“The restaurant will feature a small menu with locally sourced foods highlighted every night. They’ll be able to dig deep into that local and elegant branding easily now with the whole of their systems being simplified.” Hope put her hands together like she was happy about everything. But if Joy and Ross didn’t get their shit together, everything would fail within a month of them leaving. They still didn’t have enough staff in the kitchenand dining room. And while she had hopes for Trey to eventually learn to be a real chef, he simply didn’t have the skills right now to do that.
“The Borjeses have transformed this hotel into something, something fresh, something that plays on the theme of simple elegance in every corner. And they’ve put in the hard work.”
Hope could see Angelica choke down that phrase. Because they hadn’t, in fact, put in the hard work. And Joy had consistently resisted any suggestions no matter how they’d tossed them to her. It was primarily up to Ross to hold his own and Joy to finally acquiesce to him. If only that would actually happen.
“But for now, our time is up, and it’s left in the hands of the Borjeses and Virginia Beach to continue to transform Beaches into a new place. One that doesn’t remember the past pains but thrives into what the future has in store for them.” Hope had to choke on those words just like Angelica had only moments before. It was so cheesy. And she could tell that Florence had her hand in this one far more than she typically did. Perhaps letting her have control over the scripts in general was only going to make these worse in the long run.
“And that’s a wrap,” Angelica said, clapping her hands and turning to Hope.
The fear, the frustration, and the stress all vanished in an instant. Hope couldn’t stop herself from leaning in as their gazes locked, anything she was about to say flying out the window. Angelica finally nodded at her and then turned on her toes and started to walk away.
Crap.
Hope skipped a step to catch up, walking past the camera with her shoulder right next to Angelica’s. This was the last scene that they needed to film, the last day that they were going to be stuck here. She clenched her jaw as they pushed their wayout of the hotel and then stopped. Their eyes locked. Neither one of them said anything.
Instantly, they turned around and went back inside.
“Cut!” Rex called, and the silence that had filled the lobby instantly vanished.
Hope’s shoulders relaxed, and she stared down at her shoes. No one else had noticed how lost she’d gotten in Angelica, had they? Maybe she’d managed to get away with it, just this once. At least, she was going to tell herself that. Running her fingers through the hair at the back of her head, she turned to talk to Angelica, but she was gone.
Furrowing her brow, Hope looked around the lobby and tried to find her. She stood off to the side, talking quickly with Joy and Ross, shaking their hands, and then she stepped away. Hope was about to follow her, but Florence jerked her back sharply.
“Let her go for now,” Florence said.
“But—”
“You need to play hostess to our hosts for the week, Hope. She has a meeting, and you can talk with her later.”
Hope stared at her, a silent war going on between them. And one that Hope was damn sure she wouldn’t win. But what the hell was going on that she’d missed? Hadn’t Angelica found her footing since they’d talked? She’d seemed to be better the last couple of days.
“Come on, let’s talk to Joy and Ross and make sure they’re set up for when we leave.” Florence started to guide Hope toward the Borjeses.
Except Hope knew that nothing was going to prepare them for Angelica and her to leave. They would be just as lost as before because they’d refused to listen the entire week. When they came back around in five years to do a follow up, this would be one of the hotels that was shut down or bought out. Hope had no doubtabout that. She rolled her neck and followed Florence to do her duty.
Rex stepped next to Hope, taking her elbow and pulling her to the side. Phones buzzed around them, one after the other, pinging like something had just lit up the room.
“Not again,” Hope mumbled.
“Come here.” Rex dragged Hope out of the dining room and into the lobby.
He didn’t get much farther when Hope’s cellphone dinged a notification. She moved the phone in front of her face, but Rex put his hand over the screen.
“Before you look at that, I need to apologize first. I need to apologize to Ange, too, but I’m pretty sure I know what meeting she got dragged into.”
“What are you even talking about?” Hope dropped her hand to her side.
Rex stepped in closer, looking around the lobby like something or someone was going to pop out and tell them the apocalypse was happening now.
“When we split up, I was in a really bad place and I was mad—so mad.”
“Yeah, I think we’re all aware of that.” Hope ground out the words, clenching her jaw tightly. The dining room was too quiet. There should be voices loudly talking and laughter spilling through the doors. But there was nothing.
“Yeah, well…” Rex stopped and leaned in. “I’m really sorry about it all now, and I regret it. I didn’t think anything?—”
“What isit, Rex?” Her patience was so thin.
“I filed a complaint against Ange and herbehaviortoward you.”
