Page 140 of Culinary Chaos
“You’ve been off since we stopped filming. Well, really since the wrap party.” Rex pressed his head into the back of the couch and turned to look at her. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” Hope’s voice broke, and then she stopped herself. This was Rex. She never wanted to be a wife who hid anything from her husband. While working with him had been difficult, this wasn’t about that at all. This was about them, as a couple, in a relationship together. One that they worked on, and one that they both cherished. “No.”
“No?” Rex frowned at her. He sat up straighter and reached over for her hand. “What’s wrong then?”
Hope looked around the room, making sure that Eva was nowhere near them. She didn’t need to hear this, because she knew it was going to upset Rex. But she had to tell him. She couldn’t keep it from him any longer.
“Ange and I kissed.”
“What?” A deep line formed in the center of Rex’s forehead, and the hand that had been on hers vanished instantly. He shook his head, tears forming in his eyes. His breathing became heavy and uneven. Rex shifted, putting more space between them. “What do you mean?”
“I…” Hope’s heart stuttered. “I don’t know how it happened really, but we kissed.”
“What does it mean?”
“I don’t know.” Tears welled in Hope’s eyes now. She hadn’t expected this. She should have, but she hadn’t anticipated what it would feel like to finally let him in on this. She breathed through the tears, her nose clogging up. “I mean, I think I realized that I’m not as straight as I once thought I was. I’ve never kissed a woman before, and it was… I liked it. That part of it.”
“But the rest of it? Did she force herself on you?”
“No.” Hope swallowed, her tears starting to flow freely now. “No, she didn’t force it. It was mutual.”
At least the second time had been. But like Angelica had said, did she really even count that first one? Hope suckedher lower lip into her mouth and breathed slowly. She needed to get herself under control, because they needed to have this conversation.
“I don’t understand, Hope. Wh-why would you?—”
“I didn’t plan it.” Hope grimaced. That was the last thing she’d done both times. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked him over. She knew she was breaking his heart with all of this. “I didn’t plan it,” she said again, whispering.
“But you kissed her.” Rex’s eyes were wide. “I thought I noticed you two were different together, but I didn’t think it was this. I just thought that you’d figured out how to talk to her in a way no one else had. Damn it, Hope!” Rex stood up sharply, and she finally saw the rage she’d expected to be there from the beginning. “I don’t know what to do with this.”
“Neither do I.” She hated this. “What I do know is that I’m not willing to give you up, or Eva. That’s nowhere in what I’m thinking right now. I’m sensible.”
Rex snorted. “You’re not sensible. You’re impulsive, and you break the rules. You always have.” He ran his hands through his hair, looking around the house before coming back to land his gaze on her. “It’s how you’ve gotten this far in your career. But don’t for one second think that you’re sensible.”
“Rex…” Hope’s voice broke.
“No. I need…a minute. Or a day.” He walked away, straight out the front door, shutting it louder than normal.
Hope crumbled. She collapsed into the corner of the couch and stared at the front door, just waiting for him to come back. This was going to take a whole lot of work, and way more than just one conversation. She knew that. But she couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. She had to tell him. And she knew there were probably going to be a whole lot more details that they would need to work on.
Lifting her fingers to her lips, she could still feel the way Angelica pressed against her. The way their mouths melded together, their tongues teasing each other. Her body burned for more of that, her mind no longer spinning circles about the fact that she was interested in women sexually, but about the fact that she’d actually done something about it.
She hadn’t been thinking at all.
She’d followed her gut, and that was it.
Hope hadn’t thought she’d come back here. Not after the wrap party had ended and she’d made her way home, but she needed to talk to Angelica. And this was the only way that she could figure out how to do it. A call wouldn’t work. A text would be crazy. She needed to see Angelica face-to-face. She needed to talk this out. So a week after the wrap party, she was back.
Angelica’s office wasn’t that far from reception, and Hope walked directly to it. The door was open, so she stepped just inside and found Angelica sitting at her desk, bent over a binder. The gentle waves of her hair covered most of her face, but she was as beautiful as ever.
“Hello,” Hope said, a little more bubbly than she was feeling, but she could tell that her voice was as shaky as she was.
Angelica jerked with a start, looking up at her, instantly turning from concerned to confused. “Hope.”
Hope pressed her lips together in a tight smile. “I was hoping that we could talk for a minute.”
“Yes, of course.” Angelica stood up, coming around the desk to meet Hope in the center of the office. Hope glanced toward the open door she’d just come in, and Angelica walked to it to shut it before coming back. But she didn’t say anything else.
Biting her lip, Hope stared into Angelica’s eyes and tried to read everything that she was thinking in this moment. “I can’t stop thinking about the kiss.”
