“All right,I’m home, so how can I help?” Angelica set her phone on speaker, fired up her desktop computer and her iPad, and sat firmly in the chair at her desk. She didn’t plan on leaving this spot for the entire day. She had so much work to catch up on.
“Mom’s files are a mess,” Christian muttered with a sigh. “Like I can’t make heads nor tails of them. And Dad is useless.”
“He’s struggling with her being gone,” Angelica answered, squinting at the screen in front of her until she remembered to grab the reading glasses she usually stashed by the base of the computer. At least everything here was still perfectly in place and right where she left it.
“Yeah, but that leaves me to do absolutely everything.”
“It does.” Angelica licked her lips as she opened up the profit and loss statement from the last quarter. It was time to catch up on finances at least. “It shouldn’t be that way, but it is.”
Christian sighed again. “I’m not even sure where to begin.”
“You need to notify the bank and anything her name was on.” Angelica tapped away at her computer as she rattled off directions to her baby brother. Though she really should stopthinking of him like that. “So the car loan if they had one, or the DMV to get her name off the title. I’d suggest adding your name to the banks so that when Dad dies, you’ll have an easier time getting access to everything and you won’t have to go through this again.”
“I don’t even want tothinkabout that.”
“Well, you need to. He’s eighty-nine.” Angelica clicked the mouse and opened up a new file, skimming everything quickly. Now wasn’t the time for an in-depth review, and she trusted the people who were doing work for her to actually do their jobs correctly.
That had been her first major lesson when she’d taken onHotel Bombshell. She needed to let go of control.
“Ange, I just lost one parent.”
“I know.” Angelica sighed. She really needed to be nicer about this. She’d worked through her emotional reaction, mostly, and she needed to be here for her brother. She could do that. At least, she told herself she could—and she’d told him. “We can talk about that later, I guess. For Mom, you just need to get her name off things and either put it solely in Dad’s name or yours and Dad’s.”
“He’s talking about planning his funeral already.”
So Christian did actually want to talk about that. Angelica pursed her lips, recentered herself, and then focused back on her computer screen.
“That’s good. Write down everything he says so that you two can go back over it when he wants to.” Angelica opened her email next and her heart stopped. There were so many. She’d worked her best to keep up with them as much as she could while gone, but it’d been next to impossible with the way the filming schedule had turned out.
Doubling the episodes per season might just be the death of her if she wasn’t careful.
“He wants you there when he dies.”
Angelica froze. “What? Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he say why?” Angelica asked. She hadn’t cut her father off, not like she’d cut her mother off, though he’d been a consequence of that action for her. Still, outside of filming two years ago, she hadn’t seen him in a very long time.
“You’re his daughter?”
“Why did that sound like a question?” Angelica bit her tongue hard. She hadn’t meant for that to come out as harsh as it had. “Sorry. I’ll think about it.” Though what would it really matter? He’d be dead, and she’d be going for Christian, wouldn’t she? Then again, after her reaction when their mother had died, it might be useful for her to attend.
Maybe.
She still had time to figure that one out.
“We’re going to prepare for his with the funeral home so hopefully we won’t end up in this same situation again.” Christian changed the subject deftly. That was a talent they both had acquired from their mother.
“Good idea.”
“There was one other thing I needed to talk to you about.”
“Go for it. I’ve got a scheduled meeting coming up in a few minutes, so now’s your chance.” Angelica deleted a slew of emails that she didn’t need to answer and filed a few others that were already taken care of.
“Mom took you out of the will.”
Angelica swallowed the lump that instantly formed in her throat. Something about that made everything so final. The break in their relationship had been so deep that nothing would have been able to resolve it.
