Page 35 of Culinary Chaos

“An absolute shitshow,” Hope finished for her.

“Yeah.” Angelica sighed heavily. She’d been one part worried about bringing that up to Hope and one part frustrated that her workload was actually going to be light for this episode. She wanted to dive deep into a new project, have that thrill of something hard to do that kept her going most days. Instead, she’d be taking the back seat. But, it would give her time to do some proper interviews in the in-between moments that she’d surely get this time around.

“I haven’t eaten anything there in the last two days that’s actually edible. Even Rex didn’t finish his plate, and he has a stomach of steel.”

Angelica hummed, agreeing. She’d taken to ordering food from elsewhere because she couldn’t stomach even the idea of what was being cooked in that kitchen. “What are they doing to it?”

“I don’t know.” Hope sighed. “I need to do a full walk-through, and I want to do it when they’re not around.”

“Might make a good scene for the episode. We can mention it to Kyle when we have our meeting this afternoon.”

Hope nodded her agreement. They fell into a moment of silence, Angelica searching for the next thing they needed to discuss, but she was so distracted with the way that Hope was playing her fingers on the table, one after the other as she tapped them in quick succession.

“What about the tension?”

“What?” Angelica jerked her chin up, eyes locking on Hope’s rounded face. She’d been so distracted since dinner last night. It was the first time she’d let her phone ring and ding with notifications and she’d just flat out ignored it. But it had felt good to set that aside and just spend time with someone. She hadn’t done that since she’d been with Leanne, and even then, it had been difficult to make time and space for it. Leanne had always complained about that.

“The tension,” Hope repeated, like that was going to explain exactly what the hell she was talking about.

Angelica shook her head.

“Between you and me?” Hope’s brow furrowed. “Remember talking to Josef and Kyle about it?”

“Right.” Angelica frowned. They’d seemed to find a fairly even way to converse, so adding in that kind of tension on top oftheir camaraderie was going to ruin it. But that was the risk that they were going to take.

“We were going to plan some in.”

“We were,” Angelica agreed. “Just based on what you know of the kitchen, what are you going to do to fix it?”

“Fire everyone.” Hope said that like she had no emotional investment in it at all. It was so vastly different from the conversation about Antonio in Dallas.

Angelica wanted to pry into that a little. “You’ll fire people here, but not Antonio?”

“Antonio needed proper training and a good environment to learn in. He’s not without skills. Chateau Orleans needs a complete overhaul, and that won’t happen so long as a single person remains here.”

“Ah.” Angelica crossed her arms, eyeing Hope up and down carefully. Her brain spun with ideas, but only one kept coming back up, one that Hope probably wasn’t going to like.

“What are you thinking?” Hope asked.

“What makes you think I’m thinking something?”

“First, I don’t think your brain ever stops.” Hope laughed a little. “Second, you have this look, something devious, something a little gross, and something that seems nearly perfect. So what is it? Share it with the class, why don’t you?”

“Fine.” Angelica rested her palms on the arms of the chair. “But you’re not going to like it.”

“You don’t know that until you tell me what it is.”

“Play into our roles.”

“Our roles…” Hope repeated, clearly not understanding the direction that Angelica was trying to lead them.

Angelica hummed with a nod. “Yes, me the Ice Fairy who’s more bitch than nice and you the sunshine that’s the total opposite of me.”

“I’m not sure I’d say we’re totally the opposite of each other, but I think I understand where you’re headed with this.”

“Not opposite?” Angelica paused her direction for a moment. She wanted to know more about what Hope meant.

“We’re both control freaks, Ange. I’m just happier about it than you are.” Hope bit her lower lip, eyeing Angelica fully.