“I think you’ll figure it out for right now.” Florence clenched her jaw.
“Fine by me.” Angelica stepped away and toward the door. “Coming, Hope?”
What the hell was that all about?
Hope’s stomach was in knots as she watched the fire and anger fly between Florence and Angelica. What did they have against each other already? Or was this just the fact that Angelica was very difficult to work with and Hope had been one of the few people to figure out how to manage that? Had Josef been right about that?
“Hope?” Angelica said her name again, standing by the door and holding it open.
“Yeah.” Her voice cracked, like she hadn’t used it in ages, but that wasn’t the case. “Eva?”
“I’m good!” Eva grinned back at her, all dark hair and blue eyes. “I know the drill.” She rolled those stunning eyes and planted herself at the table with her tablet in front of her, already flicking her finger against the screen as she figured out what she wanted to watch.
Still, Hope’s stomach was in knots. Eva seemed so unfazed by everything happening around her, and yet, Hope couldn’t stop the sense of dread that locked onto her body and consumed her. But was the problem Eva and Hope’s worry about her daughter, or was it Angelica, and that last conversation they had that still clung to the air?
“I’ll watch her,” Florence stated. “Well, I’ll be in the room for now. She seems pretty self-sufficient.”
Hope bit her lip, her gaze lingering on Florence, the dark hair that reached her beyond shoulders in straight lines, the pale eyes—Hope could never quite tell if they were green or blue. She wanted to say something, to ask Florence’s opinion on coming out to the world as being in a relationship with Angelica, but she couldn’t force the words past her lips. Not with Eva there. Not with Angelica looking on. Not with…
She looked at Angelica, realization dawning on her.
Right.
Angelica asked about an open relationship, not because this was a thought that had just occurred to her—no, that wasn’t Angelica’s style—but because she’d been thinking about it for the last year and because something had happened that forced her to ask the question.
Something like Florence.
“Eva, why don’t you come with me, and you can sit with Daddy behind the monitors.” Hope’s voice rang clearly through the room, catching Eva’s attention. But she didn’t drag her gazeaway from Angelica. She needed Angelica to understand the boundaries that she was putting into place. Even if she didn’t say them explicitly.
“Okay.” Eva hopped up from her chair.
Hope nodded at Florence and then put her hand on Eva’s shoulder as she walked her out of the room. It took everything in her not to grab Angelica’s hand and pull her in for a kiss. To press their lips together in passion and understanding. But their relationship was still largely hidden from the crew, they hadn’t shared that information with anyone, and they hadn’t talked about how they wanted to behave when it did come out.
Angelica shot her a look that said just as much. They walked in silence down the hallway and back toward the front of the hotel. The crowd outside the windows hadn’t dissipated at all. Hope dropped Eva with Rex and set her up in a chair before she joined Angelica and an elderly woman standing by reception along with a man who looked like her but twenty years younger.
“Hope, this is Ronan and Elsie Bates.” Angelica waved her hand in front of them.
“It’s good to meet you.” Hope held her hand out to shake. Perhaps Angelica was right for once. Focusing on work would be the perfect distraction from the storm that was taking over. Because if she focused on that, then she was going to spiral out of control.
“Ronan and Elsie own the hotel together as mother and son.” Angelica crossed her arms and popped her hip out slightly, her gaze moving from the owners to Hope, something shadowed behind them. “I wanted to apologize for the mess outside. We weren’t expecting something like this.”
“They’ve been camped out here all day,” Ronan said.
“Really?” Hope asked, surprise rocking through her.
“Some came last night when I was closing down the restaurant.” Elsie nodded toward the windows. “One of them scared me when I was taking out the trash.”
Hope’s heart broke at that. These were ordinary people, and they weren’t prepared for this circus. Then again, she wasn’t sure she was prepared for it either.
“We wanted to film introductions and opening discussions tonight if we can.” Angelica immediately launched into work mode. “Then maybe we can get these monkeys out of your hair faster.”
Hope knew, even though Angelica didn’t show it, that she would feel guilty for bringing this chaos onto the hotel and family. And it’d only make their job so much more difficult.
“Yeah, I think we can do that.” Ronan nodded at Angelica. “I’m not sure we’re going home tonight anyway. If we do, I’ll drive you to your house, okay, Mom?”
She nodded at him, not arguing.
Hope looked directly at Cadence, who stepped into the conversation. “I’ve set us up to film in the dining room for now, since it’s relatively empty. And it’ll give a good backdrop for Hope so she can see what needs to be worked on.”
