Page 110 of Culinary Chaos

She let herself into her room and sat on the edge of her bed. The only thing she could think about was the fact that Angelica was on the other side of that wall. And what was she doing? Touching herself again? What exactly would turn Angelica on so much that she had to masturbate twenty minutes before leaving Colorado?

Would it be the same thing tonight?

Hope sighed and toed off her shoes. She was about to shower when her phone buzzed. Rex’s name popped up. Eva would be asleep already, so she answered it, even though she’d really wanted the break from him for at least twenty-four hours—or at least whatever she could get.

“Hey,” she said softly, pulling herself onto the bed and leaning against the pillows.

“Hey,” he replied.

“How’d she go down?”

“Like a charm with all of her stuffies surrounding her.”

Hope smiled at that thought. Limiting Eva’s options to just one that she could bring with her had been difficult, and she had noticed that being in her own bed in her own space had seriously helped her fall asleep and stay asleep. She couldn’t be more opposite her parents.

“How are you doing?”

“Fine,” Hope answered, running her fingers through her hair. “Took a while to get into my room, but apparently that was expected.”

“Expected?”

“Ask Angelica about the score card she was keeping when you see her tomorrow. You’ll probably want to add that into the script you’ve got running in your head.” Hope closed her eyes. “Do you think we’ll get renewed?”

“I don’t know,” Rex answered. “We won’t know until the episodes actually air.”

Hope hummed, nodding. She understood that, but still, it was hard to wait and put in all this work with no definitive answers.

“Why do you ask?”

“I was thinking about talking to Mary about finding another show to be on.” She absolutely wasn’t going to tell him that she’d already talked to Mary. Because while she didn’t want her firstrealshow to fail, she also wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted it to be renewed either.

“What? Why would you do that? You signed a contract.”

“I sign a lot of contracts…” Hope trailed off. “This is…stressful, Rex. You know that. Seattle was…”

“I know,” he answered, that defeated tone. “But not every hotel is going to be like that.”

“No, it’s not. But Angelica told me tonight that everything we did up there was for naught. Henry already reverted back to what he had before.”

Rex scoffed. “I figured that would happen.”

“So it’s hard. And it’s been really hard on Eva.”

“It has,” he agreed. “Just stick it out and we’ll see.”

That was her plan. At least for now. She glanced at the foot of the bed before sitting up and putting her feet over the edge. Shelooked at the wall that she shared with Angelica and pursed her lips. Maybe it really would be better if it was cancelled.

Then she wouldn’t have to deal with whatever she was feeling right now.

Because that scared her even more than losing out on a dream job.

Chapter

Thirty-Six

“Thank you, Mary.” Angelica sighed heavily as she ended the call and set her phone down. She picked up the pen she’d been writing with and flicked it back and forth between her fingers.

She hadn’t expected that call.