Page 124 of Culinary Chaos

And Angelica didn’t have solutions to those problems. Just this one. She dashed her tongue across her lips, looking at Hope’s face and focusing on her eyes. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”

Hope’s eyebrows shot up. “Sorry?”

“Yes.” Angelica’s cheeks heated. It wasn’t often she said those words, but when she did, she always meant them. “I was…frustrated, but not with you.”

“With Josef,” Hope supplied. “Yeah, I could tell that.”

Angelica hummed slightly, keeping her hands at her sides. She was scared if she moved or got any closer that the tension between them would snap, and she’d do something she’d regret.

“I’m always here if you need someone to talk to.”

“No. Not about that.” Angelica couldn’t let Hope know about that. No one could know. Having Josef be the only person on set was plenty. She didn’t need the pressure and watchful eyes from anywhere else.

“Okay.” Hope nodded, turning back toward the elevator, ready to leave and get this conversation over with.

But Angelica wasn’t. She wanted to make sure that she rectified the problem between them fully before they stepped into the party room. “I meant what I said though.”

“What did you say?” Hope frowned at her.

“That if you want to quit, I won’t hold you back from it. I don’t ever want to force someone to stay somewhere they don’t feel…comfortable.” That was the best word she could come up with for right now. Because it was exactly the opposite of what she felt every day on set since New Orleans and that kiss.

“What makes you think I’m uncomfortable?” Hope’s crystalline eyes locked on Angelica’s. Her hair was in curls around her shoulders, the black slacks and black tank forming to her body, and the mustard yellow jacket brought out the darker tones of her skin again.

Angelica could barely talk, her mouth was so full of cotton. She’d taken such great pains not to notice Hope, and here she was, staring at her again. Because they were avoiding the one thing that they really should talk about but that they couldn’t.

“Nothing. I just thought you should know that I meant that.”

Hope cocked her head to the side, shifting her weight so she faced Angelica more fully than she had before. “I understand you’re trying to apologize, Ange, but for the life of me, I have no idea what you’re apologizing for.”

The gut punch was hard. Angelica sighed as her face fell. Perhaps she’d already done too much damage to make repairs for. “I’m sorry it’s been so difficult—filming this show.”

“Oh.” Hope nodded firmly, as if finally understanding. “Well, I don’t think all of that is your fault. Or really most of it,” she mumbled the last bit.

“It’s my job as a producer to make this easier for everyone, and I failed at doing that.”

“You ran into roadblocks, sure, but you also were thrown more wild cards than I think anyone was anticipating.” Hope put one hand into her jacket pocket. “In this case, I accept your apology.”

“Thank you.” Angelica nodded, turned toward the elevator, ready to join the rest of the party to celebrate wrapping up this episode.

“Was that it?” Hope asked.

Angelica looked her over, gaze dropping to Hope’s full lips, the ones that were curling back upward in their natural almost-smile state. She loved seeing that again. Dragging her gaze back to Hope’s eyes, Angelica said, “Yep.”

“All right.” Hope gave her a small smile and reached forward to press the button and call for the elevator.

As soon as they were inside, Angelica relaxed a bit. She could do this. They could find some sort of even footing and make it through tonight, couldn’t they? Angelica sent Hope a small, weak smile, but she received a genuine one back. Yes, they could do this.

“Eva was asking for you today, something about doing more math homework.”

Angelica smirked then. “She doesn’t need my help.”

“Need it? No.” Hope turned to her. “She wants it. She likes you, and that’s something to be proud of. Eva’s scrupulous with the adults she likes, and you’re on the short list.”

Angelica hummed. She felt the same about Eva. Something in that little girl had captured Angelica’s affection, and she wasn’t going to let it go anywhere.

“Were you able to hire a replacement for that manager who quit?” Hope asked.

“Yes, today actually.” Angelica sighed, hooking her thumbs into the pockets of her pants. “I’ll start training him next month probably. I know my assistant manager will be happy to have the extra workload lifted.”