She was wringing her hands while staring at the judges, who had finished with her dish. “You really think so? Maybe they were only being polite.”
I snorted, the sound escaping before I could get a hold of my mouth. “They are so far from polite, they wouldn’t even know what polite was if it knocked on their door. But at least you know if they like something, it must be pretty spectacular. Save me a piece.”
Mae looked less freaked out and even managed a tentative smile. “I’ll even go so far as to give you the recipe.”
I put my hands on my heart, my eyes wide. “I knew it was real between us. Let’s escape to Vegas and get married.”
A tinkling laugh escaped her before her face sobered. “But honestly, I don’t think I would have gotten this far without you.”
I waved her off. “Of course you would have. You’re a brilliant baker. And we help each other out. Don’t even mention it.”
She raised a brow at me. “When have I ever had to help you out?”
“You help me all the time.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Name one example.”
I pursed my lips, thinking there must have been at least one occasion. I asked other people for help all the time, even if I couldn’t remember right at this moment when the last time was.
“Ha, see, you can’t even think of one instance when you needed my help. If anyone is a brilliant baker, it’s you. And I haven’t seen you so much as tremble the entire time you’ve been here.”
“My acting skills are just better than yours.”
The judges moved on, and I pointed to my station. “I better get back. It’s my turn after they’re done with Goldie.”
She was one of the other contestants, and her baking was out there. I loved it, but I wasn’t sure how much more the judges could take. Goldie was only still on the show because Nina Davigne and the audience loved her.
Mae disappeared back to her station when the judges made their way to me.
“Rayna, what do you have for us today?” Hans asked.
“Coffee crunch cupcakes.”
He raised a brow at my short answer, and heat rose to my cheeks. “I’ve been working on the recipe for years. Well, I work on improving all my recipes. But this is the one that hasn’t changed in a while. It’s also our bestseller at the bakery. We sell out most days, and it’s always hard to tell what’s the most popular thing. But it usually sells out first, so I figured it was safe to say it’s the most popular.”
I mentally slapped myself to stop the words from coming out of my mouth.
Nina stepped forward, eyeing my creations. “Let’s give it a try, shall we?”
Hans followed, selecting a cupcake. I watched him take a big bite, his face expressionless. Nina joined, her bite more tentative. She wore a size zero, and I wondered how many hours she had to add to her daily workout to stay as slim as she was after tasting all the baked goods.
“The meringue adds a nice little extra punch to it, doesn’t it?” Callum mused, taking another bite.
“Nice subtle coffee flavor. Not too overpowering, but it’s there,” Hans chimed in.
“Too rich for me,” Nina decided. And the unimpressed expression she wore made my stomach tie itself into knots. She spat her bite into a bucket, and I had my answer about how she stayed so slim.
She’d been the hardest one to impress. But I guess if you existed on a diet of lettuce leaves, anything with calories would send your stomach into a tailspin.
I kept chanting the Dalai Lama’s words “Choose to be optimistic. It feels better” in my head, but it didn’t help to make me feel better at all.
The judges lined up at the front after they finished with me. I’d been the last person to be judged, and after a quick chat, they had decided.
Ezra did his presenter thing, and I suppressed a yawn. The camera filmed our faces, and it took all I had not to look as unsettled as I felt. They liked drama, so I figured a freaked expression would make them happy.
“And the person going home today is….” Ezra paused, looking at each of us. “Charlie.”
I cringed and closed my eyes for a moment. Charlie had been there for me throughout the entire show. And after he got the hint that I wasn’t interested in more, we’d settled into an easy friendship.
