Page 135 of Under the Table

Hope didn’t answer right away. Angelica looked directly at Hope, testing her reaction to that comment.

“It can be difficult, and it can also be incredibly amazing.” Hope bent down, pushing the duck to roast into the oven and pulling out the ones she’d put in before.

“And how was it for you?”

“It was good.” Hope gave Heidi a tight smile.

“I worked primarily with Rex.” Angelica chimed in, trying to save Hope from whatever disaster was going on. “We thought it’d be best that way, but Hope worked with our AD while I worked with Rex.”

“Oh!” Heidi seemed surprised by that.

Angelica looked directly at Hope, who still seemed to be gathering her bearings. “Rex is brilliant when it comes to directing. He not only knows how to capture the drama, but he also seems to have a sixth sense when something big is about to go down, so he knows to be there for it.”

She wasn’t going to let Hope drown in this one, not if she could avoid it.

“But when you’re talking about the show, Rex really only worked with me on it.” Angelica gave Heidi a stunning smile, one she’d practiced and knew would win her over in the end. “And it was an absolute pleasure to work with them. The Lawrence-Daystrong family is a tight family, and I loved getting to know every part of it.” Angelica left it at that. Hope would understand what she was saying, but she really didn’t want to bring Eva into this.

“So tell us what we’ve made.”

Hope launched into an explanation of the dish and how it seemed complicated but was actually rather easy. Angelica held her tongue and kept quiet through all of it. They weren’t here for her. They were here for Hope and her culinary skills. That was something she’d known for two seasons now, and she was going to have to keep that in the forefront of her mind going forward.

When they finished with filming, they walked back to the green room after taking off their microphones and went to collect their belongings. They said nothing to each other. Hope and Angelica were as much strangers now as they had been that first day when they’d been standing in Wade’s studio for press photos.

Angelica snagged her phone to check her messages and stopped when there was a knock on the door. Hope turned around to face it, curious. She glanced at Angelica before she pulled it open and stopped.

“Hope Lawrence?” the young man asked as he stood just on the other side of the door.

Anyone from production for the talk show should have known it was Hope in there. They wouldn’t be asking those questions. Angelica was about to step forward and intervene when Hope answered.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

The man held his hand out with a white envelope in it. “You’ve been served.”

“Oh.” Hope sighed heavily, taking the papers from him. Her shoulders curled tightly as dejection hit her.

Angelica wanted nothing more than to know exactly what was going on right now. But she didn’t have a right to that information anymore. She didn’t have Hope’s trust to hear all about her problems. And that stung more than anything.

Hope shut the door and stared down at the papers in her hand. She was so pale. Angelica wanted to reach out and hold her, comfort her. But at the same time, there was a wall between them that she couldn’t break down. Because she needed it to be there, for herself.

“Did you know?” Hope asked, her voice shaky.

“Did I know what?” Angelica stepped closer, keeping her voice soft. She didn’t want to scare Hope off. In fact, she knew this was going to be difficult for her. Because she could take a wild guess as to what those papers were.

“Did you know he was divorcing me?”

Angelica’s heart broke again. Hope had left her for Rex. Hope had chosen Rex over her and then she hadn’t gotten what she wanted. That choice had been taken away from her. Angelica swallowed hard, thinking back on all the questioning moments she’d had, when she’d wondered if that was the direction Rex was going to go.

“Not for certain, no.” Angelica whispered the words, trying to pretend that maybe this one time she had been wrong.

“You knew?” Hope’s voice crackled with pain.

Angelica tensed. “I didn’t know for sure. He never said anything. It was just little things here and there that I picked up on. Hope, you have to believe me.”

“No. No, I don’t.” Hope grabbed her jacket and squeezed it hard in her fist. “I don’t have to believe you at all.”

“I didn’t know for certain.”

“Fuck you.” Hope shook with her anger. “Just fuck off and get the hell out of my life.”