Page 121 of Culinary Chaos

Hope wanted to reach out and touch Angelica’s hand, soothe whatever discomfort she was feeling, but with people in the room and the cameras on, she was also pretty damn sure that Angelica wouldn’t appreciate the sentiment.

“I’d like Conrad to be down here tonight, if that’s okay. He needs to understand how this part of his business functions.” Angelica’s lips pulled tight, extra lines forming right around the edges of them.

Hope had to work hard to raise her gaze back to Angelica’s eyes. “What do you want him to do? Because if he’s down here, then he’s not going to be standing in the middle of the kitchen and in the way.”

Angelica winced, barely. Would anyone else have noticed it? Hope kept her watchful gaze on Angelica, needing to make sure that they were all on the same page.

“Teach him what an executive chef and owner of a restaurant would do.” Angelica locked her gaze on Hope’s. “You should understand that role.”

Why did that seem like such an attack? Hope furrowed her brow and straightened up slightly, her defenses coming into place even if she didn’t necessarily want them to. She wanted to know what was pushing her that hard in that direction first. “I do understand that role.”

“Good, then it shouldn’t be a problem.” Angelica gripped her phone tightly, taking a small step back as if she was going to leave.

“But for the record, I think that Conrad needs to understand more than just how to be an owner in this space.” Hope wrung her hands together in the dish towel she had on her waist. She was going to push Angelica, at least a little bit, because she was pretty sure that was what was expected.

“Oh, he does.” Angelica frowned. “But I don’t have the time to teach him that this round. So if you want to throw a few things his way tonight, feel free.”

“O…kay.” Hope again furrowed her brow. Angelica seemed…flat. Like not only was her entire demeanor lacking in energy but everything about her affect just seemed alarmingly distant. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

“We are talking,” Angelica responded quickly.

“No, out back.” Hope gnawed on her lower lip as she waited for Angelica to give her an answer. She could see the immediate rejection of the idea before Angelica gave in and nodded slightly.

Hope led the way, putting her hand up to stop anyone else from coming with them. She needed this to be just the two of them. She shut the door behind her, looking directly at Angelica as she pulled her mic pack and turned it off. Angelica seemed confused now, and she didn’t move an inch.

Sighing, Hope stepped closer and snagged Angelica’s mic and turned it off.

“What are you doing?” Angelica hissed.

“I need to actually talk to you,” Hope said, clenching her jaw and stepping back. Her shoulders were so tense, the line between her collar bones tight to the point that it was hurting. She had always been impulsive, her entire life she’d been accused of that, but this seemed to rub up against Angelica’s sensibilities.

“We don’t need to talk.” Angelica tried to step around Hope and move back toward the door.

“No. We do. What’s going on with you?”

“What?” Angelica spun around, breathing heavily.

“Last night you were… I don’t even know how to describe it, Ange, but something’s off.” Hope cringed. She really should have planned this better. Angelica wasn’t someone who easily shared anything, and now Hope was barreling in like she knew better.

“I’m here to do a job.”

“So am I, but it’ll be a hell of a lot easier if you actually talk to me.”

“Me? Talk to you?” Angelica stepped closer now, a fire behind her eyes that Hope had missed.

It’d been so long since she’d seen it, since she’d wanted to ignite it. She stayed put, letting Angelica make the moves and start whatever dance she was doing.

“I could say the very same thing to you,” Angelica said, her voice a low growl.

“What are you talking about?” Hope shook her head in confusion.

Angelica rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She pursed her lips and stared directly at Hope in silence. As if that was going to convince Hope to say whatever Angelica was looking for. But she had no clue what Angelica wanted from her.

“I don’t understand…” Hope started, trying to ease into this. Angelica’s fire had started up, and she didn’t want it to consume either one of them before they got somewhere with this conversation.

Angelica’s eye twitched. “We have this last episode to shoot, some press we need to do, and then you’re free to go do whatever you want.”

“What?” Hope furrowed her brow in confusion now. “What are you talking about?”