Page 106 of Culinary Chaos

“The office area.” Angelica put her hands on her hips, her shirt pulling tight in its dampness. Hope’s gaze dropped from Angelica’s face to her chest. Angelica frowned when she didn’t look up immediately and then looked down.Fuck me. She was wearing a white shirt that day, of course, and the material was stuck to her skin, clinging to her. “I’ll work on a policy with the hotel tomorrow for when this happens again. I can pull one that I already have.”

“Policy?” Hope frowned.

“For when a kid goes missing. I make it standard in all my hotels.” Angelica waited as Hope walked even closer to her.

The hallway was empty, Rex having disappeared back into their room. Angelica shivered under Hope’s scrutiny.

“They didn’t know what to do,” Angelica said, but her voice was so soft it was nearly a whisper.

Hope nodded, still walking closer to her. She reached out and snagged Angelica’s hand, squeezing her fingers. “Your hands are freezing.”

“I’m freezing,” Angelica answered. “I’m soaked.”

God, why had she said that? Angelica’s cheeks burned, a massive contrast to the way the rest of her body felt in that moment.

“Were you outside?” Hope took Angelica’s other hand in her own, staring down at them.

“Yeah…” Angelica breathed slowly, her chest rising and falling. “I needed to run away, like Eva did.”

Hope frowned, tears in her eyes again. “She got upset when we were fighting.”

“I told her next time to talk to you first.” Angelica needed to put space between them again. She needed to step back and feel like she was her own person again, but she couldn’t make herself move. She couldn’t force herself to step away like she should. “And I told her that if she really needed a break to come find me, and we’d sit in silence together.”

Hope’s lips quirked up slightly at that, but she didn’t blossom into a smile. “She’s been running away a lot in the last two years.”

“Two years?” Angelica turned her hand, gripping Hope’s fingers. “Why?”

“Rex and I… it’s complicated, but it’s been stressful. Especially when we’re both working away from home so much. She comes with us, but it’s not easy on her. She’s a creature of habit, and she loves familiarity.”

That was something Angelica understood. She just took it to the extreme of not being at her home base as often as possible to try and face her fears and problems head on. Perhaps Eva would get to that point eventually, but she was only six. And she couldn’t control very much.

“Hope…” Angelica softened her tone again.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t ever let her stop being a priority.” Angelica looked deep into Hope’s eyes, wanting her to understand exactly whatshe wasn’t saying. But she couldn’t force herself to say those words either. She’d never told anyone how she’d felt as a child, how she’d been pushed aside for the favored son because she was a daughter, about how the expectations had made her feel burdened and not loved. She licked her lips, tightening her grip on Hope’s hand. “Don’t ever stop loving her.”

Hope flinched at that. “Of course I love her.”

“I know you do.” Angelica clenched her jaw. “I wasn’t saying that you don’t. She’s scared. And she needs to know that you’re there for her, no matter what.”

“I am there for her.”

Why was Hope getting so defensive? Angelica continued to look deep into Hope’s eyes, wanting her to understand but having no way to explain what she was trying to say. So instead, she gave up. Hope would either figure it out or not. “I hope it’s okay I told her to find me if she’s upset.”

“Yeah, of course it’s okay. I trust you.”

Did she?

Angelica wanted to push back on that. So many people didn’t trust her. So many people told her that she was too hard and too cold, that she wasn’t someone who could make those deeper connections. And yet, Hope trusted her. But why?

“I should get back to Eva,” Hope murmured, but she didn’t step away and her hand was still locked in Angelica’s. “You should probably get warmed up.”

Angelica had a few more things she needed to do before she went back to her room, namely collecting her soaked jacket and her iPad so she could prepare the policies she needed Henry to train his team on. But Hope was right, she did need to get warmed up as soon as possible.

“You found her!” Josef’s voice broke through the buzz.

Angelica immediately pulled away from Hope, putting a good step or two between them as she turned to face Josef. Thelast thing she needed was to be accused of an unprofessional relationship with Hope…again. He stared at them curiously, but he didn’t say anything as he came closer.