Hope finally turned to face the camera that Sy had, following her. “We’re in the middle of fixing the renovations that the owners had done about a year ago. They weren’t to code, and we needed to get them up to speed. Luckily, we found a company willing to work with us on our timeline. Poor Carrie has been up all night working her ass off to get this right.”
Hope plastered a smile on her face, one that she was sure didn’t reach her eyes, but her next sentence would make that make sense to all the viewers out there, if this even made the final cut of the episode.
“So, we’re here in the kitchen in the middle of the night working.” She laughed a little. “Because we have a week to turn this place around and get it on the right track.”
She moved to face the hood on the oven. That was the issue she was most afraid of not being fixed. Lighting was one issue, but if the hood wasn’t moved, then she would refuse to cook in the kitchen entirely.
“What they’re doing is moving the hood to where it needs to be. We also have to add in some floor trim, add in some lighting, and change the countertops.”
She hated feeling like she was talking to herself like this. She reminded herself to no end that she was talking to the audience,but it still felt awkward. Even in her morning cooking show, she hated it. When she had guests like Rachel, her sister, or Rex and Eva, it was so much easier. Hope rolled her shoulders and ducked around a ladder to get to the freezer.
“We’re cleaning out the freezer as well, making sure that everything is up to date and ready for us to relaunch the kitchen in twenty-four hours.” Hope lifted the tone of her voice to make herself sound way more excited than she actually was. “It’s been a long night, but we’re here to get work done. We need to save Opal Oasis, and Ms. Shields and I are burning the candles to get it done.”
What had she just said? Frowning to herself, Hope nodded at the camera and then at Sy. She really needed to stop this. She walked around the kitchen a bit more and then ducked out into the dining area. Sy stayed to get some more footage, but Hope couldn’t keep herself there. She needed to get her head on straight, coffee in her veins, otherwise she wasn’t going to make it through today.
Hope wandered through to the conference room where they had most of their stuff stored for the week, but no one was in there. Rightfully so, most people were still asleep. That or they were just waking up and getting ready for the day.
Sighing, she made her way into the next room over where Ansel had set up his station. She was already in her chef’s uniform. Some days she wanted a change of outfits, but then she looked at what Angelica had to wear and knew it was probably better to stick with her chef’s coat and a pair of pants. She wouldn’t fall on her face in non-slip tennis shoes either.
She smiled at that as she sat down in the chair and sipped the hot coffee. God, this stuff needed to have four more shots in it before she’d even feel close to human for the morning.
“Hope!” Ansel frowned at her. “You’re here early.”
“I had an early call.” Her voice was gravelly as she spoke. Clearly, the coffee wasn’t working as well as she wanted it to. “Didn’t you know?”
Ansel shook his head. “No.”
“Sorry. I’ll talk to Rex about that.” She wouldn’t. They had bigger fish to fry with conversations, but maybe someone else would talk to him so she wouldn’t have to. Someone from production. Typically that’d be Angelica, but she had to tell Angelica to steer as clear from Rex as possible for the next few days while they sorted things out, didn’t she?
“I’ll get you made up, then.”
“Take your time,” Hope called, not caring to have makeup plastered on her face to cover up the dark circles she no doubt had under her eyes. It might take every trick in Ansel’s book to cover those up today. “I’ve got time to wait you out.”
Ansel moved over to the counter and started setting up, turning on light music so that Hope wasn’t just sitting in silence. He tried a few times to start a conversation with her, but Hope didn’t have the energy or the brain power to carry on anything that resembled coherent sentences.
“Morning,” Angelica said as she stepped into the room.
Hope’s back stiffened immediately. She looked up at Angelica, empty coffee mug against her knee, and her lips parted in surprise. Angelica halted her forward motion, her gaze dropping to Hope’s face and then her hands and back up. She cocked her head to the side, lips slightly parted, and sighed lightly.
“Would you like more coffee?” Angelica asked.
“Hell yes,” Hope whispered.
“I’ve got you.” Angelica’s lips pulled tight, and she disappeared again.
Hope had no idea where she was going. Using her brain was such a slog right now. Ansel clicked his tongue at her and then tilted her face upward into the light.
“Did you sleep at all last night?” Angelica murmured quietly.
“No,” Hope answered. “No, I didn’t.”
Chapter
Nineteen
Angelica sat with Mrs. Jordanger, waiting for Hope to arrive. Hope had looked exhausted that morning, like she hadn’t slept in a week. And perhaps she hadn’t slept all night, but the weariness and edge to her voice had made Angelica want to hug and kiss her right there.
Instead, she was sitting in a room with Paris, waiting for Mr. SD Jordanger and Hope to arrive after checking on the kitchen. Again. This entire scene had been Rex’s idea, but he hadn’t shown up yet.
