Page 81 of Culinary Chaos

Hope knew everything.

And Angelica hadn’t been able to hide from her.

Not this time.

Not ever.

Episode Four

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - PIER 87

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

Hope scratched the back of her head as she finished going through security and collecting all of her items. It’d been a quick trip to San Francisco and Los Angeles to check on her restaurants there while they had an extra day, and it hadn’t been very satisfactory.

San Francisco still had a problem, and shestillcouldn’t figure out what it was.

Which irked her.

She grabbed her satchel and started to walk toward the gate. She had about an hour before takeoff, and she really just wanted to sit in the hustle and bustle of the airport and put her thinking cap on. Because her mind was reeling over what could possibly be the problem.

She was going to need more time, unfortunately. And it’d have to be her first stop once they were done filming for the season. It was a good thing they only had two episodes left and four more weeks of this. After buying herself a water, Hope rounded some of the chairs and moved toward the gate, stopping short.

“Angel?”

Angelica’s chin jerked up, confusion on her features before she masked it.

“What are you doing here?”

“Same thing you are.” Angelica looked back down at the laptop balanced on her thighs. “Working and waiting to go to work.”

Hope frowned slightly at Angelica’s cold greeting, but she slid into the seat next to her, settled in, and then asked, “Mind if I join you?”

“Mind? Don’t you usually ask thatbeforeyou just assume?” Angelica flicked Hope a glance, her lips betraying her tone. She wasn’t mad. She was, in fact, enjoying this.

“We didn’t get much chance to talk while you were gone.” Hope shifted her bag and pried open the top on the bottle of water.

“I had a full schedule.” Angelica typed on her computer quickly, her gaze barely moving from it. “Was there something you needed to discuss?”

“Nothing in particular.” Hope pressed her lips together hard. She’d caught Angelica masturbating. She was damn sure of it, but she hadn’t said anything outright to ask, and she certainly wasn’t going to now. But there seemed to be no change in their relationship because of it, which was odd. Usually someone would be embarrassed and ashamed of that. But Angelica didn’t seem to have that air about her. “Maybe about our last night in Estes…”

Angelica tensed at that. This time she did raise her gaze to meet Hope’s. “What about it?”

“You left the wrap party early. Josef was concerned.”

Snorting, Angelica rolled her eyes. “About himself, not me.”

“What is it between you two?” Hope furrowed her brow. “You seem to hate each other and yet you work together on multiple projects.”

“The enemy you know…” Angelica trailed off. “I’ve known Josef a long time, and he wouldn’t be where he is without me, and I wouldn’t be where I am without him.”

“But when does it stop being mutually beneficial?”

“I’ll let you know when I figure that out.” Angelica sent off another email before she closed the lid on her laptop. “We’re boarding soon.”

“Are we sitting together?” Hope furrowed her brow and pursed her lips. “Not that I want to avoid you… but after that last night in Estes…”