Page 143 of Culinary Chaos

“The one from your office?” Hope asked.

Angelica nodded. “Yes.”

Hope cocked her head to the side, holding the tension in the room for a brief second before she nodded. “Welcome tomyoffice.”

Angelica followed as Hope wound her way between tables toward the back of the restaurant. Hope popped her head into the kitchen after checking that Angelica was still behind her, and smiled at her.

“Honey! I’m going to be like an hour. Don’t come get me unless the place is burning down.”

“Understood, Chef!”

Hope turned back around, facing Angelica with a smile of satisfaction. “How did you know I was here?”

“Routine and an educated guess.” Angelica shrugged a little before they stepped into an office in the back corner.

Angelica wouldn’t exactly call it small, though it wasn’t nearly as big as hers. Hope didn’t need as much space or a conference table attached to her office. Hope would need a desk and a computer, which she had, a printer and bulletin boards, and she’d need maybe one or two other chairs. Instead, she had a couch, a deep brown leather couch. And for some reason, it surprised Angelica that the office was relatively clean and organized.

Point for Hope. She would have figured Hope would leave it a mess every day.

Hope shut the door behind her and proceeded to sit down heavily on the couch, crossing an ankle over a knee and staring up at Angelica as if waiting for Angelica to start this conversation. Well, she had been the one to just show up, so she should, right?

Angelica slid onto the couch next to Hope. They were close enough they could touch. But she had no idea where to start the conversation. Where to pick up when they’d left off.

“Right, so I’m not as straight as I once thought I was, and you are…?” Hope asked, getting directly to the point.

Angelica should appreciate that.

“I have an entire restaurant to prep for the dinner rush tonight, Ange. If we’re not going to talk?—”

“They survived three months without you, don’t try to fool me into thinking they can’t manage one more night.” Angelica shot her a sharp look and then sighed heavily. She rubbed her temple and shook her head. “Sorry. This isn’t easy for me.”

“It’s not easy for either of us.” Hope’s tone was much softer now, which was exactly what Angelica needed.

“You asked me what was wrong with my relationship with Josef.”

“Is this relevant to us?” Hope squinted at her, turning slightly.

“Yes.” Angelica worried her fingers together, still sitting on the edge of the seat and ready to jump up any second she needed to escape. She just had to make sure that she could get out, because this wasn’t going to be easy. “Emotions can be such problems sometimes.”

“Wow. That’s cold.” Hope leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees and folding her hands together before looking up at Angelica. “Are you going to tell me you don’t feel anything for me?”

“No.” Angelica swallowed the lump in her throat. Nothing could be more opposite of that. In fact, every day they spent together from that first time they’d met had shown Angelica that she was more “in like” with Hope than she’d ever anticipated. “Josef suspects there’s something going on between us.”

“What?” Hope hissed out the word. “Why?”

“Because he’s Josef, and he’s nosey, and we didn’t exactly hide it.” Angelica sighed heavily, her eyelids fluttering shut. Being in here was hard. The entire room smelled like Hope, and it clouded every single one of her senses.

“Hide what? There was nothing for him to see!” Hope crossed her arms and leaned back again.

“There was plenty for him to see, Hope.” Angelica breathed slowly, trying to keep her heart calm and her body present in the moment. “The looks, the touches, the conversations we had. He’s not an idiot, and out of all of the people on set, he knows me the best.”

Why was she avoiding just telling her what Josef knew? Why did she want to keep that small piece of information to herself? It wouldn’t make a difference, would it? Or would it show the one pattern that she really didn’t want to admit to or anyone else to recognize?

“What aren’t you telling me?” Hope asked.

“He accused me of being in a relationship with you, several times.” Angelica’s shoulders dropped in defeat. “And while I could deny his accusations before…”

“You can’t exactly do that now,” Hope finished for her. “That’s why you were so cold when he walked into the room the other day.”