“Hey,” Christian said.
“Hey,” Angelica answered, her stomach churning because she knew she wanted to say something, but she wasn’t entirely sure what to say.
“We’re still at the hospital,” Christian said quietly. “Dad won’t… he won’t let them take her yet.”
So they were still just sitting in the room with her mother’s dead body? Angelica winced. Her dad was prone to overdramatics, but even this was a bit much for him. She wasn’t going to comment on it, though. “I’m sure the nurses and staff will help move him along soon.”
Christian grunted. “Maybe.”
Angelica sighed, keeping the phone to her ear. “How are you holding up?”
Christian sighed again, this time so heavily that it nearly broke Angelica’s heart. “I’m not ready for this.”
“I’m not sure anyone is prepared for one of their parents to die.” She certainly hadn’t been, even though she’d thought she was. She’d thought she’d left that part of her life behind, but still, the knowledge that her mother was gone from this world struck her far harder than she’d expected it would.
“True.” Christian hummed, and in the background, Angelica could hear their father sobbing. “Thanks for calling.”
“Anytime,” Angelica murmured the words.
The knock on the door was loud. Angelica whipped around, the phone still to her ear. Florence poked her head inside, a momentary look of concern in her gaze before she focused on Angelica’s face. “We need to start up.”
“Of course,” Angelica said, still clutching her phone. “It’ll just be another minute.”
Florence didn’t seem happy about that, but she did back away and shut the door.
“I know you’re busy. Just call me tonight, and I’ll probably have more information then,” Christian said confidently through the phone.
“Okay. And if you don’t, that’s okay too. Take the time you need to plan and prepare. You’ve got a lot of decisions to make coming up.” Angelica’s lips pulled tight. She did hate the fact that she was forcing him to deal with all of this. But she’d be there in what ways she could, the ones that didn’t cross the boundaries she’d made years ago.
“Thanks.”
Christian hung up without another word. Angelica put her phone down to her side, rolled her head forward, and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes. She hated this. She hated it far more than she’d ever anticipated.
“Ange!” Florence’s voice echoed through the door.
“Coming!” Angelica called back.
Time was up.
She had work to do, and she needed to get it done. The worst part about Hope being gone every day with the food truck was this. Florence had no one else to bother other than Angelica. Which meant all of the attention was on her—and she hated that.
More than she hated this feeling building in the pit of her stomach.
The one she couldn’t define or label.
“Ange?”
“Yeah. I’m coming.” Angelica turned sharply in her heels and gripped onto the doorknob. Within seconds she was out of the office and making her way toward the front of the hotel.
Her brain kept spinning between work, Christian, and her mother. The pain of loss wasn’t what she’d expected to feel at all. Brushing her fingers through her hair, Angelica blinked her focus onto the task in front of her. She was already days behind where she needed to be in terms of figuring out this hotel and what their problems were, and for the life of her she couldn’t force herself to focus on anything.
“Good morning,” Angelica said, reaching her hand forward to shake the elderly man’s hand. He looked studious, small glasses perched on his nose, balding head.
“Morning,” he answered, his voice creaking out as if he was nervous. “I’m Theo.”
“It’s good to meet you.” Angelica tried to plaster on a smile, but she was damn sure she failed at that. Even a glance toward Rex told her that he picked up on the fact that something was off. She really needed to rectify that. “I hear we’re going to have a talk in the office.” Angelica pointed over her shoulder toward the room that she’d just come from.
Theo nodded. But he didn’t say anything other than that.
