Page 81 of Holly Jolly Cake Fight
And it wasn’t quiet on the set. The applause light lit up immediately, and when that was too timid, Kate turned to the crowd to hype them up. By the time the cameras started rolling, everyone was screaming and lights were spinning, and the peaceful atmosphere of the set had turned to chaos. It got a laugh out of Candace, so it was worth it when the hype proved to be too much.
“Are you guys ready to find out who won the Food2Love Christmas Spectacular?” Jannie yelled, and although Laurin heard it fine — as did the audience, obviously — the sound guy in the soundproof headphones gestured that it didn’t come through on the mic. So Jannie again yelled, “Are you guys ready to find out who won the Food2Love Christmas Spectacular?” and again before the sound guy gave a weak gesture like it had been picked up but not clearly. A final, “I said, are you readaaaaaaay?” and finally got the thumbs up.
Several crew members gestured frantically for the audience to settle down, and after the next thumbs up, Kate finally moved on. “Well, this season certainly has seen its ups and downs.” She grinned mischievously and said, “We had our fair share of disasters.”
“Like dropped tree toppers?” Jannie suggested.
“And nearly-dropped cakes,” Kate countered.
Jannie was quick with the deflection, though, with, “And let’s not forget the inedible glitter!”
Kate laughed. “How could anybody?”
“We also had some incredible surprises.”
“Like two rookies making it to semi-finals!” Kate gestured to both Laurin and Zara, who was standing with the other eliminated contestants behind the finalists.
“My new favorite Christmas menu,” said Jannie.
“And some new friendships.”
Jannie nodded in agreement. “A lot of faces here I’ll be sad to say goodbye to and can’t wait to say hello to again. You were all incredible, every one of you.”
Laurin felt Candace’s hand tighten on his. It was a little thing, but little things added up.
“Ooh, you had time to print up results?” Kate asked as a festively dressed crew member handed an envelope to Jannie and nodded way too hard, her eyes terrified. It wouldn’t have looked so weird if Jordyn-With-a-Y wasn’t just out of frame glaring daggers at Kate as the grip whispered something in Jannie’s ear. Nothing was written on the card in the envelope. Laurin could tell from the way her eyes lit up before she ever opened it that she knew the winner.
And that light in her eyes told Laurin who the winner was, too, so he was already beaming by the time Jannie ripped the envelope open, said, “And the winner is . . .” plucked the blank card out, and yelled, “Candace Coale!”
Candace and Laurin spun to each other, and Laurin said, “I’m so proud of you!” as Candace said, “You did it!”
And then they both said, “What?”
Candace said, “You won! Congratulations!”
“Candace. Bonbon. You won.” She was already shaking her head, so Laurin added, “You’re Candace Coale, not me. That’s your name.”
“No. I didn’t win.”
“Cut!” Mike yelled over the loudspeaker. “We have seven minutes, people. Seven minutes until we run out of delay and will be airing in real time. Seven minutes.” Each time he said seven minutes, his voice hitched up an octave. “The entire world is going to find out who won in seven minutes, and you will all be ready and smiling and understanding what is being said and in tears, so help me God!” He ended with a screeching, “I will not have your personal shit dicking it all up!”
“Candace,” Laurin said more patiently. “You won. You did.”
“But yours is better,” Candace said voicelessly.
“It’s not.”
“You need that money for the bakery.”
“You need it to live. Your apartment is like some ridiculous IKEA tiny-living model.”
“I didn’t want you to see—” Candace started even more softly, only to be cut off.
“Quiet on the set unless you want me to drive my ass all the way up to Jasper, and you do not want that!”
Well, that solved one long-standing mystery. Mike wasn’t on site. He was probably at the corporate office.
Jannie was given another envelope, but this time, when Jannie yelled, “Candace Coale!” everyone stayed dead silent for a second, finally jumping in with gentle golf claps and the fakest, most terrified smile imaginable from Candace.
