Page 101 of Culinary Chaos

“You mean shower!” Eva giggled and headed for the bathroom.

Hope nodded at the nanny, who stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her. That woman was a godsend. But this wasn’t a fight that Hope wanted plastered all over the film crew for them to know about it either.

She waited until the water was turned on before she turned her anger back onto Rex. “What did you think she was going to say to me?”

Rex shook his head and walked toward the bed, plopping down onto a mattress. “I didn’t know what she would do. Josef handed her the papers, and basically said,Go!”

Hope glared. “Go?”

“He needs you two to be at each other’s throats.”

“Needs us?” Hope didn’t buy that one either. She really needed Rex to own up to this, and he was hiding something. And she didn’t like it. “Did you know about this?”

“I…” Rex’s lips parted, his jaw dropping. “Only because Josef told me what was going to happen, not because I had any hand in planning it.”

“Are you kidding me?” Hope’s voice rose loudly.

Rex shifted a look toward the bathroom, where Eva was quietly taking her shower.

“You let her come in there and tear me down repeatedly? You let her accuse me of things you know I’m not capable of all for the sake of agoodepisode?”

“I didn’t know she was going to do that!”

“No, but you knew she was mad, and you knew that was the intention behind giving her those papers. Did you know they were forged? Did you know that Josef had changed the dates on them?”

Rex shrugged slightly.

“Oh my God. I can’t believe you right now.” Hope pulled her hair loose and dropped the clip onto the top of the dresser. She pulled sharply at the buttons on her chef’s coat and ripped it off, throwing it onto Eva’s bed. These close and confined quarters weren’t helping them any. “You know, I thought working with you might be good for us, but I can see that I was so very wrong.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Is this how you are on other shows?” Hope put her hands on her hips again, staring him down as he sat like a scolded little child on the bed. “Do you purposely go out of your way to intentionally hurt people just so you can get the shot?”

“That’s not what happened?—”

“It’s exactly what happened!” Hope’s voice rose even louder, and she didn’t care that Eva was so close. He needed to hear this, and she needed to let it out. “You goaded her into coming after me, and you didn’t even warn me! It’s one thing to let me know what’s going to happen, to let me play into it, but Angelica was the only one who did that!”

“What?” Rex looked confused at that.

“Yeah, Rex, she’s not an idiot, and she figured out your little plot before you could even make it happen. Did you know that?” Hope had no clue how early on Angelica had figured out what was happening, but she did know it was before she walked into that kitchen, that was for damn sure. “Did you really think that you could trick her?”

“Josef did,” Rex muttered, looking down at his hands.

“What a fine producer we work for,” she said in a mocking tone. “God, I still can’t believe you.”

“What did you want me to do, huh?” Rex stood up, but he didn’t seem imposing. Not to her. She was so used to fighting with him, to their arguments. “Did you want me to let this show fail and all of us be out of jobs?”

“I expect you to stand up for what’s right!” Hope poked her finger into his chest to make her point. “Not to cower behind whatever the man in charge tells you to do.”

“He’s not wrong, Hope. We need the drama. We need the tension. We need something other than what you two gave us in Colorado.”

“Compassion?” Hope jerked her head back, crossing her arms. “Actual colleagues working together to solve a problem that could actually save jobs instead of just firing people from them?” She waved her hand wildly to encompass the hotel where they were. “I get that not everyone deserves to keep their job, but you can’t tell me that giving us a one-week deadline means that more people will lose their jobs than if we had proper time to train them. And I get that I signed up for this. But that doesn’t mean I’ve lost my heart or that I think you’re making the right decisions!”

“You don’t get a choice!” Rex’s voice barreled through the room. “And neither do I.”

“I’m choosing not to believe that.” Hope glared. “There’s always another choice.” Hope started toward the door. “I need a breather.”

“Hope?” Rex stepped closer to her. “Will you be back tonight?”