Page 52 of Frosted Fakes

"Jamie doesn't judge anyone. It's pathological." Julia was already dialing. "Jamie? Hi, it's Julia. Listen, I need a favor…"

She explained the situation in rapid, hushed tones while Shay made increasingly desperate faces and Elliott watched with barely concealed amusement.

"Really? You're a lifesaver." Julia hung up. "Sorted. He's going to serve you the smallest meal you've ever seen. A meal for ants, he said."

Shay's face transformed with relief. "Julia Richardson, you absolute star." She grabbed Julia's hands. "A star. An angel. A goddess among mortals."

"It was just a phone call."

"It was salvation." Shay squeezed her hands, then turned to Elliott. "She's a star, El. I hope you know that. An actual, genuine star."

Elliott's expression was unreadable. "So I'm learning."

"Right, I need to go. I need to change. I need to somehow make room for whatever tiny mouse-sized dinner Jamie's preparing." Shay was already heading for the door. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

And then she was gone, leaving silence in her wake.

Julia turned to Elliott, a laugh bubbling up. "Did that just happen?"

"That was actually quite restrained for Shay." Elliott's mouth curved. "A couple of months ago she needed me to pretend to be her cousin from Sweden to get her out of a date with someone who turned out to be married."

"Did you do it?"

"I don't speak Swedish."

"That's not a no."

"It's not a yes either." But Elliott was properly smiling now, and something warm unfurled in Julia's chest.

"She called me a star," Julia said. "Twice, actually."

"Shay's prone to hyperbole." Elliott picked up her wineglass. "But she's not wrong."

Julia's heart stuttered. "What?"

"I told you. You're good at this." Elliott gestured vaguely. "The people part. The making-things-work part. The calling Jamie and solving problems in thirty seconds part." She took a sip of wine. "I couldn't do it. I'd have told Shay to cancel and deal with the consequences."

"That's because you're terrifying."

"I'm efficient. There's a difference."

Julia laughed. "Is there, though?"

They were standing closer now. Julia wasn't sure when that had happened. Elliott's eyes looked darker in the dim light of the kitchen, and there was something almost soft in her expression.

"I'm sorry," Elliott said.

"For what?"

"For agreeing with Candice. About you being a fake." Elliott's jaw tightened. "I was angry. About the mixer, about… other things. But I shouldn't have said it. It wasn't fair."

Julia felt something shift between them. The air felt different. Charged.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "For saying that."

Elliott held up her glass. "To the star of Sweet Oakhaven."

"To the baker who actually makes things people want to eat."