Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
Shouts of anger reached Angelica’s ears as she passed by the front reception area.
She narrowed her gaze, focusing on them.
She slid Rex a look of curiosity, but he didn’t seem to know what was happening either.
With a roll of her shoulders and a swish of her hair, Angelica abandoned the hotel manager she’d been working with and started toward the restaurant.
The yelling was definitely coming from there.
But it wasn’t Hope.
Those voices were all male.
She pushed her way through the dining room, which was half full of people. Rex followed behind the cameraman who was assigned to her, Angelica leading the trail of people. When she stepped into the kitchen, pushing through the double doors, she froze on the spot.
Hope stood with a scowl on her face, arms crossed, and a serious case of fuck off vibes going on.
Angelica glanced from her to Robin and Johnny, both of whom were hovering half over her, though Hope was tall and they were not.
So it didn’t really work to their advantage and really just made it seem as though they were trying to intimidate a woman.
“You can’t do this!” Robin shouted. “I told you already. Change it back. Immediately!”
Angelica pursed her lips, waiting to see if she could glean the context of what was happening before anything else went awry.
“Your menu is massive, too big for the staff here to manage, and it’s pulling you down.” Hope leaned back slightly, that scowl turning into a look of disgust. She managed to flick her gaze beyond the men shouting at her and lock her eyes on Angelica.
They had talked about finding a tension point here. Angelica just hadn’t thought that it’d happen quite like this. The tension was supposed to be between the two of them, not Hope and the owners. Rubbing her thumb against her fingers, Angelica waited this out for one more second.
“This menu was created with hours of deliberation and discernment. It’s perfect.”
“It’s not!” Hope raised her voice.
And that was Angelica’s cue. She planted her foot down in front of her just about to step in when Johnny went off.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about! We’ve spent years curating this hotel to be perfect, and it is perfect!”
“It’s not perfect,” Angelica’s voice rang through the kitchen.
Everything stopped.
The pots and pans weren’t clanking, the sink wasn’t making noise, the voices all stopped. Angelica hated when she accidentally commanded that much power. She hadn’t meant to do it this time either. She’d simply meant to step in and stop this argument from happening.
“Nothing is ever perfect.” Angelica put her hands on her hips and stared Johnny down. “And you don’t talk to Chef Lawrence like that. Ever.”
“She’s tearing apart everything we’ve built.”
“That’s her job.” Angelica pressed her lips together tightly as she stepped in between Hope and the two men.
She really was over men trying to push themselves up against a woman because they thought they were the be-all and end-all of the world.
She was tired of it. “Your menu is filled with good dishes. I know, I’ve eaten some of them.
But that doesn’t mean that your menu is working for this restaurant or this hotel any longer. ”
Robin’s jaw dropped.
“And before you say anything—” Angelica put her hand up to stop him “—I’m not going to have an argument with you over this. As a customer sits down, you don’t want them to be so overwhelmed with choices that they can’t possibly figure out what they want.”
“That’s why our waitstaff is trained to point out the best options,” Johnny said.
“By best what you mean is most expensive.” Angelica wrinkled her nose. “I’ve seen your staff in action, and I’ve seen how you’ve trained them. They told me you told them to do that, even if they don’t agree with the sentiment or that the option you told them to push is the best on the menu.”
“They push what they feel is best,” Robin immediately came in with the defense.
Angelica rolled her eyes. She leaned forward on the counter, her hand pressing into the cold steel to keep herself upright as she glared at him. “Don’t feed me a line of bullshit that we both know reeks of lies.”
Robin’s jaw dropped. “Bull—”
“Yes.” Angelica straightened her back again. “Your menu is too big. I trust Chef Lawrence’s opinion on that, and I trust she’ll be able to narrow it down to the best dishes, perhaps even give you a few better ones to try on for size.”
Robin scoffed. “I doubt that.”
Sighing, Angelica turned slightly to glance over her shoulder at Hope. “Do you want to play a game?”
“What is this, Child’s Play?” Hope laughed as she said it, but Angelica could feel her shift closer, the warmth of her body pressing against Angelica’s shoulder almost perfectly as they teamed up to tear down.
This was exactly what last season should have been.
Them working together to get the job done, and not against each other.
Angelica laughed, the sound trilling through the kitchen and easing the tension that was still there.
Well, most of it. Robin and Johnny still looked like they’d eaten a cow and couldn’t quite keep it all down.
Angelica shook her head slightly, staring into Hope’s brilliantly crystalline eyes.
Her breath caught, and she slowed herself.
“I’m not here to play games!” Johnny shouted again, pulling Angelica right out of the intensity of the look from Hope. “I’m here to save my hotel from ruin, but that seems to be all you’re interested in bringing in.
Angelica cocked her head to the side and shrugged her shoulders.
“No, Johnny, that’s not what we’re doing.
” She focused back on him. “I understand that you’re upset and that you’re struggling with the fact that changes need to be made to your hotel and restaurant in order to save it.
Changes aren’t easy. In fact, they’re damn hard to make, and sometimes it means letting go of good people that have been around for a long time.
” She was going to plant that seed now. “Not because those people aren’t good or don’t deserve jobs, but because they’re not doing what you need them to do in order to thrive.
And that’s just a fact of being a business owner. ”
“I won’t put out workers who have earned their place here,” Johnny growled.
Angelica sighed slightly, her shoulders dropping.
“Sometimes changes need to be made into order to maintain, and sometimes changes need to be made in order to grow and maximize. If that includes terminating some workers, then that’s what it has to be.
I’m not recommending mass terminations, Johnny. ”
That was the nicest way that Angelica could manage to say that without being cruel. There were definitely a few staff who either needed to get with the program or no longer work there, but that didn’t mean all of them.
The hand against her back wasn’t firm, and it wasn’t large. Angelica resisted the urge—but barely—to look over her shoulder and check to see what Hope was doing and why she was touching her like this. It was so subtle, and with the cameras so close there was no way they’d pick up on it. Would they?
Angelica focused back on Johnny and Robin.
“I don’t appreciate you coming in here and screaming at my chef. We’re here to help you, nothing else. And Chef Lawrence deserves your respect and time.”
Johnny looked like he was about to shit a brick. When was the last time someone had spoken to him like that?
Hope pushed her fingers into Angelica’s back lightly as she leaned in over Angelica’s shoulder.
“We’re not trying to take out everything that makes this hotel yours.
What we’re trying to do is put in systems and measures where you can be successful and then everyone can experience what you have to offer. ”
Hope was much better at doing the soothing and smoothing than Angelica was. At least on this front. When it came to investors, Angelica always had that in hand. She could schmooze anyone she needed to.
“Don’t touch the menu,” Robin doubled down.
Angelica’s heart sank. She hadn’t been wrong in her assessment. These two were the ones who were going to take this place down, not because they didn’t have the passion or the love of it, but because they couldn’t simply let go of the past long enough to glimpse the future.
“The menu is going to be dealt with.” Angelica put her hand out in front of them, leaning back slightly into Hope’s touch.
That line of connection between them was so strong.
Angelica hadn’t realized just how easy it was to rely on that, to allow herself to be put in the position that this would keep them together and help them to strive forward.
“But first we should have a candid conversation about how much you’re holding back. ”
“Holding back?” Robin shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“You’re holding yourselves back from the potential that this place has.
Look, Chef Lawrence and I handpick all of the hotels we visit—” that wasn’t quite the truth, but they didn’t need to know that “—and we picked this one, because we saw potential here. We saw the possibilities here. And you need to let those possibilities flourish and stop plucking out their feathers just before they take flight.”
Now the two men looked even more concerned than before. Angelica breathed slowly, wishing that Hope would take over this portion of the conversation.
“We need you to trust us, because if you don’t, then when we leave, everything is going to go back the way it was, and you won’t find a future here. Ever.”
Johnny sighed heavily, and it took Robin a bit longer to also relax.
“We’re not trying to be the enemy, so please don’t make us out to be that.
” Angelica leaned back again, glad to find Hope’s hand still there.
“The menu needs to change, and that’s not a reflection on whether the food is good or bad.
It’s simply a reflection on the fact that times have changed and no one wants everything under the sun.
They go to restaurants for a special meal, something they don’t have to spend an hour perusing the menu to find. ”
That might have taken it too far, but at least she caught herself before pushing the point even more.
“Hope likes to play this game.” Angelica turned and looked directly at Hope.
Hope’s gaze dropped from her eyes down to her lips in an instant before flicking back up.
Angelica took in a shuddering breath. That was the problem they were going to have to work on.
If anyone had seen that, they would suspect.
Way more than the drama social media was already making over it all, and way more than Rex’s heart and head could probably handle.
“We’re not here to play games,” Johnny mumbled.
“No, we’re not,” Angelica agreed, turning back to him and thankful for the distraction. She really couldn’t look over her shoulder at Hope again. That would be bad news for everyone. “But Hope likes to play this game to test out new recipes. Perhaps… it might be good to try it out.”
Hope tensed next to her.
Angelica prayed she hadn’t overstepped her boundary a bit, but she couldn’t stand there and listen to the two of them berate her any longer and she really needed to wrap up this conversation quickly.
“It’ll be a taste testing of sorts, and then Hope can explain how and why she’s building the menu.
We’ll relaunch the restaurant with Hope’s menu at the end of the week as planned.
” What she didn’t add was if they scrapped every single one of those ideas later on, then the failure would be on them and not on Hope and Angelica.
But she thought it. Multiple times over.
“When will we do this game?” The disdain in Robin’s voice told Angelica everything she needed to know. Then again, she’d had the same thoughts a few times when Hope had tried it before, but Hope had won her over on the method eventually.
She just needed to call it something other than a game.
“Tonight,” Hope jumped in. “Just before dinner service.”
“Fine.” Robin crossed his arms and glared at Hope and then at Angelica.
No one said anything for a few more tense seconds before both Robin and Johnny turned and left the kitchen.
Angelica held her breath for a few more seconds before she let it go and shook her head.
She turned, fully facing Hope. But Hope’s hand didn’t leave her back.
Instead, her fingers glided across Angelica’s side, her waist, to her hip.
Then Hope dropped it, the cameras finally able to look between them.
“Leave it to you to piss them off before lunch,” Angelica mumbled.
Hope snorted and then laughed. “Easier said than done.”
“I think you have a full afternoon ahead of you now.” Angelica crossed her arms and popped her hip out slightly.
She dared to lower her gaze from Hope’s crystalline eyes to her fully pink painted lips.
Hmm, perhaps they weren’t only trying to sex her up for the season.
Maybe Hope was also getting the oh-so-special treatment.
“It seems I do.” Hope raised an eyebrow at her. “And are you joining in on this game? Or should I only plan for two hotel owners to spoil my fun?”
Angelica bit her lip to contain her smile. “Would you like me to be here?”
“Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Hope nodded. “I might need a knight in shining armor to come to my rescue again.”
“Need?” Angelica choked on the word. “You hardly need my saving, Hope. But I’m glad to lend a hand when I can.”
Angelica pushed away from the counter and took a step back. She really needed to get herself together and stop this flirting nonsense. They were supposed to be done with all of that, weren’t they? Hadn’t they talked about keeping things as professional as possible?
“I’ll see you before dinner,” Angelica said, spinning in her ridiculously high heels as she made her way out of the kitchen.
She had work to do in the meantime, and she trusted that Hope could run the kitchen and dining areas on her own. She didn’t need extra supervision. Despite the fact that Angelica had wanted to stay right where she was in Hope’s presence for as long as she could manage.