Dana was standing near Holly and Walker.
“The Holbrooks are also donating,” Dana said with a toothy smile. “My cousins are very excited.”
“Of course they are.” I sighed.
Walker snickered. “Greg said he normally hates the dog-pound people, but he's giving money just to watch Owen fall!”
I looked down at the ice. I guessed we were going to test just how much cold I could withstand.
The counter ticked up another big jump.
“Eight hundred!” The crowd cheered.
“Do you think we should break the ice?” Holly asked in concern.
Walker looked up at me. “Owen’s a big guy. And he's high up. He'll just crash right through.”
“Thanks, Walker,” I said. It wasn't actually that bad outside. It was snowing, the flakes landing in my hair. There was another big jump, and the counter ticked to $930,000.
“Just a little more to go!” Holly said in excitement.
The counter crept up then made another big jump to $1.1 million.
The buzzer sounded, the chair collapsed, and I fell, cracking through the ice into the freezing water. It wasn’t that cold. It was actually pretty refreshing. I did a lap in the tank and waved to the camera.
“Geez, you're freezing!” Holly exclaimed when I climbed out of the pool and flashed a thumbs-up. The crowd roared.
“We have bourbon-spiked hot chocolate, very boozy eggnog, and mulled apple cider inside in the lobby if you all want to warm up,” Holly said into the microphone.
“Or you can take a refreshing swim,” I added, gesturing to the tank. “It will really get the circulation going.”
“Yeah, I don't think there are any takers,” Holly said as my brothers and sister pushed up to the front.
“He's a frostscicle,” Walker said. “Don't you want a blanket or a heater?”
“I feel fine,” I said. “Actually, really good. See?” I held out my hands. “My fingers aren’t even blue.”
“Maybe Mom was experimenting on you when you were a baby,” Jonathan joked.
I hugged Holly, and she shrieked when the droplets of freezing water landed on her neck.
“Your hair is coated in ice,” she said with a laugh, raking her hand through it.
“You can help warm me up,” I said, sticking my hands under her dress and making her scream.
59
Holly
It was the morning of the second-to-last episode ofThe Great Christmas Bake-Off.
Owen's money for the work on helping his company win theTechBizcontest had appeared in my bank account then immediately disappeared, filtering away into the ether of all my debt payments. I had been able to pay some of it to the storage facility, so they were going to hold my grandmother's items until the twenty-third of December. I hated to admit it, but I was starting to panic.
“I have to win,” I chanted to myself, trying to stay in the zone. There were three of us left. I couldn't believe Amber was still in the competition.
“There's something about Christmas,” Anastasia said when Dana gave her the signal, “that really sparks the romantic in me. And that's today's theme: romance—or rather the wedding that comes after. Today, each contestant is going to bake an elaborate winter wedding cake. To judge, we have two of the girls from the Weddings in the City collaborative, Zoey and Gracie. They plan, cater, and decorate the weddings of everyone who’s anyone in New York City. Care to give our contestants some tips?”
“The trick to a wedding cake,” Gracie said, “is that it needs to be visible from everywhere in the entire wedding venue, and that means lots and lots of tiers. The biggest cake I ever baked had twenty layers. You have giant ovens, which is good, because you'll need them.”
