Page 134 of Culinary Chaos

Chapter

Forty-Three

“Everything almost set up?”

Hope spun around, a grin on her face, as she finally saw Angelica for the first time since she’d gotten there that day. She’d been waiting for Angelica to come and check that everything was ready for the party starting in a few hours, but she hadn’t thought she’d wait that long.

“Yeah.” Hope stood up straight, wiping her hands on a towel to make sure they were clean. “Food’s all here.” She’d stashed the stuff that needed to be kept warm in the kitchens under the warmers. But everything else she’d already put out. The waitstaff was well trained—not that she’d expect anything less from Angelica.

“Good, because we have thirty minutes.” Angelica smiled at her. “It feels good to be done.”

“Like this is what you’ve been waiting for to feel like the season ended?”

“Yeah,” Angelica answered. “And I finally watched the full first episode late last night.”

“Did you?” Hope had snuck a watch with Rex when he’d come home the night before too. “What’d you think?”

“It wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be.”

Hope laughed, her entire body shaking. “You always say the most expected and unexpected things.”

“What do you mean?”

“I fully expected you to say that. It’s good, Ange. I watched it with Rex last night, too.”

“Well, ratings on it still aren’t the greatest. At least from the initial views, but who knows what’ll happen when it hits television? Some things just take off in ways we don’t expect.”

“Are you wanting it to take off?” Hope raised an eyebrow at her.

“Of course.” Angelica stepped away. “I need to check a few more things. I’ll be back.”

“See you.” Hope went back to work, finishing her setup and also putting out the gifts they’d gotten for everyone in the crew. She’d have to be a whole lot more creative next season, but with only two days to think and prep, she thought they’d done a fairly decent job.

It wasn’t long before the salon started to fill up with crew. Angelica ditched the dish towel and let the wait staff take over. They had everything they needed. She kept her eye out, waiting for Angelica to get back. Rex showed up, a sports jacket on. It was nice to see the whole crew dressed up for once instead of just her and Angelica.

Hope was talking with a cameraman when she caught sight of Angelica out of the corner of her eye. And her breath was gone. She couldn’t even bring herself to pay attention to what the poor man was saying to her. Her heart hammered.

Angelica was dressed in a simple black dress, one that formed to her body, but had cuffed sleeves with a peekaboo right at the top of her arm before the sleeve continued to just above her elbow. Hope’s mouth was dry as she dragged her gaze down Angelica’s body, the smooth black material, to the edge where it ended just at her knees, to the high heels she wore that added atleast four inches to her height. They’d stand almost even now if Hope got any closer, which she sure as hell was going to do.

She didn’t even finish the conversation or say goodbye.

She simply walked away and grabbed a bottle of beer and a glass of wine for herself. She walked straight toward Angelica, her gaze never wavering as she went. She had her mark, and she was going to make sure that she was there for it. Hope stepped next to Angelica and immediately put the cold bottle of beer in Angelica’s hand.

Angelica looked at her curiously before looking down at the bottle. “What? No small nibblings tonight?”

Hope giggled. “I can get you some if you want.”

“No, I’m good for now. Thank you.” Angelica smiled at her before putting the bottle to her lips and taking a swig. She raised her eyebrows as she pulled the bottle away. “Mmm, it’s good.”

“Well, you figured out the alcohol, so I figured you’d like this one.”

Angelica chuckled. “You know me so well.”

“I like to think I know you a little better than most.” And that was the truth. Hope had no doubts that she didn’t actually understand who Angelica was underneath everything, but that she did want to get to know her better. “Does it really feel like a good end to you?”

“You know, it does.” Angelica nodded toward the room of people. “They all seem happy, don’t you think?”

“They do. I think they all enjoyed their jobs as much as could be expected.”