Page 138 of Culinary Chaos
“Really?” Angelica raised her eyebrows at him. “What happened to you in the last year? This isn’t the Josef I rememberworking with from years ago. This Josef is bitter, full of ego, full of hate and deprivation. This isn’t you. Or maybe it is, and I’m just finally getting the full window into who you are.”
“I haven’t changed.” Josef glowered. “But you have. You went from a calm, confident bitch to someone who keeps getting her panties in a wad over the littlest of criticisms.”
“Me?” Angelica shook her head and lowered her voice. “No, not me. Perhaps you.”
“I’ve never worked with someone so stubborn before.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Angelica sighed heavily, looking around the room. She needed to make a fast exit. This was a mistake. “I need to check on catering.”
“I thought Hope did that!”
Angelica didn’t respond. She just walked away. She exchanged her empty beer bottle for a fresh one and immediately left the room. She couldn’t stand to be in there anymore. Drinking the beer as she walked, she made her way down to her office. The crew’s voices echoed down the hallway and slowly got quieter.
Slipping into her office, Angelica shut the door and immediately sighed in relief. It was a good thing the show was cancelled. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to work with Josef again after this experience. And it was a good thing because she wouldn’t have to see Hope again after tonight. She’d rearrange all of the press that they were still required to do, but if they honestly thought it wouldn’t be renewed then the amount of press would be severely diminished.
Angelica sat down in the chair near the window and stared out at the LA skyline. She let the cold beer chill her body while it heated her cheeks. Not seeing Hope again would be a good thing. No matter how hard she had to convince herself of that. The temptation would be gone. The desire would eventually vanish into the ether.
Though Hope had been a good distraction from the pain that was Leanne, and finding out that she wasn’t working that far away either, it’d been tempting to go down and see her, talk with her, maybe smooth out a few of the bumps that were still there. But then again, she was convinced that would only happen with the dreadful understanding of time.
Angelica was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Once again, love thwarted for nothing more than a career, a step up from where someone else once was. All she wanted was to be loved in the same way she loved, even if it only was just a little in return. But every time she thought she was so close to making that step, something happened, someone pulled the rug out from under her, and it took forever for her to find her footing again.
Tipping the bottle back, Angelica finished most of it in a few swift swigs. She closed her eyes, breathing in the world around her. Everything would get back to normal soon. No more filming. No more Hope. No more drama.
“Why did you leave?”
Angelica startled. Hope stood in the doorway, a flush in her cheeks, her lips parted, and anger in her gaze. Angelica’s heart fluttered, her lips parted in surprise. She wasn’t even sure where to go or what to do next.
“We planned this party, Angelica. Why did you just leave it?” Hope stared at her, her body rigid as annoyance ebbed off her in waves. “What did Josef say to you?”
Angelica blinked back a sudden flood of tears and stood up, setting her beer on the small table. Her knees felt like jelly as she walked closer, her eyes glued on Hope’s face, on the pain and hurt she saw there.
“Nothing he hasn’t said before,” Angelica said, licking her lips to try and keep her mouth from drying out.
“What did he say?”
“It’s done. It’s over.” Angelica shrugged a little. “We won’t get renewed.”
“What?” Hope’s jaw dropped. “I mean Rex said something, but I didn’t believe…” Hope stopped, her eyes locking on Angelica’s. “So we’re done working together.”
“It would seem so.” Angelica swallowed the lump in her throat. She didn’t want this to be the last, but she couldn’t stop the world from happening around them, from being forced out of each other’s spheres.
“What are you going to do?” Hope stepped in closer, finally coming into the center of the room and meeting Angelica there.
“I don’t know,” Angelica murmured, shaking her head. Why was her body so hot? Why couldn’t she stop thinking about the one fucking thing she really needed to not think about? She breathed slowly, her heart racing, and she said the only words that came to mind. “I’m scared.”
“Scared?” Hope asked, her voice taking on the tender quality that wrapped Angelica in a warm hug every single time.
Angelica shifted even closer, the shuffle so slight that she wasn’t even sure Hope noticed. She tried to steady her breathing, tried to make the world stop spinning off kilter, but she wasn’t sure she could. And it wasn’t because of the beer. This was because everything she’d worked so hard on in the last year was coming to a swift damnable end.
“Of what?” Hope whispered with concern.
Of everything, Angelica wanted to say.Of what I’m feeling.
But she couldn’t make the words form. She couldn’t give them voice. Hell, if there was no second season, what did it matter anyway? All the threats from Josef, all the tension, all the times she’d thought about this and held back because Hope was married, because Hope was her coworker, her employee, because Hope…
Angelica stopped.
She dropped her gaze down to Hope’s mouth, keeping it there. Her entire body warmed, her breath evened out. She found that center, the stillness. Reaching up, Angelica slid her hand against the side of Hope’s neck, cupping her gently. She blinked twice before she leaned in quickly and pressed their mouths together.
