Then of course, I found him in bed with our supplier. Our bed. How freaking cliché was that? It was as though he wanted me to know what he was doing, and then I realized how much damage I’d done. With the papers in front of me, I sent a quick text to Mom. I love you both xxx. Her reply was instant. We love you too. Good luck in the competition. xxxx
I needed to check in with my sister. Lacey was my right hand woman at 3B and was also running the small coffee shop attached to our kitchen, so I called her next.
“Hey,” I began but didn’t get another word in as she second guessed every question I had.
“The Settler wedding cakes are done, all three of them. Tony is out delivering, and we had two more orders for your ivory cupcake wedding layout, January and July. I can handle that. Three emails overnight asking for interviews now that you’re back on the show. I declined two, they aren’t going to help our profile, but the third one is a follow up from U.S. Baker magazine. They want to negotiate a ‘day in the life of a star baker’ and follow you around here.”
“I’m not sure that—”
“When they said it was dependent on where you reached in this competition, I suggested that we revisit after Christmas as you are very busy with media availability. So yes, I lied, but they don’t know that and fuck them with their provisos regarding the show.”
“Okay, I—”
“Oven four wasn’t baking evenly, but I called on the oven guys to come straight over. I flirted so hard I got us a twenty-five percent discount, and they fixed the issue. Although one of them played for your team, and I did tell them you would be back in two weeks, so they suggested a follow up.”
“I don’t need—”
“Don’t shout at me, I can hear your brain sorting through words from here. Oh, and we have one of the Ks desperate for you to design a submarine and octopus birthday cake, but I said we were all booked until 2025, particularly when she said she had some ideas which incidentally she forwarded onto me just in case you had availability. They are hilariously bad, so I’ll send them on to you. I think that’s it.”
I hadn’t managed to get a word in edgewise but to be honest she didn’t really need to tell me a single thing. I considered her my business partner. In fact, after this competition I was going to make it official and give her half the company. She didn’t bake, so we had a small team that would be covering in my absence, but she managed the company with ruthless efficiency. I already had papers drawn up to make it official, but I wanted to talk it over with her first and had mentally added it to my to-do list for when I got home.
“Thanks,” I began.
“So, did you hook up with the incredibly sexy, totally gay, luscious Justin?”
Oh my God, what was it with my family? I’d only mentioned to Adam this attraction I had to Justin, but it seemed to have reached Lacey. Next I’ll get a call from Joe, and that will be a sibling full hand.
“I’ve been here a day.”
“And you haven’t hooked up yet?”
“I’m not easy—”
“Get some, for goodness sake, then you won’t have memories of Shit Bag dragging you down.”
“Okay, okay, and can you stop calling my former husband, Shit Bag, I nearly called him that in the last meeting with the lawyers.”
“After what he did to you? He’ll always be Shit Bag to me. Stop changing the subject, did you proposition Justin already.”
“No!”
“Ask him for a coffee?”
“No—”
“Do you have enough condoms?”
“I don’t—”
“Well you should get some because Justin is single with a capital S. You’re single, and you have two weeks to get him to see how good in bed you are.”
“Oh my God, Lacey!”
“Not that I know, but hey, if you’re anything like me—”
“Stop. Now.” I couldn’t hear about my little sister’s sex life, not today, not ever. As far as I and her other two older brothers were concerned, she was a virgin, and she would be one until her wedding day, and maybe even way after that.
She laughed at me because she just loved riling up her siblings, probably something to do with being the only girl in the family.
“Mom and Dad send their love. You should call them.”
“I just texted Mom.”
“Texted? You should call her, talk to Dad as well because you know they’re both fretting about you.”
“I will.” I would bet anything Mom would want details on Justin because sure as eggs were eggs the secret crush I’d told Adam about had reached her as well. Nothing was sacred in this family.
“Hey, I gotta go, the hot oven dude is at the front desk.”
“I thought you told him two weeks—”
“Not him, the other hot dude, the one who said he was going to show me—”
“I don’t want to know!”
“Baby,” she sniggered and ended the call, and then the bedroom was abruptly far too quiet. I filled the time. Made a coffee, ate the cookies in plastic wrap, made some notes on my showpiece for round one of the competition, ordered up a sandwich, then took a shower. Finally, after I’d managed to waste a lot of time trying not to feel excited about seeing Justin again, I grabbed my bag and carefully put my snowman sweater inside. The leather of the bag was so smooth to the touch, worn from constant use, first by my great-grandad and then by my granddad before being passed on to me. The satchel had gone to college with me and was one of the things I took when I ended up outside the apartment I shared with Marc. The scent of it reminded me of home. I couldn’t believe that as a twenty-five-year-old man, I was out of my comfort zone and feeling weirdly homesick.
Bundling up against the cold, I headed back to the annex for our first lot of filming, falling into step with Ivan and Kristen but not spotting Justin anywhere.
Makeup was done. Justin hurried in right on the deadline of three o’clock, and all six contestants in Christmas sweaters headed out to the large hall where the introductions were being filmed.
And then it began.
Chapter Six
A balanced diet is having a cupcake in each hand
Brody
“Each week’s competition will consist of three parts.” Courtney Jacobs shook her right hand enough so that the studio lights caught the large diamond on her ring finger. Stunning and petite, the former weather girl and reality TV star was the show host. She’d done all six seasons, and she knew exactly how to play the crowd, and what to say when. She had this way about her that made the little slips about squirting cream or soggy bottoms sound so innocent.
She’d been counted in by the director then made a grand entrance down the main staircase for our recording, wearing a short train on her long dark blue gown. There wasn’t much she could tell the six of us because we’d done it all before, but this was for the filming. This was the part they would show at the start of episode one, and so, in the middle of October, there was a Christmas tree in the foyer and garlands twisted up and around the banisters and hot lights that made me sweat in my Christmas sweater.