Page 26 of Culinary Chaos

Hope wasn’t even sure that Rex had heard her. Hope stepped away from her family and toward Angelica, her body being pulled to this woman she shouldn’t want to have any part of. Angelica was cold and icy—Rex’s little nickname for her was adequate. Though Hope still believed that Angelica lived into that nickname more than she had to, that she found some sort of sick pleasure in it.

“Did you bring her to us?” Hope asked, her voice quiet enough that the exchange was only between the two of them.

“Naturally.” Angelica flicked her gaze from Hope to Eva and Rex and then back again. When she met Hope’s gaze, her lips quirked up and her eyebrows rose, as if a tease was on the tip of her tongue. But would she commit to it? “What else would I do?”

Guess she wouldn’t. Hope’s eyes crinkled in the corners. “Are you more comfortable with my six-year-old than you are with grown adults?”

“What?” Angelica jerked her head back slightly at that. “Why would you say that?”

“Because you’re smiling at her, and I’ve rarely seen you smile this week.” Hope crossed her arms and lifted up on her toes. Angelica was still dressed impeccably, as if there was no difference today from yesterday in terms of work. Hope, however, had dressed down in a tight green tank top and worn jeans that she probably shouldn’t be wearing any longer since they were about to rip.

Angelica pursed her lips, but it didn’t last long before she broke into a smile.

“Ah, see? There we go. That’s a little better.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“Sometimes,” Hope whispered. “But if you are more comfortable with kids, I can understand why. They’re more innocent.”

“They don’t have agendas,” Angelica interrupted. “Well, aside from what they can get themselves. Kids are actually rather narcissistic, but in a good way. They’re still teachable.”

Hope’s lips parted in surprise before she closed her mouth to think about that. “I suppose you could say that.”

“I have a meeting to get to. I just wanted to make sure that she found you.” Angelica turned slightly, her gaze locking back on Hope. “Don’t forget about our meeting tomorrow before we leave.”

“I won’t.” Hope nearly reached out to grab Angelica’s hand as she walked away, but she managed to stop herself. What the hell was that about? Her fingertips tingled from the lack of contact. She couldn’t tear her gaze away as Angelica walked swiftly and confidently out of the dining room, heeled shoes clicking on the hard tiled floor.

The rest of the setup moved quickly. Eva laughed and helped, knowing exactly how both her parents functioned in order to get things done, and Hope honestly loved having her there. People began to file in early, which was a sure sign that they were all at least somewhat happy with each other still.

“Are we going to do a mini–wrap party for every episode?” Hope whispered to Rex as she sipped the champagne they’d popped.

“Probably. It’s good to wrap up with the owners and staff we’ve just brutalized for the last week.”

“Me? Brutalized? Shame on you.” Hope covered her heart with her hand and stared at him with mock indignation. “How dare you say something like that?”

“Not you.” Rex looked directly at Angelica. “Her.”

Hope hummed. Was there really something that wrong with Angelica that she just wasn’t seeing? So many people on the crew seemed to have this standoffish attitude with her, where theyincluded her when they had to but never quite made the effort to get friendly with her.

Then again, it wasn’t like Angelica was really working on that either. She’d flat-out told Hope several times that she wasn’t there to make friends. Hope took another sip of the champagne, the bubbly going down smoothly. But she watched Angelica closely. She would talk to people, but it wasn’t for any great length of time. And more often than not, she was standing alone as if she was still holding court and waiting for people to come join her.

Hope could fix that.

Easily.

The question was whether or not she wanted to, and definitely whether or not Angelica would allow her to do it. Would it be worth the risk? Hope was about to find out.

She walked her way carefully through the throng of people and moved to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Angelica, the woman who was now eyeing her suspiciously.

“Yes?”

“Oh, nothing,” Hope said, sipping her champagne again.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing.” Hope could barely contain her smile this time. She loved flirting, and she’d flirt with just about anyone and anything that would let her. She shifted her stance, bumping gently into Angelica’s shoulder before backing off. “You don’t want to be here, do you?”

“Do you?” Angelica asked, genuine curiosity in the question.