Page 76 of Culinary Chaos

“I do,” Hope replied. “Thanks. And can you look into how iron-clad the three-season contract is?”

“Sure.” Mary seemed dubious now.

“Thanks.” Hope smiled at Eva as she came closer. “I appreciate it.”

“Mm-hmm. Are you going to tell me what all of this is about?”

“Not yet. Not when I can be overheard.”

“Ah. Got it.”

Hope cringed, though. She was pretty sure that she’d just implied something she shouldn’t have, but it had at least gotten Mary to stop asking questions. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

“You better!” Mary said as she hung up.

“There you are!” Rex said, causing Hope to jump. “I’ve been looking for you two.”

Hope turned to smile at him as he slid onto the bench with her. Eva ran up to give him a huge hug. “Daddy, watch this!” She went back to her cartwheels. “I’ve done one hundred and sixteen!”

“Wow!” Rex’s eyes widened the appropriate amount, and he gave Eva the appropriate amount of attention for what was happening. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Hope answered, lowering her voice.

“I know you better than that, at least give me some credit.”

Hope sighed. “Were you in on that meeting with Angelica and Josef?”

“What meeting?”

Well, that was at least one question answered. Rex was as much in the dark as everyone else was supposed to be.

“Kyle said he had a meeting with them.”

“Right.” Hope frowned. “They were talking about the fact they don’t think we’ll get renewed.”

“Ah, so the test view results came back.”

“I guess.” Hope sighed heavily and slumped her shoulders a bit. “What do we do if we’re both out of a job?”

“We figure it out.” Rex put his arm over her shoulders and tugged her in slightly. “It’s always a possibility, and we knew that going into this.”

“You know I don’t plan that far in advance.”

He chuckled. “Right, I do know that. Except you do sometimes.”

Hope had to agree with him on that, kind of. She was a big picture kind of person, not a detail person. Which was why she’d never succeeded in accounting. She just couldn’t focus long enough to wade through the microdetails to get to the big picture. She wanted to be where the fun and creativity was happening every second of the day.

“It’ll be fine, Hope. Try not to worry about it.”

But that fear and worry were already settling into her chest, and she couldn’t stop them from growing. She wanted to, but she couldn’t help but wonder if this was only the start of the chaos and upheaval that she was facing.

He kissed her cheek and then the side of her head. “We’ll be fine.”

“We always are,” she said, echoing the response they often gave each other any time something sounded or felt hard. She slowed her breathing and relaxed into his arms. This was where she needed to be more often. She always found her center in him, and she would do well to remember that.

“I think the shots of you and Ange figuring out the bookkeeper problem will serve us well.”

“Not really drama.” Hope rolled her eyes, but she was sure Rex didn’t see it.