Page 72 of Baking and Angels

“She’s taking it away from me,” he growled.

“Eleanor? I wouldn’t say that. It looks like you two will be neck and neck. I’m tempted to ask for a plate recount just to be absolutely sure,” Scarlet noted.

“Not her.”

Scarlet went quiet for a moment before saying, “And how is Helena taking this away from you, exactly? If anything, I would say she is doing all of thisforyou.”

“It’s not my victory if she helps me. Then what am I really doing all ofthis for?”

“Me,” Scarlet said, pinning him with a sharp stare. “That’s what you both told me. You were doing this for me. To help me. Because everyone wants to help me.” There was a twinge of contempt at the end of her laststatement.

“I made a mistake,” he snapped, then closed his eyes, already regretting saying that out loud. “Apologies, lady. I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I feel it, but there are no… right words for it.”

“Maybe you’re thinking of moving on, now that you have your second chance at life,” Scarlet said.

His heart sped up at that statement. “No,” he said with a sharp shake ofhis head.

“Helena is not the woman you knew anymore, is she? And she’s not what you want now. But you don’t know how to say good-bye and let her go, and that terrifies you, because it’s what you really want, isn’t it? You want to let him go.”

Rafferty blinked as he caught the pronoun shift.

Scarlet didn’t seem to realize it. She wasn’t even looking at him anymore. Her gaze was long and far away. A second later, she snapped back to herself, then she swallowed down what was left of her wine as if to wash the words out ofher mouth.

The two of them were like a weighted island of silence in a sea of laughter and chattering.

Eleanor shone in this environment. People were still gathered around her, watching her work. She had been going at it full tilt and showed no sign of slowing. She was energized by all this, her cooking and her social nature merging seamlessly before her audience. She was exciting and vibrant to watch. A goddess of cooking.

“I did not consider my making the dish as part of the… performance. To attract the people to my food, not just by making it look tasty, but involving them in the process of making it.” He shook his head. “This is too different a world for me. I’m used to being a faceless, behind-the-scenes player. My cooking is my only communication with myaudience.”

And it was true. Over at his station, a small crowd was gathered, eating and commenting on his works. They seemed very pleased, but the space behind his table, where he should have been standing, was empty. And the void he should have been filling seemed to be occupiedby Helena.

She led another small group over and handed them each a plate of his pie, the last plates on the table. Her face practically glowed as she talked and laughed with everyone hovering around her. Like a queen bee in the middle of her buzzing hive.

Vassago’s words rang in his ears.“Ah, I see, she’s got her hooks into you, hasn’t she?”

His old self would admire her work. She was pulling off a subtle trick, gathering the people around her, sipping off of their essences. Sustaining herself with their energy, willingly, if unwittingly given. His stomach twisted again as he watched her, even as he felt jealous that such a skill came so easily to her. It had taken him ages of nearly starving, rationing his power, until he could get his payoff before he realized he could do this trick.

It felt like she was cheatingthe game.

“This world is not the one I know.”

“And you think you’re the only one that feels that way,” Scarlet said dryly. He blinked, unsure if he understood what the woman beside him was saying, but her gaze was also on Helena. Strangely, Scarlet was wavering on her feet. Then the noble lady stumbled a little, spilling a little of her drink, before resetting herself, compensating her unsteadiness with unnatural stillness. She had had more to drink than he realized. “If there is one…damnthing… I have learned from Yosef, that took me a lifetime to understand, that he just knew so naturally… there is nothing wrong with letting the people love you andhelp you.”

It felt like a slap of cold water, settling his anger back from raging fire to seething coals.

With a very focused, slow walk, she went back to her table, leaving him with that unhelpful advice.

Chapter 28

Home

Again

“Oh my Heavens, did you see Mr. Tirrell’s face!” Helena crowed as they exited the elevator on their floor. “It was everything I could do not to chew on my nails; I was so nervous. But you did it! We won!” She hugged him again around the shoulders, inhibiting his ability to pull their room key out of his pocket. Giggling and wiggling, she did not let go until they were almost to their door. “Also, your dish was soooo good! I was nervous when you did the pie thing, but it came out so tasty, I about lost my mind. Oh, I should call Cindy and tell her that we won the contest! I was texting her the whole time and…”

Helena came up short, just as he managed to tap the key to the door reader, another bit of modern magic he wasn’t entirely sure hadn’t come about via demonicinfluence.

As angry as he was at her, he had managed to tamp it down into hot burning coals in his stomach, until he figured out how to deal with it. So, his voice sounded mildly concerned when he asked her, “What is it?”

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