Chapter 4 #2
Candace cursed under her breath. Laurin asked if anything was wrong, but she shook her head.
She couldn’t admit she’d made a mistake.
He had pushed her to plan, but it had seemed silly at the time.
Christmas trees were either hodge-podges of handmade grade school ornaments or crates of pre-matched bulbs in her world.
It made perfect sense to push Laurin away so he’d be forced to prove himself on this first softball of a challenge.
They were going to be sent home, and it was all her fault for not wanting to be friendly, even when the competition was on the line.
She returned to the tree, doing her best to straighten the decorations, making sure all the store-bought ornaments were evenly dispersed and the lights were zigged and zagged so they didn’t look like chains.
Her eyes blurred, and her hands shook until Laurin quietly recommended she take a step back to make sure the overall look was good.
His dismissal was obvious enough, but his tone was gentler and more respectful than she deserved.
He was probably a really good dad, she thought as she followed his instructions and saw a couple spots that needed some balancing.
He even smiled encouragingly as she shifted a section of lights around.
No attitude. No condescension or blaming. He had to be seeing what everyone else had done and had every right to be rude to her, but he wasn’t.
An alarm rang, and an announcement was made that they were to put down their current projects and return inside until the hosts came to them.
Their cabin was fourth, so they stood together in the foyer and watched the monitor as the crew moved from porch to porch, directing the contestants to look busy decorating while answering the hosts’ questions.
Jannie congratulated Patty on her victory in Summer Bakes, and Kate gushed over Zara’s YouTube channel.
They asked Patty about her favorite Christmas tradition and Zara if she had any experience decorating trees.
“I thought this was supposed to be the introduction stuff,” Laurin said as he handed Candace her cup of tea, now warm again from a lap in the microwave.
“They’ll ask a bunch of stuff. They can’t introduce everyone in the first episode and keep the pacing, so they’ll only air a couple in this one to make sure the losers get their airtime before .
. .” She made a motion like slitting her throat, hating that it was likely going to be her throat.
“These two? They’d have to mess up crazy bad to get eliminated, so Jannie and Kate are just fishing for sound bites. ”
The hosts were more focused on Greg and Mark’s details, meaning the glitter bomb was possibly going to be eliminated.
The judges were always a surprise, so whoever it was might not have been as easily impressed with ombre.
Mark’s responses were mostly bland, which meant he might never return, either.
Contestants had to be charismatic to be invited back after an early elimination.
The hosts were brief with Belle and her freshman, Harper, and Candace took it as a blessing that she didn’t have to listen to their life stories before her own execution. She even took the first opportunity to be interviewed when the hosts arrived.
“It’s good to see you back,” Jannie said, and although Candace didn’t stop fussing with the tinsel to see how sincere Jannie’s eyes were, she believed it.
She’d been on Jannie’s first season, and they’d weathered some tough times together.
Jannie wore angel wings today, and the fact that Candace was sure they were the same wings Jannie had worn for her cupid’s costume for Candace’s first win, three Valentines ago, had to mean something.
Candace plastered on her biggest smile and said, “It’s always a pleasure to be back!”
“How have you kept busy since July?” Kate said gruffly, which wasn’t a surprise to Candace, either.
She was sweet and soft as a bunny when she was happy, but she was slow to forgive even when she wasn’t the one who had been wronged.
Even before Summer Bakes, Kate hadn’t been very friendly with Candace.
“I’ve been helping out at my local bakeries,” Candace said, unable to muster the enthusiasm despite this being a more serious question with a better answer. “I’ve also put in a great deal of volunteer hours at a local women’s shelter, teaching them kitchen skills and organizing bake sales.”
“Were those court-mandated volunteer hours?”
Candace’s eyes snapped back to Kate so quickly she nearly gave herself whiplash.
Jannie’s jaw dropped open. There was utter silence for about five seconds, punctuated by the squeak of one of the other cabins’ front doors.
From the corner of her eye, Candace saw first Belle, then Harper, peek out at her.
The whole time, Kate never dropped her plastic smile or over-enthusiastically wide eyes. “If you win, what do you plan to do with the money?”
Candace’s hand shook too much for her to continue fussing with the tree.
She stared at Jannie to steady herself, and Jannie gave her an encouraging nod.
This was a valid question. The previous comment was way out of line, but it didn’t need to be addressed.
Kate didn’t have any say here; it didn’t matter what she believed about Candace.
“I am . . . designing . . .” Candace closed her eyes.
She had to get her bearings right for this sound clip.
It was probably going to be the only thing salvaged from her time on the Christmas special.
Deep breath, big smile. “I’m currently working with an architect to make a historical site compliant for a bakery café.
I’ve been interested in this site for years — it was the home of an author I loved growing up — and I would love to make it a place where people can gather. ”
She’d rehearsed this speech several times, and that was the worst attempt at it yet, but it got the point across.
“That sounds lovely,” Jannie said. “And will you be pampering yourself at all if you win? It’s a nice prize. I bet you could do with a cruise or a tour of Europe.”
Candace grinned. “Nah. I’ve done enough of that in my life,” she said, thankful it was Jannie she was saying that to.
Most of the returning contestants knew that Candace grew up wealthy, but Jannie was one of the few who knew that she’d been estranged from her family and their money since college.
The way Candace saw it, these people weren’t her friends, and it wasn’t her business what they thought of her lineage.
“I’m looking for the quiet time at home. ”
“Is there someone new in your life?”
It was weird to be asked that. Sure, the divorce was recent, but she and her husband had been separated for four years now. The divorce was a formality.
Weirder yet, she didn’t remember being asked that on Summer Bakes.
The ink had barely dried by then, but still, wouldn’t that have been the opportunity?
Her mind automatically flitted to Laurin, the single, attractive, age-appropriate, presumably straight new contestant who just randomly ended up in her cabin, even though everyone else had been teamed up by gender.
Not for the first time, Candace wondered if it had been staged and if that was why he was being so friendly.
“Nah, just me,” she said. “Not really ready for dating any time soon.”
“Yeah?” Kate said. “Sticking with breaking up other people’s marriages for now?”
“Cut!”
Laurin nearly interrupted the interview when Kate made the snarky comment about court-mandated hours. He even peeked through the window to make sure Candace was okay, but Jannie looked to be taking care of it.
He barreled outside the second time, grabbing Candace and yanking her back into the house before Mike had even stopped filming.
He slammed the door, ignoring the commotion on the porch as he tried to lead Candace to the kitchen table, but she planted her feet in the foyer.
“You should sit down,” he told her, worried about her fair skin.
Had she been that pale before, or was she about to faint?
He’d seen enough concussions in his years on the field to know the warning signs.
He leaned down to look at her pupils, but she seemed to be tracking fine. Her hand shook, but that was nerves.
“What the bloody hell was that about?”
Candace tried to pull off a casual shrug. “You w-watched my l-last season,” she stuttered, unable to keep her tone even despite pretending that she was unfazed by Kate’s accusation. “You know.” She ducked her head low and twisted away, so he grabbed her upper arm to keep her focused on him.
She put so much effort into being the loner bad girl, but she felt fragile in his grip.
Kate’s unnecessary jabs had left her shaken, and she couldn’t hide behind a cold demeanor and a crisp, blue evil eye this time.
Laurin had watched enough game reels to know how easy it was to hide the truth in camera angles and quick cuts.
Candace hammed up her frigid facade for the camera, but now?
Face to face? She was a terrible actress.
“Hey, now. You never did anything criminal, right?” He wasn’t one to condone sleeping with someone to get an unfair advantage, but neither Candace nor the director of Summer Bakes, Lucas Barrett, was married. It didn’t make sense that Kate would—
He groaned. “Kate and Lucas were dating, weren’t they?”
Candace’s scowl puckered tightly as her eyes darted around the room, looking everywhere but Laurin, confirming his suspicion as she proved how awful she felt about it.
Laurin raked his fingers through his hair for half a second before tossing his head back in frustration and smoothing his hair back down.
There was a video he’d had to watch, even a little quiz at the end, to be on the show.
A solid five minutes of it was devoted to not touching the face or hair.
If they were going to survive this, he was going to have to nip this issue between Kate and Candace in the bud.
He didn’t need to cause more drama with messed-up hair.
“Whatever’s between you and Kate isn’t going to be here, not anymore. I’ll hunt this Mike guy down. The director’s booth must be somewhere on the property. Or I’ll set up a call with him, whatever. And we’ll keep Kate away from you. You don’t deserve to—”
“Villains don’t get to be saved by heroes.”
“What?”
Candace puffed her chest up and shook free of him, anything fragile from her vanishing as she scrubbed her temples and cheekbones, expertly avoiding her make-up.
Had she cried? No, Laurin would have noticed that.
The scrub did brighten her some, though, pinking up her cheeks.
“Every show needs a villain,” she said, her voice unwavering.
“Honestly, it’s not worth saving me. I’ll get invited to a lot more of these if I’m the villain, right? ”
Laurin nearly protested that this wasn’t the sort of show that needed a villain, and even villains deserved human decency, but the light knocking on the door pulled him away.
Laurin opened the door just enough to say, “She’s not ready to come out,” to Jannie before Candace could argue.
“She doesn’t need to. We just need an interview with you.”
Laurin scowled. “I’m not really feeling Kate right now, either.”
Jannie stepped back and gestured to the courtyard in front of the cabins.
Kate was there, pacing back and forth, the sequins of her Christmas tree sweater flashing in the sunlight.
“She’s out for a few minutes,” Jannie said.
“And Mike’s warned her if she cops that attitude again, we’ll bring another host in.
We already have a new director and a new crew. We can get a new co-host, too.”
Laurin did his best to answer Jannie’s questions while he balanced the orange garland, and he was glad none of the questions were too difficult to think through.
He worked in his family’s bakery, and he needed the money to overhaul the ancient kitchen.
He liked to read in his spare time, and he was an extra set of hands on his buddy’s farm during their busy seasons.
He was glad that Jannie glossed over his former career, although he’d watched enough seasons of the Bake-Off to know they probably already had a montage prepared of his years on the football pitch.
It wasn’t until after they were done and the cameraman was occupied getting close-ups of the tree that Jannie said, “What did you do with your medal, anyway? Do you have it hung in the bakery?”
Laurin laughed. “Nah, I won it for the wrong team. My mother would rather I lost that match so France could win. Had to buy her a house and a bakery before she’d talk to me again.”
“Was that about your, erm, football club?” Candace asked.
“Something like that.” He held back his grin, but yeah, he was chuffed that Candace had asked him a question about his life. “Your topper, do you want some extra lights up top for it? To wrap around or tuck in the dress or whatever?”
Candace nodded. “Yeah, but I can take care of that.”
She had to get up on a ladder, and the way she leaned forward forced Laurin to stand directly behind her in case any of the cameramen were looking to make a new scandal for her.
He could have set it all up from the ground, but he wasn’t about to argue with her.
The whole time he blocked her, he congratulated himself for not peeking to see what color panties she wore, then realized, yeah, maybe he was a bit of a lecher because it shouldn’t have even occurred to him.
He was kind of thinking blue, though. That would match her outfit.
There was a point where there was nothing left to be done except look around the courtyard at the other trees and admit that their tree was the worst—
—And watch in horror as Debbie Arthur tripped on something on her porch and launched her seaside cornucopia tree topper over the railing onto the hard-packed dirt path below, where it shattered.
“Does this mean . . . ?” Laurin started, but he felt bad about speaking selfish words over someone else’s tragedy.
But Candace didn’t. “That we actually have a shot now? Yep.”