Chapter 10
The pavilion had gotten a major makeover during the break.
The red and green decor from the first two challenges had been replaced by silver and gold, and the harsh spotlights that had roasted everyone during the cookie challenge now had sheets over them, softening the glow and cutting down on the glare from the metallic props.
The entire room had been flipped around as well, so the contestants were now facing the wall that hid their break area.
That wall had been the one with ten doors on the first day; it now had two.
Each door had a nice spray of crystal-tipped pine and silver bells above it, and each door had a heart-shaped wreath.
When Jannie called for the judges to come out, no one was shocked to see a young couple standing behind the doors.
They met at a spot marked with tape on the floor, and before Jannie and Kate could greet them properly, the man dipped the woman and kissed her passionately.
The contestants laughed and applauded, although now Laurin knew what he’d always suspected about these moments: everyone felt awkward.
“This is Madison Graham and Ronnie Francis,” Kate announced, and the couple parted long enough to wave and blush suitably. “They’re getting married . . . today!”
Everyone cheered their congratulations, as was appropriate, but Laurin didn’t much care for the gimmick.
If he ever did take that walk down the aisle, it wouldn’t be in front of cameras on a reality game show.
How was this even going to work? This was a Christmas show, and they were still five days out from Thanksgiving.
Was this couple truly having a Christmas wedding in November?
“Now, the caterers are already busy as bees setting up for the reception,” Jannie said, “but they’ve forgotten the most important thing: the wedding cake!”
That got Laurin’s attention, both because he was all about making wedding cakes and because Candace, to his right, had slumped slightly.
Candace didn’t have a good track record with this challenge.
The one season that had been entirely devoted to them, she’d only made it to the third round, and that was by dumb luck of catastrophic mistakes by less seasoned competitors.
If Laurin considered squeezing Candace’s hand for comfort, it would be a pointless gesture.
She was combating this risk by tucking her hands between her knees.
It could have been a natural, thoughtless pose for her, but the glances he’d taken at her hand this morning showed that she was mending but not fully mended yet.
The skin was still raw at the knuckles. It was unlikely this position was comfortable for her.
So be it. Laurin couldn’t help anyone who didn’t want to be helped.
Had he spent the last couple days stressing out when the sun was already set before Candace returned from her daily outings?
Yes. Had he found the best places in the cabin to casually hang out while having a clear view of both the front door and her bedroom, just so he could get a glimpse of her?
Also yes. Had he woken up in the middle of the night last night in a cold sweat and with a throbbing erection after dreaming about her?
Unfortunately, yes. But he couldn’t waste any more of his thoughts on her than he already was.
He kept his attention on the couple in front of him, noticing little details of their clothing.
The woman was in a dress of a similar cut to Candace’s, but it was a deep magenta and made of a slightly shimmery, possibly plastic material and trimmed with black marabou.
She also wore black sequined shoes with a heel inappropriate for the terrain.
Laurin could only assume she’d been carried by her fiancé from the golf cart to the paved pavilion.
The man paired well with her. The three-piece plaid suit he donned was very nearly a toned-down gray, very nearly respectable, and only slightly pushing the line of dated.
It was ruined by a stripe that was too close to purple to be subdued, so instead, it came off as quirky.
Laurin had a feeling the horn-rimmed glasses he wore were decorative.
They both looked a fair bit younger than Laurin, mid-twenties, and were probably the life of every pop-up wine-and-cheese party in whatever hip gentrified city they hailed from.
“We want these two lovebirds to have the perfect wedding cake today,” Kate said after they’d given the cameramen enough time to catch everyone’s reaction, “So we want you all to do your very best to make a cake that matches the venue, the season, and most importantly, the couple! Unfortunately, their wedding ceremony is in . . .” She checked her watch dramatically.
“One hour, so we don’t have a lot of time with them before they’re a little too preoccupied to sit for a consultation. ”
“We want you guys to get as much time as possible to talk with them,” Jannie lied.
Of course the more time they got, the more similar the cakes would be.
Best to leave the contestants guessing. “We can only sit with them for fifteen minutes, so we’re going to split Madison and Ronnie up, and you will decide for yourselves if you would rather talk with her or him. ”
The choice seemed obvious. Laurin hardly ever talked to the groom about wedding cakes. Usually, it was the bride and her family or friends. The grooms had joined the consultation via speakerphone more than once, and they rarely said anything more substantial than, “Whatever you’d like.”
“However,” Kate said sternly, “that fifteen minutes is for all of you. You will ask your questions round-robin style, and you will only get as many questions as we can fit in that time. So choose wisely.”
A nicely dressed crew member came out from the pantry with a cart that had seven chalkboards on it.
They were distributed to the contestants as Jannie gave instructions to write down whether they wanted to interview Madison or Ronnie.
Laurin had already decided before he got the board and quickly scrawled RONNIE on it.
The bride surely had a clearer idea of what she wanted, but Laurin didn’t want to risk a bridezilla or chatty Cathy.
He held his board to his chest so no one could see it, and then Kate gave the command, and everyone spun their boards to the cameras.
“For Madison, we have Belle, Zara, Mark, Patty, and Harper,” Kate announced.
Jannie finished with, “And Ronnie gets to be interviewed by Laurin and Candace!”
Candace picked Ronnie because everyone else was likely to pick Madison.
That was it, end of story. Her questions were going to be the same either way, and she probably wouldn’t even need the whole fifteen minutes.
The fact that Laurin also picked Ronnie didn’t surprise her.
Yeah, he was the worse choice, but Laurin did seem to have that uncanny ability to know how best to rankle Candace.
The trio was escorted by Jannie and a cameraman into the room Ronnie had just exited, which had a chair for him and a single love seat for Candace and Laurin.
She didn’t have time to wonder if the crew instinctively knew two people would be with Ronnie or if there’d been a lot of scurrying back here after everyone had written on their boards.
All thoughts were cut off by a comically oversized stopwatch Jannie was setting with fifteen minutes on it.
“Candace, as the highest scorer in the last round, you may ask the first question.”
It didn’t matter to her. In fact, the first question was probably the same, whether it came from her or Laurin. “What are your wedding colors?”
“Green and purple,” Ronnie said quickly. Proudly, as though that was a fair answer.
Candace did her best not to roll her eyes. Weddings didn’t get crayolas assigned to them. There was a whole world of green and purple out there. “What shades—?” she started to ask, but Jannie cut her off.
“One question per baker,” she said. “Sorry, but those are the rules.”
Fine. No big deal. Laurin would get that clarified for—
“Where did you meet Madison?” Laurin asked.
Dumb question. That wasn’t going to get them anywhere. Worse, Ronnie looked very sheepish about admitting, “A dating website.” But then he brightened up and said, “We went to the same college, though. Auburn. I’m sure we would have met anyway, even if we weren’t on that site.”
Laurin jotted a note down as Candace asked, “What shades of purple and green?”
Ronnie shrugged. “Just purple and green.”
“Well, but Madison must have—”
Jannie made some hemming sounds to remind Candace she couldn’t ask anything else.
“Where was your first date?”
Candace bit right down on her lip. Laurin was going to be useless. These questions were fine when time wasn’t an issue, but they couldn’t waste their questions on details like this now.
“It was kind of crazy, actually,” Ronnie said.
“There was an art exhibit I wanted to go to, but I didn’t have a car and it was in Montgomery.
Madison had a car, but her brother wouldn’t let her take a stranger an hour away, so we did a double date.
It was solid, though. All respect for her brother, too — he’s one of my groomsmen.
The exhibit was great. Madison loved it. ”
“What was it?” Candace couldn’t help asking, mentally cursing herself for wasting another question.
She was already stressed about this challenge, what with her track record on weddings.
If she were eliminated here and never brought back, if this was her last chance at an opportunity to get the money she desperately needed to rebuild, and she blew it asking irrelevant questions, she’d never forgive herself.
Or Laurin. It wasn’t fair that she couldn’t escape him even for these few minutes. Her greatest fear was finding herself steamrolled by yet another man, but Laurin’s presence was crushing her.