The crew were waiting for them as well and soon they were all miked and had make-up applied.
“Okay, guys, I hope you’re all ready for some fun in The Big Apple,” Fatima said. “You will be taken to the Time Square Marriott Marquis where you will drop your bags at the desk and have one hour to shop for food that represents the excitement of this trip and how you feel about having made it to the last half of the show.
“You will then have thirty minutes to cook your dish in the Marquis’s convention kitchen. Are you ready
to go?”
“Yes!” Staci shouted along with the other remaining contestants.
They were divided into groups, Remy in a different opposite one than she and then they headed to Times Square. They had been given directions to a Whole Foods market and sent to buy their ingredients. Staci tried to get close to Remy but he was in competition mode and she decided she should be, too.
She hadn’t let him influence her this much since the first week of competition and she had decided that for the rest of the competition she would go back to making cooking her priority. She let the essence and vibe of the city sink into her soul as she walked to the grocery store and back. When she was in the kitchen and directed to her work station she started preparing her dish in her head. Going over each step in her mind since she’d only have thirty minutes to actually cook.
Fatima and Jack were there as they were all once again made presentable for the cameras and told to get ready to meet the guest judge. Staci hoped it was Bobby Flay or someone equally famous. She couldn’t have been more shocked than when Jean-Luc Renard entered the kitchen. The guest judge was definitely someone she’d heard of.
She felt all the blood rush from her body and literally felt faint. Oh no, why hadn’t she anticipated this?
Everyone was talking and she quickly raised her hand. “Jack, I need a minute.”
“Cut,” the director yelled.
Everyone was staring at her. She knew there was no graceful way to do what needed to be done. Jack came over to her station but Jean-Luc had already noticed her.
“Ma petite, Staci. Good to see you again,” he said in his slightly accented French.
“You know Chef Renard?” Jack asked.
“Yes. I’m sorry I wasn’t sure if you needed to know that before we started cooking for this challenge,” Staci said.
“Thanks for letting us know. I will talk to the other judges and our producers and get back to you. Everyone please go to the temporary green room,” he said.
They all filed out of the kitchen and Staci was careful not to meet anyone’s eyes, but as they reached the doorway, Remy took her arm and drew her to a halt.
“That’s the man from your past?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Why didn’t you say?” he asked. “I was thinking your ex-lover was some?—”
“Why does it matter?”
“Now I understand more what you meant by how he ruined cooking for you. Are you going to be okay cooking for him?”
“Yes,” she said and realized it was true. A few weeks agoher answer might have been different but now all Jean-Luc was to her was an old boyfriend, nothing more. He didn’t have the effect on her that he had previously. “I really am.”
“Good. I’m still going to beat you,” he said gesturing for her to enter the green room.
“I don’t think so, southern man. I’ve got a dish planned that’s going to blow the judges away.”
“That’s all well and good, Staci, but how do you know Chef Renard?” Quinn asked. “Doesn’t seem fair if you have the advantage.”
“I worked under him at his restaurant in Paris almost six years ago. We had a brief fling and I left,” she said. It was easier for her to talk about the past if she just dealt it out in facts. No one would know that Jean-Luc had broken her heart when he’d dumped her to start an affair with the new pastry chef. Or at least, she hoped they wouldn’t. It was hard enough to be on her A-game cooking against Remy—who she definitely had feelings for and knowing she’d be judged by Jean-Luc.
“Well, that’s interesting,” Whit said. “I guess you had more of a surprise than the rest of us when he walked through the door. I didn’t even know who he was.”
“He’s one of the best chefs in the world,” Staci said.
“Figures they’d get someone French. I think the next competition is going to be working in Ramsfeld’s restaurant here,” Christian said. “He’s the only judge with a kitchen here. And his new menu is French cuisine inspired.”
