Page 11 of Culinary Chaos

“How was the flight?” Josef asked, his voice far softer than it had been before.

Why did people always seem to ask that? Angelica wasn’t a fan of small talk to begin with, but she’d now had that question posed twice in a short period of time, and she had no answer to give. It was a flight. They took off, they landed, and she arrived. What more could a person possibly want from that question?

“Fine,” she said, knowing that was the most basic answer she could give in response and get away with it. There was a knock on the door, and Lyric popped her head in, a smile on her lips.

“I have your key, Ms. Shields.” Lyric set the small plastic keycard on the table in front of Angelica. “You’re in room 504, and I put your bags just inside the door for you.”

“Thank you, Lyric.” Angelica took the keycard and ran her fingers over the edges. Without another word, Lyric left the room. Why couldn’t all people be like that? Give her the information that she needed and leave the rest alone. Angelica sighed again, looking directly at Josef. “Have they been bugging you all day?”

“Most of it.”

“Sorry I couldn’t be here sooner, then.”

“Be glad you weren’t.” Josef eyed her carefully. “And how is Leanne?”

Angelica tensed. She clenched her jaw hard as she raised her gaze to meet his. “She resigned today.”

“Pity. I’d hoped you two would be able to figure out how to work together without drama, but I suppose this is for the best.”

Angelica swallowed hard. She wasn’t sure about that, but she didn’t exactly have another choice, did she?

“We need to make sure that we get this project off the ground this time. We can’t afford any more delays.”

“I’m well aware.” Angelica started to move the keycard back and forth between her fingers. It was the only thing calming her racing nerves right now. “We’ll get there.”

“We will.” Josef nodded at her. “I’m going to make sure that it happens.”

Was that an unveiled threat or simply a statement of assurance? She wasn’t sure, and she wasn’t about to ask for clarification either. She’d be able to determine what Josef really thought of the situation in the next few days.

“I need you to play nice with Hope Lawrence.”

“What makes you think I won’t?”

“Because I know you.” Josef eyed her carefully. “And you know you. Hope is our last hope, ironically enough. We need her to stay in order to film.”

“I know what’s at risk.” Angelica tensed, the muscles in her shoulders and back hurting, they were so tight. “Mrs. Lawrence and I met in LA before I flew out here, and we’ve already begun working on the plan of action. It’s all going well, so far.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Josef put his hand flat on the table. “Because we’re about to meet with Rex and Kyle to discuss the scenes we’ll be shooting.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

There never was a break, was there? Angelica should have known better. It would be a long time before she could step under the spray of the water and clean off the gunk from traveling, and even longer before she could slide under the covers in her new home for the next two weeks.

“All right.” Angelica pulled out her iPad and set it up. If they were going to have these discussions, then she was going to need to take notes. She didn’t have the brain power to remember everything they were going to throw at her in the next hour or two.

“One other thing,” Josef added, making sure that she was paying attention before continuing, “Rex has Eva.”

“Eva?” Angelica furrowed her brow in confusion. “His daughter?”

“Yes.”

“What difference would that make?” Angelica was thoroughly confused now. “Will she be in the meeting?”

“Yes. The nanny they hired couldn’t come until tomorrow, and we’re throwing this meeting on him. She’s six so I wanted you to be warned.”

“Warned…” Angelica trailed out the word. “Warned why?”