Chapter 45
Chapter
Forty-Five
Hope shook her hands out nervously in the green room. The suit jacket felt odd against her skin because she was so used to a chef’s coat, but they weren’t going to be cooking for the first part of the show. Instead, Heidi was going to be interviewing both her and Angelica together.
Thank God, because she didn’t want to screw up an interview like she had the last time.
And with everything going on lately, even though Josef was still in jail awaiting a hearing, she was still glad to have Angelica as close to her as possible.
They hadn’t spent a night apart since that day, and it’d been nearly the full three weeks of their mid-season break.
“Hope?” Angelica said, coming closer and touching her hand. “I’m not sure I’ve seen you this nervous for an interview before.”
Hope grimaced. “A lot has changed since the last time we did this.”
Angelica hummed and nodded. “But it’s just an interview, and you’re on Heidi’s show all the time.”
“Yeah, so she’ll feel more comfortable to ask questions that other people wouldn’t.”
“I’m not sure about that.” Angelica dropped her hand to reach Hope’s fingers, twining them together. “I’ll be right there with you.”
“I know you will.” Hope pressed her lips together and forced a smile onto her face.
“It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine.” She repeated it to try and convince herself, but it still wasn’t working.
Something in her gut told her that this was going to go off the rails and they were going to lose control of the situation.
“It’ll be fine,” Angelica repeated and then moved in to kiss her quickly. “Just let me handle the questions you don’t want to answer.”
Hope snorted. “That’ll be all of them. Interviews like this are something I hate. My kitchen is my safety.”
“I know it is.” Angelica ran her hands down the lapels on Hope’s suit and tugged slightly. “But you’ll be perfect.”
“Not perfect.” Hope wrinkled her nose. “But acceptable.”
“More than acceptable.” Angelica winked at her and then shook her head. “They should be calling us up shortly.”
“Are we holding hands when we go in?” Hope asked. “I mean… everyone knows…”
Angelica paused, hesitation floating through her gaze and across her face.
“Never mind. This is for press, not that.”
“It’s both, really. We need to continue to clean up that mess that Josef made.” Angelica held her phone between her hands and then glanced down at the screen. “I’d prefer not to, at least not this time.”
“Okay,” Hope agreed. This wasn’t something she wanted to fight about. They had enough problems to face going forward.
“I want to make sure we’re doing this the right way,” Angelica said firmly. Then she frowned as she glanced at her phone again. “Has Lyric talked to you at all about filming the second half of the season?”
“No?” Hope furrowed her brow. Angelica had become more and more concerned about Lyric in the last few weeks, but neither one of them had been able to get out of her what was going on.
“She requested to stay here in Los Angeles and not join us.” Angelica dashed her tongue across her lips, and Hope had to pry her eyes away. “Apparently, she and Cadence have had an argument, one that she deems irreconcilable.”
Hope’s upper lip curled. “What?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t give me any more details than that.”
“I thought they were best friends.” Hope ran her fingers through the back of her hair in confusion. “Weren’t they?”
“They were close, yes.” Angelica rolled her shoulders. “I can force her to go, but I’m not sure that’d do anyone any good.” Angelica sighed. “But finding a replacement on my end is going to be difficult. Not only for my organizational needs but for my social media needs.”
“Yeah.” Hope shook her head. “Just because you don’t get along with a co-worker doesn’t mean you can’t go to work.”
Angelica looked at her directly. “Speaking from experience?”
“Maybe,” Hope teased back, pulling Angelica toward her quickly to capture her lips. “I think it worked out for us in the end, don’t you?”
“Who said I was talking about me and you?” Angelica kissed her again and laughed. “I’ll have to think about Lyric’s request.”
“Well, if it were me, I’d tell her she’d have to finish out the season and if she wanted to skip next season, then that could be discussed. But you can’t be left in a lurch on such short notice.”
“Fair,” Angelica answered.
Three knocks at the door and then it was opened. “You ready?”
“Yes,” Hope answered. She stepped back from Angelica, putting as much space between them as she felt was appropriate and had been requested.
Angelica was introduced first, and then Hope. They walked together onto the brightly lit stage and eased into the hig-backed stools that Heidi loved to have on this show. Hope had to remind herself that she couldn’t touch Angelica.
“Thank you so much for coming! I know you two are very busy in the middle of filming your fourth season! Can you tell us anything about it? Give us any spoilers?” Heidi flashed them a brilliant smile.
If Hope hadn’t known Heidi outside of this, then she would have sworn that she never stopped smiling. But she’d seen otherwise, thankfully. And Hope could match the energy. “Oh you know, it’s the same old same old, we go in, unravel all the problems, and then tidy everything up.”
“It’s not quite that easy,” Angelica jumped in, a glint in her eye. “Though I’m not sure any hotels we’ve been at this season have rivaled some in the first season.”
“That’s good.” Heidi’s face lit up. “Some of those looked horrible.”
“They were tough, but none like that.” Hope put a hand over her heart. “In fact, I’ve really enjoyed the places we’ve been so far this year.”
“I agree.” Angelica sent Hope a smile. “Especially Georgia. Helen is this tiny little town that is fully of unique history. I’d never heard of a place like it before.”
That was one of the talking points they were supposed to lift up. To continue to help with the marketing of the hotels as part of their contracts.
“But being at Niagara?” Hope chimed in. “I’ve never been to Niagara Falls before, and it’s stunning up north.”
“Were you primarily on the East Coast?” Heidi asked.
“Yes, this part of the season we were.” Angelica nodded toward Hope, taking the lead on this one.
Which was perfect, but she had far more to do with the planning of where they went than Hope.
“But we’ve seen some beautiful places around the country, and I’m excited to see even more.
I feel like every place we go starts so foreign and then becomes home right before we have to leave. ”
Oh, that was a good one. Production would use that in sound bites for sure.
“It’s got to be interesting to move around so frequently. How do you two stay grounded through everything?” Heidi dropped her gaze down to Angelica’s hand resting on the arm of the chair and then to Hope’s.
Was she seriously checking out their left hands? To see if they had rings on them? The gall!
“I think the crew is what does it,” Hope said, not giving an inch in this quest that Heidi had. “After filming four seasons with them, they are our family. And we get to see everyone’s highs and lows, and we take care of each other.”
“We do.” Angelica’s smile faltered. “The car accident I was in last season is a perfect example of that. Everyone rallied around to adjust filming and to make sure that I was taken care of.” Angelica laughed lightly. “Hope especially. She always takes care of me.”
That was a bit close to what they were trying to avoid, wasn’t it? And why was it they were trying to avoid that?
“Is that when your relationship with each other deepened?” Heidi asked.
Oh, Angelica was smart. She’d laid that trap perfectly, and Heidi had walked right into.
Angelica nodded. “It is. That’s what built a lot of trust between us. Hope had to pick up my slack, and she did it beautifully.”
“We’re a family, and that’s what families do for each other.” Hope nodded firmly at Angelica. “And yes, that’s when I think the last of the walls between us finally started to come down.”
“We make a really good team together.” Angelica’s tone shifted from the light to the serious, and Hope knew without a doubt they were about to dive back into the work portion of the conversation.
“And I think this season we really started to rely on each other and use that to our advantage more than we ever have before.”
She wasn’t lying about that, and it was in more ways than just in filming.
They’d stood up for each other multiple times, they’d had each other’s backs, and the entire crew had been better off for it.
They should do that more often. Hope bit her lip, dragging her gaze over Angelica before focusing back on Heidi.
“If there’s one thing that I know, having worked with Ange for so long now,” Hope said, “It’s that sometimes it’s easier to work with her than against her.”
“Are you saying that I’m usually right?”
“I’d never admit to that.” Hope flashed Angelica a flirtatious smile, knowing that’d also get attention.
Angelica hummed back at her, but there was still the tease there. This time, Hope knew that it wasn’t just there for show, but it was there because she truly meant it.
“So what you’re saying is there’s less arguing between you this season?” Heidi asked.
“Oh no, there’s still tense moments where we vehemently disagree.” Though if asked, Hope couldn’t name any off the top of her head. “We’re just better at admitting when we’re the one who’s wrong.”
“Well, you are.” Again that showstopper smile that Angelica had was flashing in her direction.
Hope wasn’t going to argue that one again.
Angelica was right, that she was the one who gave in more often than not, but it was part of what made them such a fantastic team, and she wasn’t going to hold back on admitting that.
Not anymore. They were the backbone of Hotel Bombshell, and Florence and Logan should know that the show wouldn’t succeed without them.
Hell, everyone should know that.
They were the show.
And they should use that to their advantage going forward, to negotiate better, to demand better security.
They really needed to stop working as separately as they had on the back end of things and start working together to make the changes they wanted to see.
And with Florence as the showrunner, they actually stood a chance of getting some of their demands met.
“Your cooking shorts together have gone viral several times! Tell me, Ange, just how much of a general is she in the kitchen, really?” Heidi leaned forward, like she was trying to keep a secret from Hope.
“If you’re doing exactly what she says to do, you’ll survive.” Angelica laughed.
“I’m not that bad!” Hope chimed in.
“You can be.” Angelica winked at her. “But when it’s just you and me in the kitchen, the experience is entirely different. And, usually I don’t have to do much of the work.”
“Thankfully,” Hope teased. Two could play this game. “But I do enjoy cooking with her, or rather for her.”
“Hope does love to feed me sweet little nibblings of whatever she’s making.”
“Will you ever make a cookbook with those?” Heidi asked.
“Oh! I hadn’t fully thought that one through yet.” Except she had. It just hadn’t been a priority lately. “I really should sit down and see if that’s something I’d be interested in pursuing.”
“I think everyone would love a sampling from Hope’s Kitchen,” Angelica said. “Don’t you think, Heidi?”
“Oh, yes. I know I’d be one of the first to get it. I’m always trying to find new recipes to try but ones that don’t take too much time and aren’t too complicated.”
Hope’s cheeks burned. She was going to have to make this cookbook, wasn’t she? There was no getting out of it now. She ran her forefinger and her thumb over her lower lip. “I’ll look into it. But no promises on if it’ll ever happen or not.”
“Fair. You do have the rest of the season to film.”
“We do!” Angelica said.
“Any hints on where you’re going next?”
Angelica’s lips curled upward as she looked at Hope. “We’re headed to the Rocky Mountains again. A bit further north than we did the last time, but it’ll be great to get back to the stunning beauty of the Rockies.”
“Oh yes,” Hope agreed. “I can’t wait for that.”
They finished out the interview with a direct call to watch their show, which Hope let Angelica handle, and then they walked off stage together.
But at the last minute, Angelica snagged her hand and squeezed tightly.
Once they were back in the green room, Hope stared down at their joined hands and sent Angelica a confused look.
“I thought you said no.”
“I said no on the way in, to be fair.” Angelica grinned at her.
“That went well,” Hope said.
“It did. Much better than I thought it would.” Angelica picked up her phone from the tabletop and unlocked it. She had a text message from Logan.
Hope was about to step away, when Angelica’s voice stopped her. “He dropped the defamation suit.”
“Already?” Hope furrowed her brow as Angelica held the phone up to show her. “I didn’t think he’d do that.”
“He might not have had a choice. He did say he was running low on funds and now he has to fight criminal charges. Add in that I’m not sure his lawyer would continue to take the case after the packet of evidence that was sent to them.”
Hope raised her eyebrows quickly before dropping them. “How do you feel about it?”
“Good, actually.” Angelica tapped a quick reply to Logan and then moved to focus on Hope again. “Pretty good.”
Hope’s lips pulled to the side slightly. “I had a thought while we were out there.”
“What’s that?” Angelica asked.
“That you and I need to join forces.”
“Haven’t we already done that?”
“No, I mean really join them. We own that show, Angel. Without us, Hotel Bombshell doesn’t exist. And we need to remind them of that. Let’s make this our show and no one else’s.”
Angelica’s lips parted slightly, the surprise echoing in her eyes. But she stilled, her breathing evening out. “Let me think about that one, will you?”
“We go back in nine days.”
“Uh-huh.” Angelica stepped toward the door. “And I’ll have an answer for you in eight.”
“Why eight?” Hope skipped a step to follow her quickly. But Angelica didn’t respond. “Angel? Why eight?” she asked again.
But Angelica just tossed a smirk over her shoulder as she headed out of the studio. That was the only answer Hope was going to receive.