Chapter Thirty-Four
T he Skills Challenge that afternoon was mille-feuille. It was French Patisserie Week, and Magda was in her wheelhouse—thank goodness, because she was still operating on only a few hours’ sleep. Even sleep-deprived, she was second only to Tim for the top spot. Eunice was in the middle. Mac’s cream split, but he still fared better than Zain, who hadn’t gotten all the elements on the plate.
There were no practice bakes that night, and by unspoken agreement, all the bakers—Mac and Magda included—separated to their respective rooms as soon as they got back to the inn. Tomorrow’s challenge would determine who got into the final, and they all needed their sleep.
The final challenge was deceptively simple. A frangipane fruit tart. Three hours. Exquisitely decorated.
It was actually, much to Magda’s surprise, plenty of time for the challenge. Which would have normally had her second-guessing and worrying that she hadn’t done enough, but today she was met with an eerie sense of calm. Her ginger apricot tart was elegant. It was classic. It wasn’t wild or risk-taking, but it was her . And if she was going to go out, she wanted to go out making something that she was deeply proud of.
She stood during judging, squeezing Mac’s hand on one side and Eunice’s on the other—and then they were in. She barely registered Tim winning. She knew she should feel bad for Zain—being eliminated so close to the final—but all she could think, over and over again, was We did it .
Then the producers were lining them up again, and Jeffrey Flanders was announcing yet another twist and Magda nearly groaned aloud. They’d been so close to the final—but the day was still young. Was there another bake today? Another elimination?
“This year, for the first time ever, we’re going to be having our final competition in front of a live audience. Yes, there will be people applauding your apple fritters and cheering for your churros. And the setting of our thrilling finale will be quite familiar to a couple of our bakers, as the special Vermont edition of The Great American Cake-Off will hold its finale in none other than Pine Hollow, Vermont! The hometown of two of our finalists!”
Magda’s jaw dropped. “Oh…”
Mac finished for her. “Sugar.”
Pine Hollow was somehow both the best and worst possible place for the finale to be filmed. Magda was delighted they would be baking on her home turf, in front of a cheering section filled with all her friends and family.
And horrified because they would be filming in front of all her friends and family .
“Isn’t that unfair?” Magda asked Julia, as the producer escorted her through the halls of King Arthur, where the crew members were rapidly packing up equipment. The set had already started to look less like a set and more like the tourist attraction and baking school that it usually was. And for once there weren’t cameras lurking around to catch her reactions. “Home field advantage for me and Mac?”
“We’d already spoken to the others before the semifinal, and they all signed off on it. Eunice actually loved the idea. We’re flying out some of their supporters, and bringing back the rest of the eliminated contestants. It’ll be just like our traditional finales, only with four of you instead of three and outdoors rather than here.”
It was only May, but Magda’s brain immediately went to the unpredictable weather conditions— no chocolate work —but what she said was “There are ovens outdoors?”
“We’re running power from some kind of pavilion.”
The bandstand. Which powered the massive Christmas tree and all the town lights every year.
“It was either this or find a warehouse to set up in. Because of the shutdown, we ran out of time here.” Julia frowned. “Are you really not excited? I thought you’d be happy.”
“No, I am, I just…” It was hard to put into words. She’d been able to break out of her shell on Cake-Off . To be herself without worrying about what anyone thought of her—which was a little insane considering she was on a reality television show and the entire world was going to be able to watch this, but there’d been a freedom in being here, in this bubble.
But now… going back to Pine Hollow, where everyone knew her and expected things of her…
That was it. The expectation. She’d always found it so hard not to worry about those expectations, not to frame her life around living up to them. And now they were all going to be watching her, expecting things of her. No more safe little bubble. No more playing mind games with herself to pretend that what happened on the show would stay on the show. She’d always known the outside world would intrude at some point, but she’d been very good at pretending it wouldn’t—and now she couldn’t pretend anymore.
“Since we won’t have an official Cake-Off house in Pine Hollow, I got Stephen to sign off on you and Mac being allowed to stay at your own places. Sleep in your own beds.”
Magda immediately thought of Cupcake—and Charlotte and Kendall. “Aren’t we still sequestered?”
“You’re still under NDAs, so you can’t talk about the happenings on the show, but we aren’t going to stop you from seeing your family. You’ll even get your cellphones back—though we’ll confiscate them again on the morning of the finale.”
Contact with the outside world. It had been all she’d wanted when she first came to the show, but now she was almost hesitant about going home. About leaving King Arthur and the show bubble. She’d found herself here. Now she just needed to hang on to that feeling as she made her way home.
Julia guided her around a stack of crates waiting to be loaded onto trucks, and through the outer doors.
It was surreal to think that it was almost over—and that somehow Mac and Magda were both in the finale. The Pine Hollow finale. She couldn’t wrap her head around it all.
Magda didn’t know where the other contestants were. After the results, they’d been split up for confessionals, and now everyone seemed to be in a hurry to break things down and clear the premises. The contestants were just in the way.
It was Friday afternoon, and the finale would be filmed all day Sunday. There was virtually no time to mentally prepare—but that seemed like standard operating procedure for this season. Always keeping them off-balance.
Julia quickly briefed her on the finale protocols as they walked.
The contestants would all be driven to Pine Hollow tonight, where Tim and Eunice would stay at one of the inns—though not the one Mac’s grandmother owned. And thirty-six hours later, they would be taking their positions in the town square for the final competition to determine the winner of the whole shebang. And $250,000.
No pressure.
They exited the building, and Magda headed on autopilot toward the contestant van, but Julia caught her arm, drawing her to a stop in the no-man’s-land halfway across the parking lot. “Before you go…” Julia’s voice was pitched low, barely reaching Magda’s ears, and she noticed that the producer had removed her ever-present headset.
“I was reviewing some footage the other morning—new stuff that had logged overnight. We don’t have enough cameras to cover the entire inn, but Greg thought it might be good to have footage of bakers sneaking in practice bakes, so there’s a motion-activated camera in the kitchen.”
Oh no. Magda’s breath stilled, vivid memories of Mac boosting her up on the counter replaying in her mind. “The kitchen at the inn?”
“Mm-hmm. I figured with the time stamp, it must have been an error—the inn cat wandering through the room, so it started randomly recording in the middle of the night.” Julia met her eyes meaningfully. “And that was probably what it was, but the footage was corrupted anyway. Totally useless. I just deleted it. Before anyone else saw it. No way to recover it, so…”
Magda’s face felt like it was burning, and she met Julia’s gaze with unbridled gratitude in hers. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Who knows where else that cat might have wandered that night…”
“I think I, um, saw it that night in the upstairs hallway—right by Mac’s room. And then maybe the following morning, wandering between his room and my room.”
“Oh, well, that shouldn’t mess up any footage,” Julia assured her. “No cameras up there. That hallway is way too dark and twisty to get any useful shots.”
“Right,” Magda said, nearly melting with relief. “Of course.”
Julia nodded and seemed to gaze absently back toward the building, but Magda had the strong impression that she still had something more to say. After a moment, she spoke, almost as if she was musing to herself.
“I used to love this part of the season. When it’s down to the final few, and you start to see what the story of the season is going to be. At the beginning, you just try to get everything, because you never know what’s going to develop, who’s going to rise and who’s going to be a shocking early departure. But this is when it all comes together and you know who’s the fan favorite and who’s the underdog—and which bakers really grew and came into their own.”
She looked back toward Magda then, meeting her eyes. “I’m really glad I was finally able to get you on the show, Magda. I always thought you’d go far.”
“Finally?”
“You were the first baker I picked out of the pile, two years ago, back when Deanna was training me on how to put together a season. ‘This one,’ I said. ‘She’s gonna be special.’ And I love it when you prove me right.”
“Two years… but I didn’t get on.” She hadn’t been special enough.
Julia shrugged. “A lot of things go into putting together a cast. Our scouts raved about your bakes, but the cast for that season already included two other pretty French-trained bakers in their late twenties. Helene had barely missed making the top thirteen twice already, and Yvonne was from Chicago—and you know how much they like to have locals. I think that’s part of why Deanna wanted to film at King Arthur so badly this year. She already had her eye on you.”
“Me?” Was that possible?
“Yeah. That, and she loved Vermont.” Julia sighed. “I wish she’d gotten to film here. It would’ve been a very different season.”
Magda still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that they’d filmed at King Arthur for her . At least in part. She’d been so sure that she wasn’t special enough for Cake-Off , that there was something lacking in her. She’d felt like she needed to be someone else—and all along the fact that she hadn’t been cast her first time out of the gate had been chance. Timing. Putting together a cast from different cities and different backgrounds.
She’d been so completely wrong . About so many things.
“I’m not supposed to tell you this,” Julia said, her voice barely audible, but the words instantly snared Magda’s full attention. “But Stephen’s really determined to find something on you and Mac. I figure it’s your choice when you make your relationship public. If you say ‘just friends’ in the confessional, I’m giving Stephen friends. He doesn’t actually have any footage proving otherwise, so if he wants to sell a more salacious storyline, it will just be rumors and hearsay.” Her lips twitched up in a side smile. “Maybe if he doesn’t have anything else to use, he’ll actually make the show about baking.”
“We can only hope,” Magda said lightly—but her brain was still snagged on a single word Julia had said.
Relationship.
Was that what this was? She’d managed to avoid thinking past the finale—much—but the idea of going public about their relationship, about all of America knowing they were dating, let alone all of Pine Hollow, felt very intimidating.
“When did you know?” she whispered. “That we were…”
“I didn’t know until I heard about the kiss, but I suspected as soon as I had you both in the chair talking about each other. There was always something about the way you said each other’s names. All of the rivals seemed to hate one another. But with some it was cold. And with you two? Can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, right? And then you made that maple cake.” She shrugged. “I hope you don’t mind. I might have pushed you at each other a little bit. Hopeless romantic.”
“Pushed us…?”
“Who do you think scheduled your practice bakes back-to-back?”
“I assumed it was Stephen. Trying to drive us crazy.”
“Well. He suggested it. But I could have ignored him. I’m getting pretty good at that.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “I should probably get back.”
“Right. Thanks, Julia. Truly.”
Julia squeezed her arm and wished her luck, promising to see her in Pine Hollow, and sent her off to the waiting van.
Relationship. The word echoed again, but Magda pushed all thoughts of a nebulous future with Mac out of her head.
She could worry about all that on Monday. She only had a few days left before her Cake-Off experience was over, and she needed to focus.
She could actually win. She, Magda, could actually be the Cake-Off champion. It would all be over in just a few days—and she could worry then about what came next. Mac, her bakery… She already felt new. Like the last few weeks had changed her. Looking forward felt different now— she felt different. Confident and sure. She could think about what she wanted because now she believed she could get it. Whatever it was.
But that was Monday.
Today was Cake-Off , and giving herself the best possible chance to win.