As Becky left, Reece sat down across the table.
“Is there a problem?” he asked, lips pursed.
“I wanted your opinion on something,” said Angelica.
“Of course.” He gave a sharp, unsmiling nod. “Whatever you need.”
“I’m looking into the possibility of remaking some of the popular series out of the new British and Australian affiliates.”
“I heard.”
“You did?”
“I also hear you’ve hit some resistance.”
“I have. Are you a resistor?”
Reece gave a slight smile. “I don’t know enough about the projects to have an opinion one way or the other.”
“In general, do you think we’re compromising Lassiter Media’s principles by commissioning content from outside that’s not original?”
“In general, no. In specific, it depends on whether the content will be embraced by our viewers.”
“And how do we determine that?”
“Up front? We can’t. We have to try it, and see if it flies.”
“Simple as that?”
“Simple as that.”
She considered him for a moment. “We might lose a lot of money.”
“We might make a lot of money.”
“We might lose viewers.”
“Or gain them.” Reece sat back in his chair. “What are you really asking me?”
The astute question took Angelica by surprise. “If I decide to commission remakes, what can I do that would make you comfortable with the decision?”
“If you’re comfortable, then I’m comfortable.”
“Are you a yes-man, Reece?”
“In public, yes. In private, I’ll give you my opinion, as fully and freely as you want. I’ll point out all the potholes in the road. If you tell me to go around them, I will. If you tell me to drive over them, I will. If we crash, we crash. But we’ll go down giving it our best shot.”
She liked the answer. She liked it a lot. “How’s the spring lineup coming?”
He opened a leather folder in front of him. “I brought the draft schedule with me. I thought that’s what the meeting was about.”
Angelic accepted the report, moving on to their day-to-day business. But she couldn’t help thinking that if Reece was working in series instead of movies, her life would be a whole lot easier.
* * *
Since they’d returned from Cheyenne, Evan had tried to call Angie several times. She hadn’t answered, and she hadn’t returned a single message.
He knew he should give up. But some kind of perversity had him tracking her down in person tonight.
He tried to tell himself it was to keep up appearances, but he knew it was because he missed her. It was bad enough before Cheyenne. But since she’d slept in his arms, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head for a moment.
As of five o’clock today, he was the proud, one-third owner of the Sagittarius Resort. He was pumped and excited, and he wanted to share it with her.
He’d gone ahead with the idea of setting up a trust for J.D.’s money. The trust was receiving a guaranteed return from the investment in Sagittarius, as well as having a profit position in the company. Inspired by the Cheyenne flood, he’d chosen disaster relief as the focus of the fund. There were plenty of ordinary families deserving assistance after any number of floods and storms.
Now, the elevator doors slid open on the twenty-eighth floor of the Lassiter Media building. He’d called Angie’s office earlier with no success. Then he’d swung by the mansion, hoping she’d be home by nine o’clock. She wasn’t, and her housekeeper confirmed that she didn’t have a social engagement tonight. The Lassiter Media offices looked like his best hope.
The door to her temporary office was wide open, and she glanced up at the sound of his footsteps.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, looking past him. “And how did you get in the building?”
“I have some news. And the security guards all know me. The world thinks we’re engaged again, remember?”
“I remember.” She sat back in her leather chair.
He moved around the table. “What are you working on so late?”
“Storyboards.”
“Reviewing them?”
“Fixing them.”
“You’re fixing somebody’s storyboards?” It was a surprisingly low-level task. “You’re the CEO, Angie.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“Why? What?” It was nine o’clock at night, for pity’s sake.
“It’s one of the series out of Australia.”
He peered over her shoulder. “Not to backseat drive on you, but don’t you have staff who can do this? Maybe even during regular working hours?”
“How is that not backseat driving?”
“You should have gone home a long time ago.”
“It’s fine.”
“Angie,” he warned.
“Don’t start in on the work-life balance lecture.”
“Then tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s Noah. And Ken and Louie for that matter.” She seemed to hesitate. “I’m not so sure my approach is working.”
Evan glanced at the panels on her computer screen, but they were out of context and didn’t make sense. “What approach?”
“I basically ordered them to pick a series and work on a remake.”
“Okay.” He didn’t really see a problem with that. If the VPs were going to be snarky, they deserved what they got.
“Their hearts just aren’t in it.”
“Their ideas aren’t working?” Evan’s suspicions were immediately aroused.
“Not at all. I’m playing with this one. I’m thinking if I can show them what I mean, give them an example using one of the series, things will smooth out on all three.”
Evan glanced at this watch. “So you’re working half the night because your VPs can’t get their jobs done.”
“I’d like to have something for the morning.”
“Not a good plan, Angie.”
“Truly none of your business, Evan.” She rose from her chair. “You want some coffee?”
“Not this late.”
She moved to a side counter and grabbed the coffee pot.
“Have you had dinner?” he asked her, wrinkling his nose at the stale smell of the coffee.
“I had a late lunch in the café.” She sniffed at the coffee pot. “Right now, I wish it was still open.”
“You want to go out for something?”
She shook her head. “I have to get this done.”
He could see arguing would get him nowhere, so he changed the subject. “I’ve tried to call you a few times since we got back.”
She poured the remains of the coffee pot into her cup. “I’ve been busy working.”
“Every night?”
“Most nights, yes.”
“You know, this is exactly what J.D. worried about.”
She made an abrupt turn to face him. “Bully for J.D. and his perfectly balanced life. But he had me for support. He had you for support. And he had the loyalty of his entire staff. I’m operating under just a few more challenges than my father.” Then her shoulders drooped. “Can we not talk about this? I don’t have the energy to fight. Tell me why you came. You said you had news.”
Evan wanted to keep hammering home his point. He wanted to grab her and shake some sense into her. Then he wanted to kiss her and make love to her. After that, he feared he might actually want to marry her. But the look on her face told him to keep that all to himself.
“We bought the Sagittarius,” he told her instead.
She looked impressed. “You actually did it?”
“We’ll make the announcement on Monday.”
Her body relaxed a bit more, and she gave him a smile. “That’s great news, Evan. I’m truly happy for you.”
“I’m happy, too. I can’t wait to start working with Deke and Lex.” The fit between the three men felt perfect. He was more excited about his professional life than he’d been in months, maybe years.
But he was worried about Angie right now. Even when she smiled, her face was pinched. He wondered if her shoulder was still bothering her. Without conscious thought, he moved closer.
“Do you need to find some more help?” he asked. “Because, you’re right, you know. Your father had both of us to share the load. Who’ve you got?”
She broadened her smile. “This is just a hiccup, Evan. It’s all going to work itself out.”
“I can—”
“No, you can’t.” Her tone was firm.
His cellphone rang in his pocket. He wanted to continue arguing with her, but she looked so fragile that he honestly couldn’t bring himself to cause her any more distress.
He went for the phone instead.
“It’s Matt,” he told her as he took the call.
“Hey, Matt.”
“Hi, Evan. How are things in L.A.?”
“All’s well. How about Cheyenne?”
“We’re working hard. Everybody’s working hard. There’s a lot to do here.”
“I bet there is.”
“The donation from Lassiter Media has been extremely well received.”
“You should tell Angie, not me.”
“Yeah, I keep forgetting. You might be back in the family, but you’re not back in the firm.”