Page 38 of Culinary Chaos (Hotel Bombshell #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

“ M rs. Lawrence, when you get a minute, we need to discuss some of the upcoming scenes we’re shooting.” Angelica caught Hope’s attention as she walked swiftly down the hall, not even stopping or slowing down to speak to her.

Which was odd.

“Uh… yeah!” Hope gave her a little wave and then disappeared again.

Angelica pursed her lips, her shoulders sinking slightly before she refocused her efforts and tried to push that entire interaction out of her mind.

But she couldn’t.

Hope had been doing more and more of that lately. They’d sat down the first full day they were there to discuss the hotel and the problems, but Hope hadn’t exactly been helpful in that conversation. She’d been quiet, which was so unlike her. And she’d barely even looked Angelica in the eye.

Perhaps the plane ride had been too much.

Angelica wouldn’t be the first or the last to admit that sometimes she took things too far.

She was bad at understanding where that personal and teasing boundary line was when it was pushed and tested slightly.

And while Hope had seemed fine on the plane and when Lyric had picked them up, perhaps she was having regrets about the entire conversation.

“You ready?” Rex said, stepping into Angelica’s line of sight.

“Yes.” Angelica clenched her jaw. She and Rex had a few things to go over too, and she was curious if Hope had mentioned anything of their conversation to him.

They walked into the main office where Angelica had taken over and sat down at the temporary desk there.

“I’m sorry I missed the initial scene conversation. What did you and Kyle come up with?”

She was halfway curious and halfway not. She’d do just about anything they told her to do when it came to the episodes, at least setting up the scenes, but she still wanted to know ahead of time what was going to take place.

“Kyle’s going to focus on Hope since the kitchen is an absolute disaster.”

Angelica sighed. Why did the kitchens always seem to be the problems lately?

Perhaps she should become a bit more involved in them, at least on the management side of things.

Then she’d have more to do in terms of filming.

She hated twiddling her thumbs like she had nothing going on.

Because she wanted to be busy, not stuck in a proverbial ball of waiting while she figured out what the hell was going on elsewhere.

“Ange?” Rex asked, looking up at her.

What had she missed? She wasn’t usually so easily distracted but today was proving to be difficult. “Is something wrong with Hope?”

“What?” Rex’s face dropped. “Why would you say that?”

“She’s been acting… odd.” Angelica wasn’t entirely sure how to put what she was sensing into words. Normally she’d be forthcoming with it or she’d just ignore it. She could be either honest or polite, but rarely the two at the same time.

“Yeah.” Rex sighed heavily, pressing his lips together tightly. He glanced toward the door and then back to Angelica.

“I’m concerned, that’s all.” Angelica put her hands out to her sides, hoping that this was the correct and gentle approach to take with him. “I don’t need details, but it’s making it difficult to work when she’ll barely talk with me.”

Rex’s brows drew together before he nodded. “I’ve noticed it, too.”

Good. She’d judged right this time. She didn’t want him to think that she was going to attack Hope or put her down for not doing a good job. Instead, she wanted him to also understand her concern over everything.

“She’s been quiet for a while now,” Rex added, standing up to shut the office door.

Angelica stopped at that. “For a while?”

“Quieter than normal at least,” Rex said as he sat back down. “I didn’t think anyone else noticed, and that I was just being sensitive because well…I’m married to her.”

“Right.” Angelica paused. What the hell was she doing? She had to be careful what she said right now, didn’t she? “I was just concerned is all.”

“It started in New Orleans. I thought it was just the stress of that particular location, but Estes Park was so easy, and she didn’t really seem to bounce back.”

Angelica’s back tightened, her stomach twisting into a nervous ball of energy. She was the cause of all of this, and he didn’t know. Hope hadn’t told him a damn thing, hadn’t talked to him about any of it. Which was probably for the best, because if it got out…

“I don’t know how to help her get out of this funk,” Rex continued.

Angelica jerked her head up, focusing again on Rex. She was here for a reason. She was bringing this up for a reason. She had to focus on that, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was concerned about Hope herself, but about the job they were trying to do together.

At least, she kept trying to convince herself of that.

“I hope she figures it out soon.” Angelica pulled over her iPad and turned it on. “I’d like to try and help her with some of the issues in the kitchen this episode. It’s a…big job. Not that I don’t think she can handle it, but to do it all in a week is going to be difficult.”

“I agree.” Rex sighed. “And maybe it’ll help give her a bit of a break or show her that other people care.”

Had he just said that Angelica cared?

Quite the contradiction to what he normally said about her.

Then again, she was the one who’d started this conversation.

Ignoring those thoughts, Angelica focused on the film schedule and what exactly she was going to be doing for the next few days.

The break back to reality for interviews had been a welcome distraction, but it also felt like such a disruption to the rhythm they’d discovered in Colorado.

If only she could get that back somehow.

Two days later, Angelica stepped through the push door from the dining room into the kitchen.

Hope had her hands in fists, an angry look on her face, and a crew full of scared kitchen staff staring back at her.

The tension was so thick that Angelica could probably cut it with a knife if she wanted to.

“Chef Lawrence?” Angelica asked, trying to get Hope’s attention and turn it all onto her instead of them. That, and she needed to know what the hell was going on.

“Perfect,” Hope muttered, spinning around to face Angelica. “What’s wrong now?”

Angelica narrowed her gaze, tension and anxiety now filling her body. She wanted to reject it, but perhaps if she could take a little of it on then it would ease Hope’s. “Outside.”

Hope scoffed, but she followed Angelica into the dining room.

It was early enough that the room was empty, thankfully, because Angelica had a feeling that this was going to be a blowout of a conversation.

Hope was certainly in a mood, and Angelica had no idea how to navigate it.

She’d never quite dealt with this from Hope before.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Angelica asked, clenching her jaw when she realized far too late that Rex and his team had followed her and now Kyle and part of his team were following Hope.

“Me?” Hope dropped her chin and looked down her nose at Angelica. “Nothing’s wrong with me. I’m just damn peachy.”

Angelica squinted. Where was this coming from? Hope wasn’t someone to just pick a fight from her experience, but then again, she could be entirely wrong about that. They didn’t know each other all that well, did they?

“Cut the crap, Hope.” Angelica hated how she sounded so angry just then. She’d wanted to come in here and be compassionate. “You’re terrorizing them in there.”

“That’s rich coming from you.” Hope stepped in closer.

Why did she always do that? It was as if she had no understanding of personal space, especially where it concerned Angelica.

But Angelica was going to give as good as she got.

She turned slightly, decreasing the space between them even more.

She lowered her voice to a threatening level and pointed toward the kitchen.

“You can come at me all you want, but you don’t treat employees like that. You’re better than that.” She hoped that echoing some of Hope’s own accusations at her would snap whatever this was, but it didn’t seem to work, or if Hope even remembered accusing Angelica of the same thing.

“I can’t even begin to tell you what a disaster that kitchen is, or the piss poor shape of not only the training of the staff but of the facilities itself.” Hope pointed back toward the kitchen. “I can’t fix that kitchen without a renovation.”

“What?” Angelica’s face fell, cold washing through her.

“It’s that bad.” Hope dropped her gaze from Angelica’s eyes to her lips and quickly flicked them back up again. “The kitchen is literally rotting, the freezer isn’t holding temp, the grease is so thick that I’m surprised there hasn’t been a fire in there yet.”

“Hope…” Angelica shook her head slowly. “All right. What’s the plan then?”

“Plan?” Hope squeaked out. “I don’t have a plan, but I can tell you that I won’t serve a single damn meal from that kitchen. Absolutely not. It’s a cesspool of illness waiting to make someone sick and then kill them.”

Those were strong words coming from Hope. Angelica clenched her jaw. “What do you need to fix it?”

“I need a bigger budget, a whole new staff, and I need it yesterday.”

“Budget I can help with.” Angelica squared her shoulders. “Maybe. How much are we talking?”

Hope’s lips parted in surprise. “It’s out of range.”

Angelica’s stomach sank. “How much out of range?”

Hope’s look said everything that she needed to know.

“Get me a budget with line items, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“That’s not all of it.” Hope seemed to soften and calm down slightly. “I need a whole new staff. There’s not one good egg in there, pun intended, and they all need to go.”

Angelica was glad to see at least some humor coming through. She sighed and put her hands on her hips and nodded at Hope. “Then get it done. Tell me what you need from me, and I’ll help when I can. First or last round interviews? I’ll take care of it.”