d have to leave a good chunk of it for Daph and Frannie to finish up.
“Let me rephrase my question.” Hope shuffled in a little closer, and Angelica loved feeling the warmth of her body pushed into her arm. “At what point can I steal you away for the night?”
“Give me two hours.”
“Perfect. Meet you upstairs.” Hope kissed her cheek quickly and walked away without another word.
Angelica watched her go, the sway of her wide hips moving from side to side and the lightness in her step. Just what exactly did Hope have up her sleeve? She desperately wanted to know, but she couldn’t exactly stop right now to get an answer. Shaking her head, Angelica focused back on work.
Toward the end of the night, she had a quick debrief with Daph and Frannie, letting them know exactly what needed to happen going forward. Sy and Rex caught everything on the camera, and as they wrapped up, Angelica snagged her iPad and immediately made for the staging area. She needed to check in with Florence and Logan one more time before she clocked out of this job for the evening and started to work on what was left of her production position and making sure that the hotels out westwere still doing well enough. Though she’d get the full run-down next week when they were back in town for a short break before continuing filming the season.
The longer season?
Yeah, she was really regretting that decision right about now. She was so used to being done already, to having that break time already built in, but now it was all just going to go to planning whatever was next.
Within the next hour, she was up at her room with exhausted feet and calves. She pulled out her key and swiped it against the lock. As soon as she opened the door, she paused. The room had a scent of lilacs to it, one she hadn’t expected, one that was far more overpowering than normal. Holding her breath, Angelica stepped inside and let the door shut behind her.
“Hope?”
“I’m here!” Hope stepped forward toward the door, a smile on her face.
“What’s going on?” Angelica canted her head to the side, intrigued. She’d never seen that look on Hope’s face, the sheepish one like she was up to something.
“I thought we could use a break.” Hope reached forward and slipped Angelica’s iPad from her fingers and took a step backward.
Curious, Angelica followed slowly. Each step she took was muted, but she followed Hope’s path deeper into the room, surprised to find candles and flower petals all over the floor and bed.
“What’s this?” The tension that had been in Angelica’s shoulders melted instantly. Whatever Hope had spent the last few hours up here doing, it was something for Angelica, something to make her night a little better.
