“An icing bag erupted in an awfully suggestive way.”Vanessa’s eyes danced with laughter.
Sure enough, icing had spurted over the edge of a bag and gotten on both characters.“I told you you were holding it wrong,” the vaguely familiar-looking guy was saying.
“And you’re a pro baker?”Quinn’s character parried back.
He stepped forward to try to adjust her grip, but only succeeded in shooting icing onto her apron.He smirked, and she retaliated by raising a frosting-covered hand and swiping it across his nose.
By the end of a scene that had devolved into a food fight, the two had both frosting and big smiles on their faces.“You missed a spot,” the hero said as Quinn scrubbed her face.“Let me.”
He took the cloth and gently dabbed at her face.Soon, the last of the icing was gone, but neither of them pulled away.Their smiles faded as they seemed to realize how close they were standing.
For Misty, the scene brought back a thousand memories.Facing each other in the pool.Getting whipped cream on her face at dinner with Spencer.Spencer drying her off after the shower.That spontaneous hug that had led to so much more.
Unable to take it anymore, she stood up.“I have to go.Sorry.”
Tallulah looked up from the movie.“What’s wrong?”
She thought fast.“My psych interview was in the middle of the cardio session, and I didn’t get to run enough today.”
Marla swallowed a bite of chocolate mousse.“And you want tonow?You’ll miss the rest of the movie.”
“I already know how it ends.They fall in love, do something unprecedented in the competition, he starts the foundation, and her family’s firm works with the kids who are a part of it.Like you said, tale as old as time.”This was a brand-new made-for-TV holiday movie, but she’d seen enough of them to know that such a scenario was likeliest to play out.
“Hey, no spoilers!”Vanessa protested.
Tallulah held up a veritable rainbow of packets.“But we were going to do sheet masks after!Please stay.”
“I can’t.I’m sorry.”
Her voice cracked as she fled, and Misty fought tears the whole way back to her room.Why had she thought watching a movie with even the slightest romantic plot was a good idea?Wearing herself out for the evening had always been the way to go.
After enough time had passed that she theoretically wouldn’t get a cramp from the food and booze, she changed into workout gear.The hotel gym was pretty empty, but Eva was chucking medicine balls hard enough to shake the floor, and Tish was on a treadmill.She had a K-drama on her tablet but popped an earbud out at the sight of Misty.“What are you doing here?”
“Playing Skee-Ball, what does it look like?”she said curtly, stepping on the elliptical.“But seriously, I need to pick up speed.”
She programmed in her usual settings, then pumped it up a notch.It would do nothing but help her on the track, and she lost herself in the motion of her arms and legs.Time and the rest of the room fell away around her.
“You coming up?”Tish was standing in front of her with her earbuds put away.
“Done...already?”The question came out in pants.
“I was ten minutes into that episode when you got here, and that should be enough to keep me sharp for tomorrow morning’s run.”
“Well, I need...more.”
Tish looked concerned.“Any more and you’ll wear yourself out too much to do well tomorrow.”
“No...I got this...See?”She started into a few notes of the song playing in the gym, but could only get through a few words at a time.Spencer’s advice about singing as a gauge of how tough a workout was came back to her.That was the day they’d started to get to know each other better, and the memory threatened to cancel out any endorphins the session might have generated.She felt her shoulders slumping and her energy flagging.
“I see someone heading toward burnout if she keeps this up.”
“Burnout...what’s burnout?Isn’t this what you need...a machine...that wears boring crap...and just keeps going...and going...”
Tish leaned over to hit the “Emergency Stop” button.Misty startled as the machine slowed under her feet.“What was that for?”She furiously pedaled, but it didn’t start up again.
“Getting your attention.I think you should come with me.”
“Where?”
