A million but none she thought she’d get the answers for tonight.
“Good. We’ll see everyone in the morning. As always, good luck.”
Jack left the room and as soon as he did there was muttering from everyone.
“New York...have you been back since the visit with your mother?” Remy asked her.
“No. Unless you count a stop-over when I flew to Paris. But I didn’t leave JFK so I don’t think anyone would count that,” she said. She wondered who the guest judges would be but now that Jack was gone, she wanted to get back to her room and have some time alone.
“I was just there before I came out here to audition. Should be nice to be back there,” he said.
“I’m sure it will be. I’m going to pack and get ready for bed,” she said.
“I’ll walk up with you.”
She shook her head. “Gossip.”
“Everyone here knows you two hooked up,” Sarah called out. “It’s no big deal and kind of sweet.”
Staci groaned. “Fine. You can walk up with me.”
Remy laughed but she knew his mind wasn’t on this house. “Are you worried about New York?”
He shook his head. “Just not sure who the guest judges will be. It bothers me that they didn’t tell us who they are.”
“Why?”
“There are some chefs I’d rather not see,” he said.
“Bad blood?” she asked. The gourmet cooking world was full of its share of...well, divas for lack of a better word. Prima donnas who’d always been told they were the best and had rarely heard the word no. In a way that was what Jean-Luc Renard had been. But Staci had been young and he’d been so passionate that she’d easily mistaken lust for love.
She was only now realizing how mistaken she’d been about her ex. The feelings that she had for Remy were a hundred times more powerful than those she’d had for Jean-Luc.
That should upset her more than it did. Remy seemed distracted as he sat quietly in her room. Something was obviously bothering him.
“Sort of,” he said at last. “I just don’t know if I’m imagining trouble where there will be none or what.”
That sounded vaguely ominous. She wondered what kind of trouble he was talking about and reminded herself she only knew about Remy based on what he’d told her. She wanted to believe he was the man he’d shown himself to be but what if he was doing something to fool her.
“Want to talk about it?” she asked. “I’m told that I am a really good listener.”
“I can see that. One of the things I’ve noticed about you during the competition is how adept you are at helping theother contestants. And that comes from paying attention to people.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” she said. “That’s also how I know what is going on with people. If you pay attention to people they can’t shock you.”
“Truly?” he asked. “Does that work?”
“Usually...so do you want to talk about whatever is on your mind?”
“No.”
“Well that was definitive,” she said. “I’d say that you are afraid of something or someone. Am I right?”
“Perhaps,” he said. “But if that were true I’d never admit it to the one chef in this competition who could actually beat me.”
“You think I could win?” she asked, interested to hear what he thought unguarded about her cooking. It was the one thing that she thought really defined her.
“Yes. You know you could, too.”
