Page 87 of Holly Jolly Cake Fight
“You thought I was some random guy named Robert,” Rob/Mike/Michael laughed. “How could you have possibly made that connection?”
Laurin felt a rock sink in his gut. This whole time, he’d been focused on what he’d need to do for Candace if this meetingcrushed her, but now he was feeling like he did at every single doctor’s appointment after his career ended, that moment the doctor would look at the X-rays and then back at him with a defeated look in their eyes.
“You’re the reason I was on the show,” Laurin muttered. Of course. He’d worried from the beginning that he’d been selected for looks over ability, but this was so much worse. He was selected out of pity.
“No, absolutely not,” Michael said firmly as Candace grabbed Laurin’s hand and gave it a strong, comforting squeeze. “I’m the reason your entry made it to the selection committee’s desk, but that put you in a pool of almost a hundred candidates to fill the five rookie spots. All I did was make sure you had a chance.”
Laurin looked down at Candace’s hand, so much smaller than his own but still strong.
“I will, however, take all the credit for this,” Mike said glibly. “There are already seven thousand signatures on a petition to give you two your own show.”
Candace’s grip tightened on Laurin’s hand as she did her best — failing miserably — to casually ask, “Will you be giving us our own show? Not that I would know how that would even be possible, but . . .”
A devious sort of smile twisted Mike’s lips as she trailed off. “Let’s take care of more pressing matters first, shall we?”
Laurin and Candace remained where they were but watched intently as Mike went to his desk, fished out a few small slips of paper, and scrawled something on both. From the corner of his eye, Laurin noticed that Candace’s lip was twitching as though she understood exactly what was happening, but Mike was already returning before Laurin could ask.
“You’re lucky I was prepared for the two of you to make this more complicated,” Mike told her as he handed her one slip of paper. Laurin couldn’t see what was written on it, but even catching only a glimpse of it as Candace tucked it into an envelope, he could tell now that it was a check. “It’s not like I just have these in my drawer in general. And this is for you.”
Laurin could tell what it was as he accepted the second check — it was made out to Laurin Delavigne, after all — but it was far too much. “The second-place bonus is only ten k,” he argued. “This is first place.”
“You two are disgustingly honest,” Mike chided. “You know that? Candace has asked that I give the grand prize to you. You should thank her.”
Laurin hopped to his feet and thrust the slip at her instead. “Absolutely not.”
She leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs neatly, folding her hands over her knee. She wasn’t quite the Candace the world saw on the semi-annual baking competitions, her trademark stockings black, her garishly yellow and green checked dress hanging all the way to her knees, her black cardigan more utilitarian than stylish, but she looked as prim and proper as ever in the pose. “It’s my decision, not yours. You need it for the bakery.”
This cool and collected — had she plotted this all along? — Candace pushed Laurin’s buttons just right that he was the one to lose his head this time. “You need it to live, Candace! I can’t take this from you!”
“Yes, you can,” Candace insisted. “I’m going to take your prize instead.”
“That’s not enough!” Laurin barked out.
“And that’s not all he’s giving me,” Candace said with a tone and a glimmer in her eyes that made Laurin feel like she thought this was really funny, and he was overreacting. But he wasn’t, and he suddenly felt very trapped, needing to show her she was being ridiculous but knowing she wouldn’t take kindly to it. “We’re settling the incident with Lucas.”
“Do I get to punch him?”
“No!” She had the audacity to look at Mike with a roll of her eyes. She did think he was overreacting. “He’s gotten it in his head that he needs to punch Lucas.”
The only thing that kept Laurin from losing his temper was Mike’s sage words of, “He’s not the only one.”
See? He wasn’t crazy.
Candace waved the envelope she’d tucked the check into. “A settlement. A generous one.”
“A million dollars,” he demanded without concern for what it actually was. She deserved a million dollars.
“Laurin,” she said with such admonishment that clearly it wasn’t even close to that million dollars.
He spun on Mike, reaching for his collar as he said, “You give her a million dollars, or I’ll—”
He didn’t get to finish his threat, something he was going to make up on the fly and would probably be dumb and punching-related, before Candace yanked him right back. “Oh no, you don’t,” she said sternly. “What he’s offered me, without any complaint of my own, is more than generous. It will be enough to hold me over, whatever I decide to do.”
Whatever I decide to do.Well, he was going to help her decide right now, because this shouldn’t have been something they were even arguing about. It wasn’t going to matter.
He pulled a box out of his pocket, fumbling it and nearly dropping it, going to his knees to catch it.
“Oh my God, no,” Candace gasped.
