Page 118 of Culinary Chaos

“Well, can youmakea discussion out of that? Maybe out of cross-training some people.”

Angelica snorted lightly. “I can barely get them trained for the jobs they have and now you want to talk about cross-training?”

Rex shrugged. “I don’t know, but we need a shot with both of you in it. We’re trying to make this a show with both of you as the leads, aren’t we?”

Angelica wasn’t entirely convinced of that. That was the line everyone was touting, but in actual practice, she wasn’t sure that everyone agreed with that party line. Namely Rex and Josef. Hope seemed to be far less eager to see Angelica out of the door. She had come in here to make enemies—or perhaps not enemies just not make friends.

“I’ll see what I can come up with.”

“Good.” Rex clapped his hands together and grinned. “I’ll talk to Hope about it tonight so we can rearrange the schedule a bit tomorrow.”

“Perfect.”

“Oh, and one more thing…” Rex stilled. “Kyle and I were hoping it could be…intense.”

Angelica’s skin ran cold. “You mean an argument.”

“It doesn’t have to be a brawl.”

Hadn’t he learned enough the last time?

Rex put his hands in the air in defense. “Full transparency on all sides. I promise.”

Perhaps he had learned at least one lesson. But the thrill of an argument had waned considerably, and Angelica didn’t want to push Hope out any more than she already was. That phone call from Hope’s agent still rang through her mind. It had been a fishing call, nothing explicitly stated, but there was no otherreason to call other than Hope wanting out of the show and her contract. Angelica wasn’t an idiot, despite what a lot of people thought sometimes.

“No.” She said it quietly, resolutely. She wasn’t here for a fight but to make her position clear, and she wasn’t going to back down from it.

“What?” Rex seemed even more confused than ever by her calm demeanor.

“No,” she repeated in the exact same tone. “I’m not going to start a fight with Hope just for the cameras or the audience. I’ll film something with her, a scene, a conversation, a concluding whatever to this episode, but I’m not going to pick on her in an argument.”

“I didn’t say you had to pick on her.”

Angelica flipped her gaze directly to him in surprise, but she didn’t show any other signs that she was taken aback by his statement. What was it with him? Was he here to protect his wife or to do Josef’s bidding?

Grabbing her iPad and things on the table, Angelica started to clean up her mess from the day so she could get to work on her production duties. She still had that damn press schedule that she needed to figure out. They were going to have to divide and conquer on several things to get the most press, but she knew Josef and the other producers would want her and Hope together on some of that.

“Ange…?” Rex said.

“I told you no.”

The door banged open, startling her. She turned around, her fingers tightly wrapped around the iPad and came face-to-face with a red-cheeked and obviously miffed Josef. What had she done now?

“You told Conrad that he was an idiot?”

“Not in so many words, no.” Angelica set her iPad down on the table and leaned against it again to settle in for this argument. This one was one that she’d willingly have. “Did he file a complaint?”

“No.” Josef’s cheeks turned red. “You can’t just insult our clients.”

“You just said he didn’t complain about me.”

“No, he didn’t.”

“So…tell me what I did wrong.” Angelica crossed her arms. The camera crew abandoned their items and scampered out of the room, but Rex stayed put. Angelica wasn’t sure if that was going to end up being a blessing or a curse. He’d certainly witness whatever was going on between them.

“Youcan’tbe a bully and insult the people we’re here to help.”

Angelica furrowed her brow in confusion, then she pointed at nowhere in particular in front of her. “But I can bully the people who actually work for us?”