Evan looked thoughtful.
"It would be a great way to kick-start the digital brand!" Penny said excitedly. "But we would need double the drama from what was in the last season."
"Oh, there will be drama," Gunnar assured her. I knew he was about to launch into his pitch. "We’re going to have crazy contestants, more baked goods than you can possibly eat, and a Frost brother."
"Which Frost brother?" Penny said with a laugh.
"Belle is throwing Owen under the bus. She said she was planning on doing it anyway, for ratings," Gunnar replied.
"If I’m going to be working on it, you should make a guest appearance," Penny suggested.
"We’ll see. I don’t do well on TV."
"But you did so well in the play!"
"Some Svensson brothers will be there," Gunnar told Penny, "in some capacity."
"I think we could pitch that to advertisers," Evan said, nodding. "What do you think, Penny? Are you on board?"
"Ah—" She glanced my way.
"Don’t look at me," I said. "It's your job. I’ll support you in whatever decision you make."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. Besides, someone over there has to run things properly. And it may be good for our family to have someone who runs an international magazine."
"Great!" Penny said. "I accept. I have a ton of ideas that will make this super awesome!"
"Let’s schedule a meeting for next week."
* * *
"All’s well that ends well,"Archer said. Evan and Sebastian had left after hashing out more details of theGreat Christmas Bake-Offwith Gunnar and Penny. "My work here is done."
"You literally did nothing," Hunter said.
"Is there any pizza left?" he asked, rummaging through the empty boxes.
"Can we please have a ride back to the house?" Morticia said with an exaggerated sigh. "Otherwise we're taking the hearse and stranding you here."
"I don’t know if it ends well yet," I reminded my family. "There’s still the issue of the land."
"You said you had it figured out," Penny said.
"Uh." My brothers and I looked at each other.
"We do in spirit," Archer said.
"We need Sebastian to sell us the company," Greg said, "so you all need to figure something out in the next five hours."
"It’s going to be a long night," Mace said. He handed me my iced coffee. "This is watery, but I know it's the only kind of coffee you drink."
Penny's face lit up when she saw the cup. "I think I might have an idea!"
81
Penny
