Valentino’s
Cosmic Cooking
King of Tarts
Great Lakes’ Cakes
Flakey Layers
Grandma Lou’s
“There’s our name! We’re finalists,” Travis said, his fingers tapping the screen.
Relief spilled into her quivering stomach like a spring rain, and her heart skipped, sang, and performed a wild happy dance in her chest cavity. She shot from her chair, which fell to the floor with a loud thump, grabbed Travis’s hands, and jumped into the air, squealing like a kid on Christmas morning. “We did it. We did it. We did it.”
“What’s this we? You did all the work.”
“No.” Bethany turned to Travis, shaking her head. “Idon’t own Grandma Lou’s.Wedo. I couldn’t have worked on our entry without your help in the restaurant. It was a team effort. We did it together.”
“Whatever you say, Sis. I didn’t have a doubt we’d final, though.”
“At least we have a shot at the prize money.”
Her cell phone rang, and she checked the number, but she didn’t recognize it, so she silenced the ringer and let it go to voicemail.
“I don’t know how I’ll ever get to sleep tonight,” she said. “What if we celebrate our contest final with a glass of wine? That usually makes me sleepy.”
“Good idea. I’ll pour us each a glass. I think there’s still a bottle in the fridge.”
Bethany’s phone buzzed, indicating the caller had left avoicemail. She found the message and tapped the playback button.
“Hello. This is Francine Richmond from the Fresh & Easy baking company. Please call me at your earliest convenience. My number is...”
The phone slipped through her shaking hands and crashed to the floor.
