“You didn’t!” Shock ricocheted through Angelica’s chest.
“I did.” Hope frowned, but Angelica could tell that she didn’t feel bad about it at all. “I do have an idea though.”
“What’s that?”
“We do need to keep on filming. So you go get pretty with Ansel, and I’ll talk to Florence and Rex and Cadence. You and I can film with Theo and talk finances together with him—we need to do that anyway. And Cadence can continue filming the dinner service with Kora for a bit. How does that sound?” Hope ran her fingers down Angelica’s arms to her hands again.
“It sounds good.” Angelica’s voice wavered. It was exactly what she needed.
“Then go talk to Ansel. Give him many apologies, promise him wine, and I’ll meet you up front.” Hope kissed her again. “And we can talk about your mother and your family when you’re ready.”
“Thank you, Hope.” Angelica swallowed hard, looking up into Hope’s eyes.
“Anytime, you know that.” Hope gave her hand one last squeeze before she walked away.
Now, at least, Angelica had a task to focus on. She did exactly as she’d been told, and within thirty minutes she was sitting in the office with Hope and Theo, at a round table, with two iPads between them and numbers staring back. Angelica could do numbers like this in her sleep. She could fill out finance sheets and make everything count and add correctly. But explaining that entire process was something else entirely.
And it’d take far more patience than she had right now.
“Action,” Rex said calmly, his voice hitting the room and propelling them to do something.
“Theo, my number one suggestion for you is going to be to spend some money on hiring someone who can do your books for you.” Angelica glanced at Hope and nodded firmly, just sothat Hope knew she could get through this to the end. At least she could with Hope right there beside her.
“I don’t have the money,” Theo answered.
“You do, sort of. But I think the point is more that you can’t afford not to,” Hope chimed in, locking her gaze on Angelica.
They were so good like this when they worked together. When they were a team with one goal in mind. It was a huge part of why the show had taken off the way it did. The chemistry was right, the love was there, and they not only balanced each other out, they propelled each other toward excellence.
“The food truck is what’s keeping you going,” Angelica added. “You can see that here. It’s beyond profitable.” Angelica pointed to the screen and a few of the graphs. Oftentimes with people who didn’t understand numbers well, this was the simplest way to make sure they understood what was going on. “Labor is always going to be one of the highest costs you have, and it’s a balance of how much you need to spend and how much you can afford to lose. Right now, you’re way overstaffed.”
“Overstaffed?” Theo’s eyes bugged out. “But we can’t keep up with the tasks!”
“You can.” Angelica glanced toward Hope, bolstering herself. “And we can talk about how to streamline those tasks tomorrow. Right now we’re just focused on the finances. But if we streamline the tasks, then it’ll be immediately obvious how much you can lower payroll because of it.”
“I guess.” Theo ran his hands through his hair and tugged on them. “I just… I look at this and go cross-eyed. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“That’s why you need to hire someone,” Hope said. “Kora’s got the food under control, seriously. She understands the profit and loss when it comes to food management and restaurants, so I wouldn’t worry about that at all. In fact, I’d suggest giving her another food truck to double the income there. She can set up intwo locations for lunch, and then she can serve dinner here while setting up in a third location for dinner. It’ll increase the costs, but I think it’ll at least double, if not triple, the profits.”
Theo winced but nodded.
None of this was really digging into his brain, was it? Angelica was going to have to break it down to the basics as best as she could. In other words, this was going to be a very long meeting indeed.
Chapter
Thirty-Three
LeavingAngelica the night before had been one of the hardest things Hope had ever done. But she’d had to go back to Eva and be a parent. They’d gotten through the afternoon of filming, with adjustments, after Hope had thrown her weight around and luckily had both Cadence and Rex to back her up on it. But still, it had been so hard to sit next to Angelica, continually refocusing her so that they could finish the scene and move on.
And it had taken twice as long as it normally would have—at least.
Hope stared at the ceiling of the hotel room, her eyes dry from how long she’d lain there awake, listening to Eva rustle around and sleep in the bed next to her. Another sleepless night. Certainly not the first that Angelica had caused, and probably not the last either if Hope was being honest with herself.
Their relationship was unconventional at best.
But Hope wanted so much more between them, and then they ran into moments like this. Where Angelica didn’t choose to lean on her in hard times but instead ran away to attempt to deal with them on her own. Angelica had been grateful that Hope hadgone out to find her, sure, but Hope had been the one chasing. Again.
Was that all they were to each other?
