Page 59 of Culinary Chaos
And she was sitting right next to Angelica, her gaze flicking toward Angelica more often than not. Angelica at least caught that, but if anyone asked her what they were discussing, she had no idea. She couldn’t begin to think of a topic that they needed to touch on that day, even though these meetings were starting to be very routine for her. Kyle would talk about different scenes he wanted, Rex would add in his two cents, and Josef would agree to all of it.
But for everything that it was worth, Angelica couldn’t focus.
Finally, Hope leaned over and touched her arm briefly to get her full attention.
“What?” Angelica asked, keeping her voice down.
“You’re not okay,” Hope whispered, taking advantage of the fact that the men were distracted. “What’s really going on?”
“I think I just caught something from the flight.”
Hope squinted at her before pursing her lips and shaking her head. “You should rest while you can. Before we start filming.”
The fact that Angelica was actually considering that should have told her how crappy she felt. But she didn’t want to leave. She didn’t want them to think that she couldn’t cut it and that she couldn’t keep up with the pace they were setting.
“Angel…” Hope trailed off. “Come on.”
Come on,what? Rest? Disappear? Just walk out of a meeting that she was essential for? She couldn’t do that. Angelica turned to focus back on Rex and Kyle who were hashing out some kind of shoot with the outside views or something. Angelica hadn’t even taken a single note since she’d been in there.
Hope moved her hand away, and the warmth from her skin was gone before Angelica knew that she was missing it. She wanted it back. That had kept her steady in the last ten minutes, and she couldn’t stand to not have something to keep her grounded right where she was.
“Let’s take a break,” Josef announced. “You can show me where you want to do this opening shot.”
Angelica stayed still, melding with her seat while the three men got up and left. She expected Hope to go with them, but Hope stayed right where she was, legs crossed, leaning on the arm of the chair, and her eyes locked on Angelica’s face.
“Ready to admit defeat yet?” Hope asked.
“Yes,” Angelica answered, wincing. She rested back in her chair for the first time, finally finding herself and letting every sensation flood into her body. Now that she was focused on it, she could tell how shitty she really felt.
Hope reached up and touched her cheek with the back of her hand and clicked her tongue. “You’ve got a fever.”
“Perfect,” Angelica muttered. “Just what I needed this week.” She closed her eyes and tried to steady herself for the long walk back to her room and the fact that she was going to have to haveher assistant rearrange her schedule and Lyric rearrange her travel. “I guess it wasn’t the car ride.”
“That probably didn’t help anything.” Hope hummed, but her calm presence was exactly what Angelica needed, and she was so glad that she was still there. At least for now. “Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll walk you back.”
Why did that sound heavenly? Angelica hadn’t realized just how much she actually wanted the helping hand, or the fact that this time around she might actually need it. She wasn’t as young as she used to be, and perhaps this cold or whatever it was would take it out of her.
“Sure,” Angelica said. Before she was ready, because when would she ever be, she pushed herself up to stand. Hope was standing with her in an instant.
Hope put a hand on the small of her back and led her toward the hallway. Angelica wasn’t entirely sure how they ended up back at her room, but she fished her key out of her pocket and handed it to Hope. She couldn’t focus enough to even get it in the lock.
She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off her jacket first. Chills started, working their way up her back and into her chest. Goosebumps lined her arms and legs, and if she wasn’t careful, she was going to end up with full body shakes.
“What do you normally take for the flu?” Hope asked, taking Angelica’s jacket and folding it over the small chair at the desk where Angelica had left her laptop earlier.
“Just Tylenol.”
“That’s it?” Hope wrinkled her nose at her.
Angelica nodded. “I don’t get sick very often.”
Hope hummed. “Stay here. I’ll be right back. I’m taking the key with me because I don’t want you to get up and fall over while I’m gone.”
That was fair. Angelica said nothing as Hope walked out of the room. She did slowly start to undo the zipper on her heeled boots and take them off, dropping them next to the bed. She could deal with cleaning that up later. For now, she just wanted to lie down and melt into the blankets until she felt just a little bit better than she currently did.
She burrowed her way under the blankets and closed her eyes, sighing heavily. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She couldn’t believe that she was getting sick while they were filming. They were on such a tight schedule, and now she wouldn’t be able to do anything until she could at least stand upright. Which right now would be a challenge.
The door opened, and Angelica didn’t even bother to open her eyes. She just wanted to stay right where she was, warm and under the blankets. The mattress dipped slightly, and there was a hand on her shoulder.
