Sunny laughed into her hand.
“I’m not marketable,” I said.
“You plated food like you knew cameras existed. That’s growth I can sell.”
“It’s still a biscuit.”
“It’s a biscuit with lighting potential.”
Sunny looked at my plate, then at me. “It’s a really good biscuit.”
Her voice was soft enough that the prize money went quiet for a second.
“Your griddle cakes are good,” I said. “They’re better than good.”
Sunny swallowed.
Ed kept filming.
Joelle wrote something on her clipboard. Caprice stared at both plates like she wanted them to fight and sign contracts at the same time. Her phone buzzed twice more during the silence. She stepped back, typed fast, and glanced toward Ed’s camera to make sure he still had the plates.
Finally, Caprice set her fork down. “I hate this.”
Sunny’s chin lifted. “That’s usually not the reaction I aim for.”
“No, I hate this because the answer is obvious and inconvenient.” Caprice looked at Joelle. “You first.”
Joelle tapped her pen against the clipboard. “Sunny wins technical balance, color, originality, and brand clarity. Flint wins fire control, satisfaction, category comfort, and execution under rough conditions.”
Ed nodded. “I’d eat Flint’s after a long shoot and Sunny’s on purpose where people could see me.”
Sunny blinked. “I accept whatever that means.”
“It means I want both.”
Caprice pointed at him. “That is the entire problem.”
The meadow went quiet except for the low crackle from the cookfire and a bird calling from the pine line.
My pulse hit slow and heavy.
Sunny looked at Caprice. Her fingers curled once in the edge of her apron, then smoothed the fabric flat. Her chin stayed up, but her eyes never left Caprice’s face.
I wanted to reach across the table and cover her hand.
I didn’t.
Caprice lifted her phone. “The sponsor has been on the live review thread since tasting began, and they’ve confirmed I can make the final call on camera.”
Ed muttered, “I knew the phone had drama.”
Caprice turned toward his lens. “After three rounds of the Get Fired Up! Cook-Off, the final decision is that the sponsor agrees with the judges. The best outcome isn’t one of these competitors beating the other.”
I stopped breathing for half a second.
Sunny’s eyes widened.
Caprice smiled at the camera. “The official result is a tie. A collaboration win. The twenty-five-thousand-dollar prize will be split between Sunny and Flint. Sunny’s share seeds the first Fire Mountain summer-night pop-up. Flint’s share goes where he chooses, and the sponsor has already offered to match a donation to local wilderness and fire-safety education.”
