Everywhere she turned someone had something to say.
“Everything good?” Florence asked as she stepped into the small staging area they had claimed.
Angelica tensed. Was it that obvious that something was upsetting her? She hated that she was so easy to read lately. “Everything’s fine.”
“You do know that when people say that I automatically take it that they’re lying to me, right?” Florence put her hands on her hips and stared down at Angelica just as her phone buzzed again. She glanced at the screen.
Christian
Mom’s not doing good today. The end is probably close.
Angelica held in her sigh, barely, and turned her phone over so she didn’t have to see it again. “Was there something you needed?” Angelica asked.
“Just checking on you.” Florence nodded toward the empty chair next to Angelica. “Do you mind?”
“Do I have a choice?” Angelica did shift and straighten up though, since it seemed as though Florence was actually going to sit with her.
“No.” Florence plopped down and breathed steadily, the silence filling the room.
Outside, Angelica could hear the crew moving around, coming back from the lunch break and setting up. Her phone buzzed again.
Henrietta
Your mom is on her deathbed. She wants to see you before she dies. I think it’s incomprehensible that you’d still punish her like this.
Of course her aunt would text at a time like this when they hadn’t spoken in nearly five years. Angelica paled, cold rushing through her and settling into the pit of her stomach. She hated this. Her mother was doing this from herdeathbed,and she was just supposed to roll over and ask for her belly to be scratched. She clenched her jaw hard and tightened her entire body.
“Is there a reason you have a problem with me?” Florence asked, her voice far calmer than Angelica probably would be if she was the one asking the question.
“I don’t have a problem with you.” Angelica turned her phone over and turned on her iPad, determined to at least get some work done during the short break from filming she had. She needed to approve the payroll for the period and then double-check on the budget for production, which she knew had increased because they’d needed more security than ever.
All because of Josef.
If she could curse his name into oblivion, then she would.
But it probably wouldn’t do much in the long run anyway.
“Ange.” Florence’s tone was demanding.
Licking her lips, Angelica pried her gaze away from her iPad and the fifty million emails she still had to answer and looked directly into Florence’s brown eyes. “Yes?”
“You and I have to learn to work better together.”
“Better?” A line formed in the center of Angelica’s forehead. “We work fine together.”
Florence sighed heavily. “No, we don’t.”
Angelica ignored her and went back to focusing on her iPad and the emails. She had one in there from Mountain View West, and the conclusion of the very long saga of purchasing the hotel. It was hers. Officially.
Her heart skipped a beat.
She hadn’t expected that, or for there to be no flourish or relief. Instead, it was overwhelming. All of the paperwork was signed. All of the i’s were dotted and t’s were crossed. Everything was hers. Her responsibility. Her burden.
She closed out of the email quickly and accidentally tapped into another one. This one from her mother’s sister. Another scathing and begging email about how Angelica had been the one to hold off contact and it was time for her to get overwhatever wrongdoing there was so she could talk to her mom before she died.
And again, she had zero desire to even contemplate it.
“Ange?” Florence’s voice wavered this time. “Are you sure everything is okay?”
