Chapter 29
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Hope stepped into the back of the small food truck, finally alone in there for the first time. She’d managed to get a semi-decent look yesterday, but today, she wanted to explore and open every nook and cranny that she possibly could.
Because why not?
She’d never owned a food truck, and that side of the business was something beyond her general understanding. She didn’t really see the appeal and couldn’t see it ever blending with the style of food she was known for. But she did also love grubby, greasy food.
Running her fingers over the edges of the short counter, Hope just breathed it in.
Everything in here was clean, which was a good sign.
It meant that they were at least following the basic rules of hygiene.
She’d have to check on the food stores later on, because those were definitely not here on the truck.
She opened cabinets, pulled out drawers. Everything was perfectly clean and in place. This was either their complete norm, or they were doing this to just try and impress her because they knew she was coming and they didn’t want to get yelled at. Hope breathed a sigh.
“Up to your standards, Chef?” Kora popped her head through the back door of the food truck.
“It is.” Hope crossed her arms and quirked her lips in Kora’s direction. They’d met yesterday, and one thing Hope had picked up quickly was that Kora was a force to be reckoned with. She was short, butch, and didn’t hold much back. In fact, she reminded Hope of Cadence but with more finesse.
“Good.” Kora stepped inside. “We need to set up for the day.”
“The day?” Hope stared at her curiously. “I thought you did dinner service only.”
“Yeah, at The Montford. But we have a spot every week around Asheville where we sell lunch, and then we come back here.”
“So you do two services a day?” Hope asked.
“Yeah.” Kora’s lips quirked upward on one side in a cocky smirk. Like she’d just pulled one over on Hope. Which, in all fairness, she had.
“How long has that been going on?” Hope had to resist the urge to look up and see the camera staring back at her. She knew Cadence was around somewhere, catching every interaction that they were having.
“Years.” Kora immediately started pulling things into the food truck and putting everything together.
“Is the menu different? The lunch menu to the dinner menu?”
“Of course.” Kora winked at her.
Hope tapped her fingers against her bicep as she watched Kora work efficiently. “The food truck is solvent, right?”
“Of course,” Kora repeated, though this time it sounded like she was defensive because of the question.
“And you take care of all the finances for it?” Hope asked, trying to decipher where exactly the boundary lines were and who was in charge of what. She just needed to figure out the systems in places and work from there when it came to some sort of solution.
“I do.” Kora slammed a door shut. “Why?”
Hope had finally pushed her to pushing back. She canted her head to the side and looked Kora directly in the eye. “I’m trying to figure out why the food truck is solvent, but The Montford isn’t.”
“Oh.” Kora pursed her lips and rolled her shoulders. “Can’t help you there.”
Hope was actually fairly certain that Kora could help her there.
“I just need to get the food and then we can set out. Are you riding with us today?” Kora asked.
“Yes.” Hope straightened up and stepped out of the way. While today would be fascinating, it’d also be tense. Having one more person in the food truck was going to make the already tight confines even tighter, especially with the cameras and Cadence added into the mix.
“Good.”
Within an hour, they were on the road. Hope was strapped into the passenger seat. The truck was far bouncier than she’d anticipated, but when she thought about it, it made sense. She and Kora chatted about random things until Kora pulled into a parking lot next to a coffee shop called Beach Please.
Hope couldn’t stop the smirk of her lips when she read that. “So how do people know where to find you?”
“Social media.” Kora raised an eyebrow at her. “We’ve got a mean social media game.”
“Sounds like.” Hope knew that she’d like Kora at the end of this, but they definitely had a few more stiff walls they needed to break down in the meantime. But she trusted that could happen. “I’d love to talk to you more about that throughout the day and just observe what exactly you’re doing.”
“For sure.” Kora winked at her again.
A rush ran through Hope. And she knew that it’d play well on the camera, but with all of the drama that was going on about her relationship with Angelica, she didn’t want any more questions to be asked.
Angelica had filled her in enough about the tone of the inquiry and the solution enough to know that she didn’t want to add any more fuel to the fire.
With the truck parked, Hope watched as Kora and the one assistant that she’d brought that day started in on prep.
They chopped. They moved together like they’d been working together for years.
Laughter. Chitchatting. A few directions here and there.
Laughter again. God, this was what a well-oiled machine looked like.
Hope could only wish that every kitchen she walked into would be like this.
Hope itched to join in the prep, but she really wanted to observe and see how everything functioned with just the two of them. And she was getting one hell of a show. Someone knocked on the back door, and Kora popped her head out.
“No, ma’am, we’re not open yet. No, ma’am. Two more hours. I know, it’s so hard to wait. See you at eleven!”
“Does that happen often?” Hope asked.
“Yeah,” Kora went right back to chopping. “We’re pretty popular. We’ve thought about adding a second truck so we can do dinner service as well and maybe some catering, but the money isn’t there for it.”
Hope hummed, dropping her gaze down Kora’s body and back up. “Why is the food truck still associated with The Montford?”
“What?” Kora stilled, the knife in her fingers held tightly.
“You seem to be thriving in a way The Montford isn’t, fully profitable, income coming in to the point that you’re talking about more trucks and catering—”
“I just said the money wasn’t there,” Kora narrowed her gaze. “So no, we’re not ready for that.”
Hope furrowed her brow. “All right.”
She kept her mouth shut, watching, waiting, and asking questions here and there. Once the service started for the day, Hope helped to serve and cook here and there, but she also stepped out to talk to people who were waiting in the line.
The line that literally wrapped the entire way around the block.
The entire block.
Hope walked it. Slowly, talking with patrons, most of whom were return customers, who wanted to get whatever the special was that day because Kora was always whipping up something new and fresh.
She didn’t hear one bad thing about Kora and the food truck.
Except they wished they could have it more often.
By the time Hope made it back to the truck, the line was moving quickly, Kora called out orders like the boss she was, and Hope knew without a doubt that this food truck wasn’t suffering a financial crisis. She nodded toward Cadence to get her attention.
“I need to call Ange and have a chat with her.” Hope crossed her arms.
“Personal or…?”
Hope winced. “On camera. You want to get hold of Rex?”
Hope could easily do that, but she figured this way there was one more person in the mix so that everyone was prepared for both sides of the phone call. Normally, she’d just walk to find Angelica wherever she was, but right now, she was miles away. Which felt very odd.
“Okay.” Cadence stepped away and was on her phone immediately.
Hope continued to observe as Kora cooked and the line moved.
At this rate, they’d probably run out of food before they ran out of customers.
Had they even begun to brainstorm solutions for that problem?
Or was Kora so focused on customer service and food quality that she hadn’t paid attention to a simple solution for more income?
She’d wait to find out, because it was just as important to know what Kora would do when she had to close the line.
“Hope! Give her a call.”
Hope pressed her lips together and slid her phone out of her back pocket. She hadn’t expected that to happen so quickly. And she’d gotten way lost in her own thoughts. Pressing Angelica’s name, she lifted the phone to her ear and let it ring.
And ring.
And ring.
“Chef Lawrence,” Angelica’s voice echoed through the speaker.
So they really had told her this was about work and not business.
Hope hated that, but it did at least help somewhat when it came to filming.
At least, she hoped it did. “I’m out here with Kora and the truck, which sounds like the name of a girl band, if I’m being honest.” Hope chuckled at her own joke, knowing that Angelica wouldn’t be amused at all.
“And, well, I don’t see how this food truck is losing money. At all.”
“What do you mean?”
Hope could hear the reception phone ringing, but Angelica didn’t pause the conversation to answer it. Voices murmured in the background, and Hope had to wonder exactly who was nearby to listen in on Angelica’s half of the conversation.
And once again, she was struck with the fact that they were so far apart.
“This truck is popular, more popular than I’ve ever seen a food truck.” Hope glanced over her shoulder at the line that continued to grow. “They’re going to run out of food before they run out of customers.”
“Have you checked their profits so far?”
“No, I haven’t wanted to disturb their process, and I didn’t bring an iPad to check the rest of them while they worked. I should have.” Hope bit her lip and rolled her eyes at herself. “I was hoping you’d looked at them.”
“Not yet. I’ve been dealing with a bigger issue here.” Angelica sighed, and Hope heard so much more in that small noise than she probably should have. It wasn’t just about The Montford. This was about something personal. But Hope wouldn’t dream of asking about that while they were being recorded.
“I’ll see if I can steal an iPad and tally up today’s income and expenses.
” Hope ran her fingers through her hair.
“I asked Kora about plans for the future, and she mentioned a second truck and catering, but she also mentioned that the finances weren’t there.
I don’t think she does as much of the finances as she implied before. ”
“You’re right about that,” Angelica murmured. “I’m not sure anyone actually looks at numbers, trends, or statistics here. It’s all such a mess.”
“Late nights in the office then?” Hope asked, adding that tease back into her tone.
“Only if I have company to work through it all.”
Just that one comment lit Hope up. She’d been looking for some kind of response from Angelica that they were back on even footing, that they would work together through all of this, and that they could find an outcome that would ease both their stresses. They weren’t doing this alone.
“I’m curious to see how service tonight will work out,” Hope added. “Perhaps we should get the full experience by sharing a meal.”
That was the boldest Hope had been in a long time. But she couldn’t remember the last time the two of them had sat down together to eat a proper meal.
“We can discuss that later.” Angelica’s voice got quieter, as if she was moving the phone away from her face. “I’ve got to go. Figure out how much money the food truck is making, and we’ll go from there.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Hope smiled as she hung up, sliding the phone back into her pocket. She had a lot of work she needed to get done, and it just so happened, right now, she had the time.