Page 66 of Culinary Chaos

“Not until Baxter returns,” Angelica surmised. “He’s really the one who takes the lead on everything, isn’t he?”

“Are you sure you’ve been sleeping through the last week?” Hope bit her lip, but the smile faltered. “I’m not sure if Tatum’s mom is going to make it through this treatment. Something Tatum said…” Hope trailed off at that, not finishing the sentence.

“And you think he won’t come back?”

“Would you?”

“Would I what?” Angelica reached for the glass of water and let it cleanse her palette.

“If your lifelong partner died, would you just go back to work like nothing had changed?” Hope wouldn’t move her gaze from Angelica’s face.

Angelica honestly had no idea. She didn’t have a love like Baxter and Miriam, one that lasted decades. Hell, the longest she’d made it in a relationship was a little over a year. Which made her a constant disappointment for her parents.

Hope hummed and shook her head. “You have no idea, do you?”

“No.” Angelica swallowed the guilt that tried to eat its way up into her chest. Why was she guilty? Their life wasn’t anythinglike her life, and there was nothing wrong with that. She never wanted to regret her choices, and this was one that she’d made consciously.

Nodding to herself, Hope sighed. “I’d go back to work, but it wouldn’t be the same. I don’t know if this place will ever be the same without Miriam.”

“But she didn’t work here,” Angelica argued.

“No, but her presence—her spirit—is in every inch of this place. You can feel it, even if you don’t know who she is or meet her.” Hope sipped her water again.

Angelica could see that. Looking around, she knew it, actually. Tatum made sure that his mother’s memory lived on through the stories he told, the way he treated the building and the gardens. They only had this place because of her. Angelica picked up another small piece of food. “What’s this one?”

“Ah, that one might be my favorite.”

It looked like a cracker with a pillow of cream on top of it. Angelica lost herself in Hope’s description before she put the morsel between her lips. Something about the way Hope described everything made the food taste that much better, and that would be something the catering business here was going to be missing. They wouldn’t have Hope—much in the way that Mountain View didn’t have Miriam.

They made it through the first plate before Angelica couldn’t resist any longer. “You said there was something wrong with their finances.”

“Maybe. I just couldn’t figure out how to reconcile everything the way they had.” Hope switched out the plates from the first course to the second. Just how many had she made? Because looking at the rolling tray Hope had brought over there seemed to be at least four more plates each on it for them. Angelica was going to burst at the seams if she ate all of that food.

“Because it wasn’t reconciled properly.”

“Ah.” Hope sat back down, eyeing Angelica carefully. Something in Angelica’s look must have tipped her off that there was more to her statement, because Hope leaned down on her elbows and took on a serious expression. “What am I missing?”

“They’re missing nearly a hundred thousand dollars in the last six months.”

“What?” Hope’s face fell. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” Angelica sighed heavily. “But I don’t know where it went, and I don’t know who took it. For all I know, they pulled it for Miriam’s treatment.”

“I don’t think they’d do that.”

“Desperate people do desperate things, Hope. You should always believe that.”

“Not these people.” Hope shook her head, tensing. “I trust them.”

“I trust no one.” Angelica frowned. “I’ll look into it deeper tonight and see if I can get to the bottom of it. I don’t want to mention it to Tatum until I have some answers, but if it’s someone else, then we may have the solution in hand.”

“Maybe.”

Hope didn’t seem happy about that answer though, and there was an odd tension that stole over them, settling between them in a way that Angelica wasn’t quite happy with. The balance they’d found had felt so good, and she didn’t want to lose that.

“Would you come back to vacation here?” Angelica asked, trying to change the topic back to something easy and nice. She shouldn’t have brought up work. That only managed to ruin it.

“I would.” Hope sighed with a gentle smile. “I’d ask you the same, but I don’t think you take vacations.”