The upstairs confessional is just as warm and inviting as before. I settle onto the couch, sipping from the wineglass I brought with me.
“So.” Joe clears his throat, and I notice it’s just the two of us in the room this time.
“So?” I echo, taking another sip.
“We want to get everyone’s reaction to the other contestants. We got a few earlier, but I thought we should do yours tonight, given how the day went. Tell me about Alex. You seem to have cozied up to him pretty quickly.”
I choke a little on my wine. “Oh! Um…”
“Be honest,” he says with a smile. “There’s no right or wrong answer here. Just the truth.”
“This feels like a trap of some kind.”
Joe laughs again. “It’s curiosity.The audienceis curious.”
I glance down at my wine, turning the glass slightly as I think. I doubt they want to hear about how his laugh feels like sunlight cracking through a storm. They’re asking about him as a competitor. Notthat.
“Okay,” I relent, understanding what they’re looking for. “Alex is…” I trail off, searching for a truthful word that won’t sound mean later.
“Terrifying.” I land on finally.
Joe perks up. “Terrifying how?”
“He’s just… so serious. All the time. But he’s also unshakeable. I swear a bomb could go off at the station next to him, and he’d just be standing there, calmly folding egg whites into his cake batter.”
Joe snorts, motioning for me to continue.
“And he’s incredibly talented. Like, unfairly so. But he never looks like he’s having fun, you know?”
Joe tilts his head, eyes glinting. “Interesting.”
“He’s kind of like a robot in an apron,” I add, smiling into my glass as an image of Alex moving methodically around his station surface. “Which I mean affectionately, of course.”
Joe’s grin turns knowing. “That’s good TV.”
“Is it?” I ask, looking up past the camera at him.
“Oh yeah.”
When Joe escorts me back downstairs, the party has carried on without me, like it didn’t even notice I was gone. He casually refills my wine glass before grabbing a beer from the fridge, flashing me a quick wink.
“Have fun tonight. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.”
I don’t notice Alex watching us. But when I say goodbye to Joe and glance his way again, his eyes flick away too fast. I sigh, deflated. Back to cold indifference, I suppose.
The night stretches on, drinks loosening tongues with every passing minute. Chloe starts a debate with Kahlil over whether brownies should be fudgy or cakey, which gets surprisingly heated. Ace flirts witheveryone, indiscriminately, like he’s been training his whole life for this very moment. He even flirts with Diane, who could easily be his grandma.
“I’m telling you,” Ace says, arms stretched wide across the back of the couch, “I thrive in environments with attractive women and low emotional stakes. This is way better than when I was onThe Love Gauntlet.”
“Is that why you’re here, then?” Diane asks, clearly not enamored by his charm.
He winks at her anyway. “One of many reasons.”
The night begins to wind down, and I settle into an oversized chair in the corner with RaeAnn and Jasper, both of whom have had more than their fair share to drink.
“I don’t know if I should be saying anything,” RaeAnn whispers, leaning in, “but I recognize Lila. She has a massive following on social media. That’s weird, right? Not exactly a home baker at that point.”
“I mean,” Jasper murmurs, “Brandon definitely isn’t, either. Did you see his bakes? No way he learned that on his own.”
