Hartleigh was the first to present, and Anu and Nick seemed to think her dessert was passable. She made a set of little miniature cakes, which I said I hated on principle.
"It's bland," I told Hartleigh. "And boring. You had an entire day to make twelve desserts. These are all just cakes."
"Yes, Jack, but they're different," she said.
"Not that different," I replied, pushing away the plate. "It's not impressive."
She should have been sent home, but unfortunately Maria hadn’t even finished her dish. She presented us with three little pastries each.
"I really like them," I told her. She looked like she was going to cry any minute.
"So there was a fire," Nick stated.
"Yes," Maria replied. "Most of my desserts were ruined."
"I sympathize, I really do," Anu said. "It can be chaotic in the kitchen, but you can't fall apart. You have to pivot and keep going. What you made is very good, but you didn't complete the challenge."
Chloe presented us with little spoons each holding a bite of dessert. I thought it was very clever.
"This is very good," Nick said after tasting each one. "I believe you also lost several hours of work in the fire."
"Yes," Chloe said, "unfortunately."
"I wish we could have tasted what you had planned," Anu said. "Your array of sampling is smart, but it needed some more salty, fried types of foods to offset these softer, sweeter foods."
"I completely agree," said Chloe.
"Nina's dish was most complete, I think," Nick said after we sampled Nina's shot-glass dessert samples.
"I like the way she used the shot glasses, but not everything was like a parfait," Anu remarked. "Some desserts were balanced on top of the glass, some on a skewer in the glass. It was a nice way to present it, and everything was well done. There was a balance of flavor and texture."
Nina was declared the winner, and Maria was sent home. Chloe hugged her as we told her the news.
"I'm sorry, Maria. You're a great pastry chef," Anu said, "but you can't lose your head. Bad things will happen, that's just life. You have to shrug it off and just keep baking."
Maria nodded, and we all shook her hand.
In the lobby outside of the studio afterward, I wrapped my arms around Chloe.
"Come upstairs when you're done," I told her.
"Okay," she murmured. I could still smell burnt sugar in her hair.
"I'm so tired," Chloe groaned when I let her into my apartment.
I picked her up, kissing her. "You had a hard day," I said and carried her into the bathroom.
"You're the best," she told me, punctuating the words with kisses. When she saw the tub filled up, she immediately stripped and stepped into the warm water.
I wanted her, but she seemed like she wanted to relax.
"I'm having my engineers look at the fryer," I told her. Her face had a sour look for a moment. I smoothed out her features, running my fingers lightly over her face. I would never get tired of having her in my penthouse.
Chloe half dozed as she soaked in the bath. I kissed her in between running my hands over her temples and shoulders. Every so often, I would let one hand go farther down, caressing her breast.
When the water started to cool, I wrapped Chloe up in a blanket, and she sat on my couch drying her hair. I had sushi and a yakitori noodle dish ordered in.
"Sorry Liam ate all the desserts you made," I said as I unpacked the bag of food Eddie had delivered, "but there's Japanese food."
