Page 24 of Holly Jolly Cake Fight
She worked even harder on avoiding Laurin during the break, packing herself a lunch and snacks in the mess hall every morning before voyaging out into the wilderness, not returning until dusk. She’d have pitched a tent out there if she weren’t worried about a search party. At night, she stayed in her room despite the temperature drop, burying herself under a mountain of blankets so she wouldn’t have to sit by Laurin and the friends he’d quickly amassed.
She eavesdropped, though. She couldn’t help it. She was waiting for him to bring up the note she’d penned for him.
Incredibly, she never heard a peep about it, but she was now regretting helping him. If the judges were ladies, and he got to flash that smile at them? He’d steal Candace’s place right out from under her. If they were soccer fans and recognized him, it would be even worse; celebrities were always judged more leniently. It would have been better if she’d helped Glitter Greg instead and sent Laurin home.
She woke before dawn on Saturday morning, just like she always did, and found the swelling in her right hand had finally subsided. The knuckles were still raw, but the pain was mostly gone, so she flexed her fingers to warm them up and watched the sunrise from her bedroom window while she sipped a gas station Frappuccino. Sure, she’d prefer a real cup of coffee, but Laurin was in the kitchen.
Hard pass.
She changed her outfit several times, worrying that no matter how high the collar, everything was too close to the skirt/cardigan/lace bow combination that people now said was “too innocent” and “meant to fool everyone.” In reality, Candace had grown up in boarding schools. She was over a decade out from school, but her uniform was what she was still most comfortable in.
She settled on a dress instead, a sophisticated but classic lace boatneck in navy adorned with only a thin cream ribbon at the waist. She chose it because it was slightly longer than her skirts, landing right at the knee. Nothing at all immodest, no chance of someone accusing her of giving the camera a peek up her skirt if she had to get on a ladder.
Unfortunately, the dress didn’t pair well with the stockings her crazy Great-Aunt Miriam liked to knit her — no one else in the family would take the stockings, but Candace adored them — so she slathered a thick coat of foundation on her right leg to hide the tattoo there.
At the front door, she met up with Laurin. His eyes were as languid as ever in their perusal of her outfit, and Candace’s were quick in equal measure to glare — just so he wouldn’t get any false ideas about the glow she felt in her cheeks at the slow pan of his eyes. When he realized she’d caught him, he laughed in that easy, unshakable way of his, locked his elbow with hers, and led her to the third challenge.
Episode 3:
Wedding Cakes
Chapter 10
The pavilion hadgotten a major makeover during the break. The red and green decor from the first two challenges had been replaced by silver and gold, and the harsh spotlights that had roasted everyone during the cookie challenge now had sheets over them, softening the glow and cutting down on the glare from the metallic props. The entire room had been flipped around as well, so the contestants were now facing the wall that hid their break area. That wall had been the one with ten doors on the first day; it now had two.
Each door had a nice spray of crystal-tipped pine and silver bells above it, and each door had a heart-shaped wreath. When Jannie called for the judges to come out, no one was shocked to see a young couple standing behind the doors. They met at a spot marked with tape on the floor, and before Jannie and Kate could greet them properly, the man dipped the woman and kissed her passionately. The contestants laughed and applauded, although now Laurin knew what he’d always suspected about these moments: everyone felt awkward.
“This is Madison Graham and Ronnie Francis,” Kate announced, and the couple parted long enough to wave and blush suitably. “They’re getting married . . . today!”
Everyone cheered their congratulations, as was appropriate, but Laurin didn’t much care for the gimmick. If he ever did take that walk down the aisle, it wouldn’t be in front of cameras on a reality game show. How was this even going to work? Thiswas a Christmas show, and they were still five days out from Thanksgiving. Was this couple truly having a Christmas wedding in November?
“Now, the caterers are already busy as bees setting up for the reception,” Jannie said, “but they’ve forgotten the most important thing: the wedding cake!”
That got Laurin’s attention, both because he was all about making wedding cakes and because Candace, to his right, had slumped slightly. Candace didn’t have a good track record with this challenge. The one season that had been entirely devoted to them, she’d only made it to the third round, and that was by dumb luck of catastrophic mistakes by less seasoned competitors.
If Laurin considered squeezing Candace’s hand for comfort, it would be a pointless gesture. She was combating this risk by tucking her hands between her knees. It could have been a natural, thoughtless pose for her, but the glances he’d taken at her hand this morning showed that she was mending but not fully mended yet. The skin was still raw at the knuckles. It was unlikely this position was comfortable for her.
So be it. Laurin couldn’t help anyone who didn’t want to be helped. Had he spent the last couple days stressing out when the sun was already set before Candace returned from her daily outings? Yes. Had he found the best places in the cabin to casually hang out while having a clear view of both the front door and her bedroom, just so he could get a glimpse of her? Also yes. Had he woken up in the middle of the night last night in a cold sweat and with a throbbing erection after dreaming about her?
Unfortunately, yes. But he couldn’t waste any more of his thoughts on her than he already was.
He kept his attention on the couple in front of him, noticing little details of their clothing. The woman was in a dress of a similar cut to Candace’s, but it was a deep magenta and made of a slightly shimmery, possibly plastic material and trimmed with black marabou. She also wore black sequined shoes with a heel inappropriate for the terrain. Laurin could only assume she’d been carried by her fiancé from the golf cart to the paved pavilion.
The man paired well with her. The three-piece plaid suit he donned was very nearly a toned-down gray, very nearly respectable, and only slightly pushing the line of dated. It was ruined by a stripe that was too close to purple to be subdued, so instead, it came off as quirky. Laurin had a feeling the horn-rimmed glasses he wore were decorative. They both looked a fair bit younger than Laurin, mid-twenties, and were probably the life of every pop-up wine-and-cheese party in whatever hip gentrified city they hailed from.
“We want these two lovebirds to have the perfect wedding cake today,” Kate said after they’d given the cameramen enough time to catch everyone’s reaction, “So we want you all to do your very best to make a cake that matches the venue, the season, and most importantly, the couple! Unfortunately, their wedding ceremony is in . . .” She checked her watch dramatically. “One hour, so we don’t have a lot of time with them before they’re a little too preoccupied to sit for a consultation.”
“We want you guys to get as much time as possible to talk with them,” Jannie lied. Of course the more time they got, the more similar the cakes would be. Best to leave the contestants guessing. “We can only sit with them for fifteen minutes, so we’re going to split Madison and Ronnie up, and you will decide for yourselves if you would rather talk with her or him.”
The choice seemed obvious. Laurin hardly ever talked to the groom about wedding cakes. Usually, it was the bride and her family or friends. The grooms had joined the consultation via speakerphone more than once, and they rarely said anything more substantial than, “Whatever you’d like.”
“However,” Kate said sternly, “that fifteen minutes is for all of you. You will ask your questions round-robin style, and you will only get as many questions as we can fit in that time. So choose wisely.”
A nicely dressed crew member came out from the pantry with a cart that had seven chalkboards on it. They were distributed to the contestants as Jannie gave instructions to write down whether they wanted to interview Madison or Ronnie. Laurin had already decided before he got the board and quickly scrawled RONNIE on it. The bride surely had a clearer idea of what she wanted, but Laurin didn’t want to risk a bridezilla or chatty Cathy.
He held his board to his chest so no one could see it, and then Kate gave the command, and everyone spun their boards to the cameras.
“For Madison, we have Belle, Zara, Mark, Patty, and Harper,” Kate announced.
