Page 100 of Culinary Chaos

“They do, Ange. They want the drama. They want the arguments. They want you and Hope to step all over each other while you work your way up. They don’t want collegiality. They want the spice.”

Angelica was going to be sick. Her stomach churned so much that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stand there much longer.

“You got too complacent in Estes Park. You and Hope were getting along too well. Hell, we’re struggling to even find any footage that we might be able to use to make a full episode becauseyoudidn’t deliver.” Josef leaned in even more, the scent of coffee on his breath making Angelica want to instantly puke. “I need you to do your job.”

“My job is to come into these hotels and fix their problems, to get them up to basic standards. My job isn’t to piss the world off.”

“No. No, that’s where you’re wrong. Your job is to do exactly what I tell you to do.” Josef’s nose wrinkled.

Angelica shook her head, stepping back from him. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement, and when she turned to look, she found Rex and Kyle standing just behind Hope. What side would they end up on? Because this was all their jobs on the line.

Focusing back on Josef, Angelica took the papers in her hand and slapped them against his chest. “Next time you want to create drama, you should lie better. Or maybe that was your intention the entire fucking time, to lie and then tell them all that I’m the loose cannon and need to go.”

“What?”

“Changeallthe dates on the fucking inspection results if you want me to believe that a chef and restaurant owner as brilliant as Hope Lawrence failed an inspection so miserably that she’d risk shutting down an entire restaurant. Make your lies believable.”

“Ange.”

“No. You got exactly what you wanted, Josef. You got the argument you were so insistent on, and you made it so no one in this crew gives a damn about what happens next. If this show goes down, you’re the one who’s to blame for it. Not me.” Angelica pushed in a little more as he took the papers she still held plastered to his chest. “Fuck you.”

She stormed off. She didn’t care where she went or how she got there, but she had to get away from that. She walked outside into the cold Seattle rain, and she didn’t stop. She walked along the piers and the docks, letting the rain soak into her clothes and against her hair. Ansel would kill her for it, but right now, she couldn’t bring herself to care about that.

Her phone blew up with texts and calls from Josef and other producers.

From Hope.

Angelica winced, but she didn’t answer it. She just needed a few minutes to herself. That was it. A few more minutes.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

“What was that about?” Hope pulled on Rex’s hand to get his attention as he walked swiftly back toward the room.

They’d stopped filming.

Hope had quietly finished up what she’d been working on, and then she went to find her husband. Because the look on Angelica’s face when she’d walked out of there, the words she’d spat at Josef, Hope was in the dark completely. And she was damn tired of it.

“They need you to fight more, I told you that.” Rex tightened his jaw and squinted his eyes, a true sign that he wasn’t very happy with something. Whether that was Hope, or Josef, or the entire situation, Hope wasn’t sure, but she was determined to find out.

“Fight more?” Hope flashed her keycard to their room and stepped inside, holding the door for him. “Yeah, you said that. But what wasthat?”

Rex shook his head, confused. “That was a fight.”

“Rex…” Hope put her hands on her hips and stared him down. “That wasn’t a fight. That was an ambush. And she knew it. The question is, why didn’t I?”

“Kyle was supposed to talk to you.”

“Kyle?” Hope shook her head wildly at him. “Kyle doesn’t tell me shit apparently, because no one said anything about Angelica coming down there to throw nasty shade at me!”

“I didn’t know she’d take it that far.”

“Take it that far?” Hope raised her eyebrows at him and then stopped. The knock on the door was distinct. She wrenched it open to find Eva on the other side of it with her nanny. “Hey baby.” Eva ran to give her a hug and then Rex.

“Hi Mama!” Eva grinned as she looked at each of them and smiled, holding their hands. “What are we doing?”

“Uh… can you go take your bath?” Hope glanced at the watch on her left wrist. It was a bit early, but it’d get them started, and it’d give her and Rex some more time to actually have this argument, because she didn’t want to let this go.