Page 142 of Culinary Chaos

“We need to talk.” He looked at Angelica. “Alone.”

Angelica nodded, a mask perfectly in place. But the image of that fear in her gaze wouldn’t leave Hope’s memory. Was she that afraid of Josef? And for what? What the hell was going on between these two? She’d never quite gotten that answer, but there was always something under the surface there.

“Thanks for coming by, Mrs. Lawrence.” Angelica faced her now, hands folded in front of her body. “I’m glad we were able to work together this season.”

Hope’s lips parted in surprise. That was a shocking switch, a cold bucket of ice water dumped over them to the point that it felt impossible to even breathe. She wanted Josef to go away, to crawl into the hole that he surely came out of, because she wanted to finish her damn conversation with Angelica. She wanted to know what was wrong.

Angelica nodded toward the door, giving Hope a hardened look. Hope awkwardly nodded at her, pulling away. She took a deep breath and looked at Josef. “Good to see you again.”

“Hope,” he said, eyeing her suspiciously.

What was…? Hope looked from him and back to Angelica, the tension in the room rising to a near breaking point. This was over her head. She needed to escape. She locked her gaze on Angelica, trying to show her as much concern as possible and silently ask if she needed to stay, but Angelica didn’t move. She didn’t say anything.

Hope left.

She shut the door behind her, hearing it click loudly. But she didn’t take another step. Her hand remained on the handle, the lifeline she thought Angelica might need.

“What the hell was that about?” Josef boomed.

“We were talking about the press tour.” Angelica’s voice was firm and confident, nothing of what it had been moments before.

Why the hell would Angelica lie so easily about that? She could have said they were catching up. Three months together was a long time to not form any type of connection.

“Don’t lie to me, Ange. You did something.”

Angelica scoffed. “Why are you here, Josef?”

“We need to talk press.”

Hope left then. Angelica could handle herself, and she wasn’t going to glean any other information. Angelica was way too careful for that. She walked down the hallway and back toward the parking garage. It was cool down here, and she reveled in it. She needed that.

Nothing had felt quite right about that conversation. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Everything had felt decent until Josef had showed up, and then she’d seen a side of Angelica she hadn’t before. Defensiveness. All those walls coming up instantly without warning. The change was so drastic. So sharp.

What was Angelica protecting?

It was easy to tell who she was hiding from, but there was more to it than that. From Hope’s understanding, Josef was theone who got Angelica the job, so they should be close. Angelica should trust him.

So why didn’t she?

Chapter

Forty-Six

“I’m here to see Hope Lawrence.” Angelica pursed her lips as she stared at the host of Hope’s inaugural restaurant. She was a betting woman sometimes, and she was taking the risk that Hope was here tonight, trying to get back into the swing of things before she left for San Francisco.

“Do you have an appointment with her?” the host asked, seemingly unfazed by the discussion. “She only sees people by appointments.”

“Tell her Angelica is here, and she’ll see me.” She wanted to addI’m not a crazed fan,but she wasn’t sure that joke would come off well. She wasn’t all that good at telling jokes anyway.

“I’ll have to talk to my manager first.”

“That’s fine. I can wait.” Angelica stepped to the side to give them the time to do what needed to be done. She hadn’t called Hope, hadn’t texted her. She wasn’t even sure what to say, but she did know that they needed to finish their conversation from a few days ago.

It didn’t take too long. Word must have traveled fast. Hope stepped around a partition, staring directly at Angelica. Her white chef’s coat was parted on the top, revealing a white tank top that was bright against her skin.

“What are you doing here?” Hope furrowed her brow, coming completely into the lobby area.

“I thought we could finish our conversation.” Angelica clenched her jaw tightly. She’d assumed that Hope would make the time for her, that this was important enough that it would happen.