London threw themself in a chair and covered their face with their hands. Which were shaking terribly.
Lizzie did not ask if they were okay. Lizzie did not even look up.
“All right, kids.” Janet popped her head into the small temporary room. “Ten minutes until the judges go on stage. You’ll be called up shortly after that. Prepare yourselves.”
London smoothed their palms on their pants.
They closed their eyes and thought about Brussels sprouts. They thought about barbecue. They thought about sitting on a hard bench in a small quiet courtyard with Dahlia Woodson, drinking from bottles of wine. They knew they had just done the scariest thing they would ever do. Scarier than losing to Lizzie. Scarier than cooking a meal in front of three judges that they’d already cooked for so many times before.
And they were calm.
London and Lizzie were called to the edge of the set.
Maritza looked over from behind her camera and winked. The PAs gave a nod.
The studio lights always seemed bright, but when London walked to their station for their last cook on the set ofChef’s Special, they were more blinding than ever before. When London glanced behind them at the audience, all they saw was darkness punctuated by bright stars.
But even though they couldn’t see her, London knew Dahlia was there. Along with their sisters and a mother who loved them fiercely. And that was all that mattered.
“Welcome, one and all, to the Final Face-Off of season eight.”
Sai Patel held his arms wide with a smile of triumph, inviting the audience to raucous applause.
Tanner Tavish stood next to him, his face set in a conceited, serious stare.
Audra Carnegie looked a treat.
It was time.
Dahlia gripped Barbara’s hand.
She had been thrown when she walked onto set this morning. It looked so different.
When she’d seen Barbara, it was the perfect distraction from the nerves pummeling her stomach.
“Babs,” she had said, “I have so much to tell you.”
Dahlia sat sandwiched between her and Cath now, and it was the funniest, most perfect sandwich. It gave Dahlia the strength she needed to get through this.
She could tell from the moment she saw London at their station that they felt good. That they weren’t too nervous. Their face only had that steady, focused look instead.
Well, fine, Parker, she had thought.Guess I’ll just have to swallow down enough nerves for the both of us then.
It was taking everything in her to not tap her feet against the floor, to not crush Barbara’s fragile grandma bones, to not grab Cath’s hand too, to not bite straight through her bottom lip.
They were only on the fucking appetizers.
The judging wasexcruciating. Had those three fools ever taken longer to contemplate two baby bird bites of food?
And then, when they finally stopped being ding-dongs and made a pronouncement, the judges liked Lizzie’s appetizer more.
Dahlia’s head flopped into her hands.
Holy hell.
She wasn’t going to make it.
Barbara rubbed her back and made soothing noises.
