Chapter 1 #2
“Yes, it is,” Laurin said as soberly as he could. “Once upon a time, we didn’t have camera phones, so we had to use gigantic boxes to take pictures. All those squirrels you see? They live in the camera, drawing the pictures. They’re on lunch break right now.”
“Papa!” Vivvy squealed loudly. “Squirrels can’t draw!”
They were approaching the backside of a cabin labeled ‘Gate 4’, where a woman stood on a patio. She jerked her head up at Vivvy’s squeal and scrubbed something into the railing.
“Not as well as chipmunks,” Laurin admitted as the woman strolled out to greet them. “That’s why the squirrels are stuck in reality TV.”
The woman looked very much like a grandma in her pressed slacks, sparkly Christmas sweater, and perfectly rolled white curls, but her makeup was theatrically heavy.
He was sure it was for the camera, as when she got a little closer, he realized who she was.
“Why, Grandma Belle!” he called with a wave.
“You’re the last person I expected to see out here. I read online that you’d retired.”
She gave the most darling little curtsy. “You can’t ever retire from the things you love, can you?”
“No, ma’am.”
Vivvy gaped at her. “You made my tea cakes.”
“Did I?” Belle said with a quirk in her brow.
Vivvy nodded so boisterously Laurin felt her shake on his shoulders.
Thankfully, Belle didn’t deny it. For Vivvy’s fourth birthday party, Laurin and Pauline had replicated the petite desserts Belle made for the Fairy Tale season.
It was more glamorous for Vivvy to think the cakes had come from the TV and not her own family’s bakery.
“Well, I hope you liked them. Now, I’m dying to know,” she said to Laurin, “What’s this twist everyone’s talking about? Don’t leave an old lady waiting!”
Laurin shrugged, making Vivvy cackle as she bobbed up and down. “Just got here myself. I’m probably even more clueless than you.”
“You’re not part of the crew?”
“Papa’s a baker, too!” Vivvy told her.
Belle stiffened at that, but only for a second before smoothing her hackles. “Ah, well, good luck to you,” she said pertly before she headed back to the cabin.
Vivvy waited until they were at Gate 5 before sinking to Laurin’s ear and loudly whispering, “I saw Grandma Belle smoking a cigarette!”
“She’s a real person, little lady. No one’s who they seem on TV.”
“Like Candace Coale?” she asked, naming another regular on the network.
“Err, right. Like Candace Coale. I bet she’s not a complete monster.”
“Good, because she's right there.”
Laurin’s gaze snapped up from where he’d been lingering on a discarded box a sparrow was crafting a nest in. Sure enough, Candace Coale was standing ten feet away, well within range to hear what he’d said.
Candace was a beautiful woman, that was undeniable.
Not like a pageant queen or a model. No, she had a very specific aesthetic about her.
Patissière chic, Pauline had once called it.
Trendy pastry chef. Average height and a slightly plump figure — although the proverbial camera ten pounds must have been more like thirty on her, because in real life she looked borderline emaciated — with a wardrobe of snug sweaters and A-line skirts to accentuate it.
A pretty, heart-shaped face with big blue eyes and lush lips, never accented with more than the simplest make-up, leaving her most defining characteristic the thick, colorful ponytail she wore up high so it was always visible on camera.
Laurin hadn’t considered the fact that she might be here and that his young daughter would be on his shoulders as he suddenly remembered all the times the image of Candace Coale in her short skirts and lace thigh-highs had popped into his brain at highly inappropriate times, but here he was.
This season’s hair color was unusually subdued for Candace.
There’d been silver and pale lavender, a stark white and, most notably, an ombre that darkened from the babiest of blues to the deepest of cobalt.
Now, though, it was a warmer, almost natural shade barely hinting at pink.
Champagne, Laurin would have called it as an icing color.
This was a different sort of Candace Coale from her last season.
He swore she’d scowled through the entire program and yelled at anyone who talked to her.
Even with the hosts, Food2Love’s beloved Jannie and Kate, she’d been terse.
When she’d gone home amid scandal — an affair with the producer, of all things — the fan groups online had universally cheered good riddance.
He was surprised to see her here at all and wondered if this toned-down version of her previous self was at the network’s insistence.
Her gaze stuck on his a moment too long before her lips curled into a scowl, her eyebrows dipped into a glare, and her feet stomped her right back into Cabin 5.
“I think she’s still a monster,” Vivvy said gravely.
Laurin spun Vivvy around and deftly draped her upside-down so he could tickle her belly and reduce her to shrieking giggles. She’d be too big for this soon, so he wasn’t going to take the opportunity for granted. “I guess I’ll have to be a prince, then!”
“Why’s that?” Vivvy laughed when she caught her breath.
“Why, to slay the monster, of course!”
Slay the monster, save their home and livelihood. Yes, this was a competition he was ready for.