Page 95 of Culinary Chaos

“Henry was working on finding some staff.”

“Staff?” Angelica shook her head. “Staff isn’t the issue, you need a chef who can do the job properly and be trained.”

“I know that.” Hope’s brow twitched. She was barely keeping her eyes open this morning even with three cups of coffee already flowing through her body.

“Do you really trust him to hire someone?”

“Can’t you work with him on that?” Hope bit the inside of her cheek. That had been impulsive, but she was tired of this… this cold-shouldered, bitchy version of Angelica that she was getting this morning. She’d barely survived yesterday, and now she was greeted with this?

Angelica tensed. Anyone could see that right? But it was masked so quickly that Hope started to doubt it herself. “I am working with him on hiring and how to interview properly… and manage properly.” Angelica sighed heavily. “You don’t have any other solution?”

“Forgive me for taking three hours to myself last night andnotthink about this damn hotel.” Hope’s voice boomed through the room, echoing.

Angelica paused, her eyes lighting with anger before it vanished. Was it replaced with compassion or understanding? Hope couldn’t quite tell.

“I have a solution,” Angelica said simply. “If you’d like to hear it, other than telling Henry he needs to dig his own way out of this one.”

Hope’s lips twitched at that. She had quite a few choice words for Henry. She just didn’t have a moment to even think about telling him off. “What? What is it?”

“I have a hotel in Seattle—well, SeaTac—that I run.”

“How would hotel staff help me?” Hope pushed a strand of stray hair behind her ear. She really needed this. Coming in here this morning was a hail Mary, and she needed the break.

“It has a restaurant, Hope.” Angelica sighed again. “I’ll offer them overtime pay—paid by Henry—to staff and help you train. You’ll need to train them to your standards, but it’ll at least be a solution until we can find a more permanent replacement.”

“Are you serious?” Hope cocked her head to the side and shook it slowly. “You have an entire kitchen staff at the ready,and you couldn’t have told me that last night? We couldn’t have called them up here to work?”

“SeaTac, Hope.” Angelica pursed her lips. “It’s not exactly two blocks west.”

Hope swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. Her mouth went dry. “Two blocks west would put us in the middle of the ocean.”

Angelica’s eyes lit up briefly, crinkles in the corners as she forced the smile that nearly lit up her face back down. Hope had seen that one, and she wasn’t going to forget that it was there. WhoeverthisAngelica was, the one she was greeted with this morning and perhaps the one she was greeted with last night, this wasn’therAngelica.

“You’re right, of course,” Angelica said, her voice gravelly and rough. “I couldn’t get them here last night. Today is a different matter.”

“Tomorrow,” Hope corrected. “Not much point in today without a working kitchen.”

Angelica nodded her agreement. “Tomorrow.”

“The rest of the renovation is underway, though,” Hope added, settling into the conversation now that they seemed to find that even balance again. Why had that been so difficult? “They should be finished by tomorrow morning.”

Angelica hummed and focused back on her iPad. “I’m still working out figures. I was able to find a donor for the equipment, so that’ll cut your over-expenses.”

“That’s good.”

“That’s my job.” Angelica flicked her gaze up to Hope’s sharply. “I suggest you do yours.”

Cold washed over Hope. That was unexpected. Had she had more energy, she probably would have called Angelica out on it, but for now, she could barely even manage to keep herselfupright. Gripping onto the arms of the chair she was seated in, she pushed herself to stand. “Understood, Ms. Shields.”

Angelica stared at her, eyes wide and lips slightly parted. The tension held. Hope breathed deeply, not sure if she wanted to sit down again or storm out of the room. And she needed just one more hint from Angelica about which it needed to be.

When nothing else happened, Hope left.

She walked out of the room, feeling Angelica’s eyes on her back as she went. She moved into the hallway, pressed her hand to her belly and breathed. What the fuck was going on with them? This was out of nowhere. They’d figured out how to work amicably together, didn’t they? They knew what to expect from each other, but this… this was… this was what?

“God!” Hope grunted out the word and shook her head, then her arms and her hands. She needed to get this mood off her shoulders and away from her.

Ignoring the cameras, ignoring Kyle, Hope made her way back down to the kitchen to supervise the renovation. It was going to be a whirlwind, and the last thing she needed was for something to go wrong. Rolling her shoulders, she pushed up her sleeves, ready to get to work.