Page 45 of Culinary Chaos (Hotel Bombshell #1)

Chapter

Thirty-Four

“ T here’s a kid missing. I need you to enact the policy for that.

” Angelica dripped water onto the floor as she stood behind reception and looked at the two employees.

Henry had long gone home for today, she was sure, and the two receptionists stared at her like she had yelled at them in German or something. “The lost child policy.”

“The what?” one of them said.

“The lost child policy,” Angelica reiterated. “When you have a child who’s lost, what do you do?”

They both shook their heads at her in confusion.

“Shit.” She stared at the door. “You go stand by the front door and don’t let anyone out that has a child with them. You.” She pointed at the other one. “Get someone from custodial to lock all the other doors and station someone at them.”

When they didn’t immediately move, she clapped her hands at them. “Now!”

“Yes, Ms. Shields.” They both went to work, and Angelica spun back around to talk with Hope for a brief second.

She’d deal with the training and policy issues tomorrow.

Right now, she had to find Eva. Because if she had to go in there and tell Hope that Eva wasn’t in the building, she might just break herself.

The absolute fear she’d seen in Hope’s eyes when she’d stepped off that elevator…

Angelica shivered at it. She couldn’t witness that again.

She checked in with Hope and immediately started sending texts to the crew.

They would at least all know what Eva looked like, and she was familiar with them, so hopefully, she wouldn’t be scared of them.

She walked directly to the elevator as she started assigning people different floors to check and started running through exactly what needed to happen.

She walked into the makeshift office and ripped off her wet jacket, throwing it onto the table with a loud thwap as it landed.

She lifted her phone and was just about to call the police when she stopped.

There was a sniffle.

Angelica stilled, holding her phone away from her ear as she listened again to make sure that she’d heard it correctly. She stood completely still, her heart hammering so loud that it obstructed her ability to listen clearly.

There it was again.

“Eva?” Angelica asked, keeping her voice as gentle and as calm as possible.

She furrowed her brow and looked around the room, finding no one there. Her phone buzzed wildly in her hand as people responded to the texts she’d sent. The office was so quiet, but there was that damn sniffle again.

“Eva,” Angelica said a little more firmly. “Are you in here?”

Angelica walked around the table toward the desk and then stopped.

Underneath the large conference table, she caught sight of a bare foot.

She pursed her lips and sent a text, telling everyone to stand down that she’d found Eva.

Then she texted Hope and told her to meet them upstairs in a few minutes.

Squatting down, Angelica looked under the table.

Eva was curled up with her knees pulled to her chest and arms around her knees, her head buried.

She sniffled again. Instead of asking Eva to come out, Angelica got onto her ass and scooted under the table to sit next to Eva, having to slouch slightly so she didn’t hit her head.

“Everyone’s looking for you,” Angelica said.

Eva didn’t answer.

“Your mom’s really scared.”

“No, she’s not,” Eva said, firmly.

Angelica pressed her lips together hard. “Want to tell me what happened?”

The silence was loud, but Angelica could be incredibly patient, especially when it came to children. She’d always had a heart for them, and Eva was no different. And this was Hope’s daughter, one of the kids on the set that Angelica had interacted with the most.

“We can stay here for a little longer if you want, but eventually, I’m going to have to let your parents know where you are.”

Eva sighed, and she raised her head. Her big blue eyes were full of tears, her cheeks red from crying. She brushed her hands over her face and stared directly at Angelica. “I don’t want them to get a divorce.”

Angelica’s heart snapped in two. Now she knew exactly what had happened because she’d been Eva so many times.

But she didn’t know what to tell her, because she wished her parents had just divorced.

It would have ended the arguing, it would have put her in a calm, stable home, and it would have been for the best. But she couldn’t judge Hope and Rex’s marriage on the little she knew about it.

“Were they arguing?” Angelica asked, trying as much as possible not to fish for details.

Eva sniffled again, a large tear streaking down her face like a beacon of her sadness. “Yeah, about work.”

Angelica had one guess what that was all about, and it was the same reason she’d walked out of the hotel and into the rain. Speaking of which, now that Eva was found and the scare calmed slightly, she couldn’t help but feel chilled and soggy.

“Adults argue.” Angelica crossed her legs in a crisscross-applesauce position and leaned over on her knees. “That’s normal. Sometimes we have to argue just to get our feelings out.”

“Yeah, but this one was bad.”

Angelica nodded in understanding. “Yeah, it gets bad sometimes.”

Eva sniffled again. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Well, running away, while it feels nice to escape for a while, isn’t the best idea in the long run.” Angelica pursed her lips, ignoring the fact that she’d done the exact same thing. “But I get it, trust me.”

“Did you run away?”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“I did,” Angelica admitted with a sigh. “I ran away outside for a bit, cleared my head, and then I came back.”

“Did it help?” Eva scooted a little closer to her, easing her tight grasp on her legs and mimicking Angelica’s pose.

“It did.” She hated admitting that again, but she’d never lie to a child. “But I probably could have handled it better.”

“Were you mad for the same reason my mom was mad?”

Angelica nodded. “I’m pretty sure. We were both really mad tonight.”

“At each other?”

“Nope.” Angelica shook her head, brushing her soaking hair behind her ear. “Not at each other.” For once . Though, she didn’t add that last part. Eva didn’t need to know that.

“Well, that’s good. I think she likes you.”

Angelica snorted lightly. “She’d be one of the few.”

“Really?” Eva scooted closer and put her hand on Angelica’s arm. “I like you.”

“Thanks.” Angelica covered Eva’s hand with her own and canted her head to the side. “Next time you want to run away, I want you to tell your mom and dad about that feeling, okay?”

“Okay. Then what?”

“Then they’ll handle it, and if you need somewhere to go where it’s quiet just so you can get away a little bit, you can ask them if you can come find me.

” Angelica liked that idea. She could work while Eva did whatever she needed, and then she could let Rex and Hope figure out their shit at the same time. It seemed like a good plan all around.

“Okay,” Eva whispered. “Do you think they’re going to ground me?”

“I don’t know.” Angelica frowned. “What I do know is that they’ll be very happy to see you.”

They fell into a silence that Angelica didn’t want to break right away. She finally did as she straightened out her legs, ready to climb out from under the table and get off the floor.

“Ready to go see them?”

“I guess,” Eva whispered. “But I’m scared.”

“I’m going with you. Come on. I’m old, so I’m going to need your help standing up.”

Eva laughed, and the sound was music to Angelica’s ears.

She scooted out from under the table and waited for Eva to scramble her way from under it.

Eva held out her hands, and Angelica placed her feet on the floor before she allowed Eva to help pull her to standing.

She brushed off her pants and then stopped.

She was still drenched. And she was chilled to the bone now.

She had goosebumps all over her body, and she could barely feel her toes in her heels.

“Come on,” Angelica said again, taking Eva’s hand in hers.

They walked together to the elevator and then rode it up in silence to the floor they were all staying on.

Hope was in the hallway, arms crossed, worry still on her face as they approached.

She bent down, holding her hands out as they got closer.

Eva let go of Angelica’s hand and ran straight to her mom, letting herself be wrapped up in a tight hug.

Hope buried her nose in Eva’s hair and her neck, squeezing her tightly. It wasn’t much longer until Rex stepped next to them and put a hand on Hope’s back in comfort. This was what family should be, nothing else.

“Where was she?” Hope asked, standing up and passing Eva over to Rex.

“The office area.” Angelica put her hands on her hips, her shirt pulling tight in its dampness.

Hope’s gaze dropped from Angelica’s face to her chest. Angelica frowned when she didn’t look up immediately and then looked down.

Fuck me . She was wearing a white shirt that day, of course, and the material was stuck to her skin, clinging to her.

“I’ll work on a policy with the hotel tomorrow for when this happens again. I can pull one that I already have.”

“Policy?” Hope frowned.

“For when a kid goes missing. I make it standard in all my hotels.” Angelica waited as Hope walked even closer to her.

The hallway was empty, Rex having disappeared back into their room. Angelica shivered under Hope’s scrutiny.

“They didn’t know what to do,” Angelica said, but her voice was so soft it was nearly a whisper.

Hope nodded, still walking closer to her. She reached out and snagged Angelica’s hand, squeezing her fingers. “Your hands are freezing.”

“I’m freezing,” Angelica answered. “I’m soaked.”

God, why had she said that? Angelica’s cheeks burned, a massive contrast to the way the rest of her body felt in that moment.

“Were you outside?” Hope took Angelica’s other hand in her own, staring down at them.

“Yeah…” Angelica breathed slowly, her chest rising and falling. “I needed to run away, like Eva did.”

Hope frowned, tears in her eyes again. “She got upset when we were fighting.”

“I told her next time to talk to you first.” Angelica needed to put space between them again.

She needed to step back and feel like she was her own person again, but she couldn’t make herself move.

She couldn’t force herself to step away like she should.

“And I told her that if she really needed a break to come find me, and we’d sit in silence together. ”

Hope’s lips quirked up slightly at that, but she didn’t blossom into a smile. “She’s been running away a lot in the last two years.”

“Two years?” Angelica turned her hand, gripping Hope’s fingers. “Why?”

“Rex and I… it’s complicated, but it’s been stressful. Especially when we’re both working away from home so much. She comes with us, but it’s not easy on her. She’s a creature of habit, and she loves familiarity.”

That was something Angelica understood. She just took it to the extreme of not being at her home base as often as possible to try and face her fears and problems head on. Perhaps Eva would get to that point eventually, but she was only six. And she couldn’t control very much.

“Hope…” Angelica softened her tone again.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t ever let her stop being a priority.

” Angelica looked deep into Hope’s eyes, wanting her to understand exactly what she wasn’t saying.

But she couldn’t force herself to say those words either.

She’d never told anyone how she’d felt as a child, how she’d been pushed aside for the favored son because she was a daughter, about how the expectations had made her feel burdened and not loved.

She licked her lips, tightening her grip on Hope’s hand. “Don’t ever stop loving her.”

Hope flinched at that. “Of course I love her.”

“I know you do.” Angelica clenched her jaw. “I wasn’t saying that you don’t. She’s scared. And she needs to know that you’re there for her, no matter what.”

“I am there for her.”

Why was Hope getting so defensive? Angelica continued to look deep into Hope’s eyes, wanting her to understand but having no way to explain what she was trying to say. So instead, she gave up. Hope would either figure it out or not. “I hope it’s okay I told her to find me if she’s upset.”

“Yeah, of course it’s okay. I trust you.”

Did she?

Angelica wanted to push back on that. So many people didn’t trust her. So many people told her that she was too hard and too cold, that she wasn’t someone who could make those deeper connections. And yet, Hope trusted her. But why?

“I should get back to Eva,” Hope murmured, but she didn’t step away and her hand was still locked in Angelica’s. “You should probably get warmed up.”

Angelica had a few more things she needed to do before she went back to her room, namely collecting her soaked jacket and her iPad so she could prepare the policies she needed Henry to train his team on. But Hope was right, she did need to get warmed up as soon as possible.

“You found her!” Josef’s voice broke through the buzz.

Angelica immediately pulled away from Hope, putting a good step or two between them as she turned to face Josef. The last thing she needed was to be accused of an unprofessional relationship with Hope…again. He stared at them curiously, but he didn’t say anything as he came closer.

“Ange did,” Hope said. “In the conference room that we’ve been using.”

“Thank God.” He looked fully relieved, which was good. That was the man that Angelica had come to know, the compassionate one. And she was glad that he was still in there somewhere. He looked from Hope to Angelica. “Why are you wet?”

“Uh…” Angelica flicked her gaze to Hope. “I went looking for Eva outside for a bit before coming back inside.” It was a lie, but Josef wouldn’t know any different. Hope would, especially if she talked to Eva and Eva told her everything they’d discussed.

“Oh, good thinking. I’d hate for her to run away in downtown Seattle.”

“Yeah.” Angelica tightened her jaw. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to collect my things and then get dried off.” She walked away quickly, not looking over her shoulder as she went directly back to the elevator.

All she wanted was to hold Hope’s hand again, comfort her. Let her know that she wasn’t alone in this. That she was right there. But she couldn’t. She had to maintain her distance.