Page 2 of Under the Table

Josef sighed heavily. “Fine.”

Angelica nearly stuttered, but she held back. She hadn’t expected him to actually agree with her on that, and it was taking longer than it should for her brain to catch back up with her mouth. “We’ve proven that we can work together, isn’t that enough for you?”

“No. But it’ll have to be.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I won’t be around as much this season.” Josef sighed again. “Simone is having some medical issues. I need to be home with her more.”

“Oh.” Angelica’s heart fluttered. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Lyric stepped into the room and raised her eyebrows at Angelica in question. Angelica waved her in, and Lyric sat downacross from her and waited dutifully. She should have given Lyric more responsibility before now.

“We’ll talk soon. There’s a meeting being scheduled for later this week so we can discuss the details of what we want to accomplish in this upcoming season.”

“All right.” Angelica would rearrange her schedule if she had to, but she’d be there. She couldn’t let that control and influence slip through her fingers any longer. Now she knew what to expect, and she had to let them know she was in this show a hundred percent.

“Kyle has parted ways with us.”

Angelica stilled. “Oh?” She wasn’t surprised about that one, honestly. She was more curious as to why she was left out of that decision-making process and the conversation surrounding it. Also parting ways meant he was fired, there was no doubt about that in her mind.

“Rex will be taking over as director—or he will be as soon as I talk to him.”

Angelica’s heart pattered. This really was happening, wasn’t it? There was no hiding from it. She glanced over at Lyric and shook her head, mouthingSorry. Lyric waved her off. She clearly wasn’t concerned about the fact that Angelica was busy. Then again, she was often busy when Lyric came to find her.

“I’m sure he’ll agree. He’s been positioning himself for a promotion.”

“He’s very good at what he does,” Angelica commented. She much preferred to work with him over Kyle anyway, so that wouldn’t be a problem. “The conflict of interest might be?—”

“He’ll still work with you. But I’ll let him hire a second.”

“All right.” Angelica pressed her lips together in a thin line.

“Also, one more thing before I let you go.”

Angelica held her breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“You really need to figure out your own social media. The fans are eating it up and I need your face on their screens more often.”

She sighed. “I’ll look into it.”

“Good.” He hung up.

Angelica set her phone down and raised her eyebrows at Lyric. “Apparently my social media needs an upgrade.”

“Upgrade?” Lyric frowned, her face paling. “I thought you liked what I was doing.”

“I do.” Angelica nodded slowly. “Josef would like more of my face on it.”

“Face…?”

“You can still run it. Please.” Angelica rolled her eyes. “Just… tell me what to do and I’ll do it, then you go from there.”

“Really?” Lyric’s eyes lit up.

“Yes.” She’d thought she had her feet under her after season one, but it seemed as though season two was going to throw new problems into her life. She was going to need to figure out what exactly was so important about social media and why Josef was insistent that she figure it out.

“Oh, I have so many plans.”