For the Love of Cake (8 page)

“You all earned a place on the show, but today, we’re not really sure why,” Jacques said as soon as Eric handed control to the judges. “As a team you worked horribly together.”

“Your inability to come together on a design put you behind from the start, and you never recovered.” Wayne eyed each of them individually. “Unfortunately we can send only one chef home, so three of you get a pass this week. But don’t walk out of here triumphant, because none of you should be proud to be standing here right now.”

Shannon searched the three mentors’ faces, wondering what the odds were that she would stay another day. She’d joked with Jori about being booted from the show and crawling back to her job, but she’d actually thought she’d last at least a little longer. She found no answers in Jacques’ stony expression. Wayne, too, seemed to be putting up a tough front. And Maya was looking at everyone but her. Oh God, could she really be going home today?

“Lucia.” Maya paused until Lucia stepped forward. “You’re safe and going on to the next show.”

Lucia nodded, a small smile of relief touching her lips as she backed up several steps, then turned and hurried from the room.

“Alice, you’re also safe.”

“Thank you so much. I—” Alice caught Maya’s stern look and cut off whatever she was about to say.

“Damien, Shannon, you’re both up for elimination.” Maya met Shannon’s eyes only briefly before she looked at the other mentors.

Shannon couldn’t keep from watching Maya. Though Maya’s hands were tucked under the table in front of her, the rhythmic flexing of her bicep muscles seemed to indicate a nervous gesture, such as clenching and unclenching her fists. The three mentors began detailing the strengths and weaknesses each of them had shown during the two challenges. Shannon forced her racing mind to absorb the words, hoping maybe later she could make sense of them.

“Shannon.” She flinched when Maya barked her name. Had she missed a question? “Why should you stay instead of Damien?”

She nodded and purposefully straightened her posture. “I’m not ready to leave.” Damien’s expression reflected the same desperation that stirred inside of her. None of them wanted to leave. If she hoped to convince the mentors to keep her, she had to do better than that. She took a deep breath and made eye contact with each mentor in turn as she spoke. “I failed in the consultation this morning. I can’t sugarcoat that. And I’m not proud of my team’s work this afternoon either. In fact, in our shop, I wouldn’t even have shown that cake to a client. We didn’t work well together, and I should have done more to fix that problem.” She locked eyes with Maya and felt as if she were speaking only to her. Maybe the decision was already made, but if she had any hope of affecting her fate, she needed Maya to hear her, to understand how badly she needed more time. “But I haven’t shown you everything I have yet.”

Maya narrowed her eyes and jerked her gaze from Shannon’s face to Damien’s. “Damien, why should you stay?”

“Between the two of us, I’m the better decorator. I’m more creative and more experienced.”

Shannon stared at him, but he didn’t look at her. Her face heated with embarrassment and anger. While she’d tried to be diplomatic and focus on herself, he apparently wasn’t pulling his punches.

“That’s a bold statement,” Wayne said. “Shannon, do you have a response to that?”

“He doesn’t know me well enough to judge my creativity or my talent. As for experience—well, you aren’t looking for ‘America’s most experienced pastry chef,’ are you?”

“We are not.” Wayne looked impressed with her answer. But when he and Jacques both looked to Maya, Shannon’s suspicion that Maya alone controlled her fate was confirmed.

“Damien, I’m sorry, but you won’t be continuing in the competition,” Maya said.

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but her tone left no doubt the decision was final.

Shannon exhaled slowly, trying to ease the adrenaline jitters. Her knees felt weak, and she shoved her hands in her pants pockets to hide any visible shaking. She’d survived. For one more day, at least. She didn’t look at Damien.

“Shannon, you may join the rest of your team. A car is waiting to take you back to the hotel.” Eric’s statement signaled an end to filming for the day. The crew immediately began bustling around, everyone seeming to know exactly what they needed to do before leaving. Shannon tried to stay out of the way as she headed toward the lounge.

When she stepped through the door, Alice cheered and jumped up to give her a hug.

“I was hoping it was you. Now it’s just us girls.”

“I am not so happy about this,” Lucia said. Then when Alice gave her a look, she said, “I’m also glad you returned. But I do not want to be up for elimination again.”

“I agree. We can and will do better. I don’t want to be on the bottom again.” Shannon herded them toward the door. “Let’s go back and get rested. I’m sure tomorrow won’t be any easier.”

She recalled Maya’s question about whether middle of the pack was good enough for her. As it turned out, today, she’d have been quite happy with the middle. But not for long. She’d rearranged her life to be here, given up her job at Drake’s, would probably miss her granddaughter’s birth, and traded living in her own home for a hotel room. She vowed to work hard enough to make all of that worth the sacrifice.

*

Maya shoved through the door to her dressing room and closed it quickly behind her. She crossed to the mini-fridge, pulled out a bottle of water, and took a long drink. Then, after recapping the bottle, she squeezed it until the plastic crackled. The excessive talking she’d done these past two days could only partially explain her dry throat. This elimination had worked her up more than she’d expected.

Damien was an easy choice for her today. He lacked the skills and discipline to go to the end. And, based on what little interaction she’d had with him, she didn’t like his attitude. But she’d worried that Wayne and Jacques wouldn’t agree. If they both found some reason to keep him around and send Shannon home, could Maya, as the newest mentor, really have gone against the advice of two renowned chefs?

Maybe she shouldn’t have taken this job. Maybe she should have listened to Wendy when she said it was too big a commitment right now. She just hadn’t thought she’d get so invested. She expected to come in, with her on-screen persona, put on an act, and walk away each day unaffected. But seeing Shannon’s passion and, alternately, her self-flagellation had touched her. Not only did it make her want to keep Shannon in the competition, but she yearned for the days when her own life was so simple. Lately, the spotlight had been a bit too glaring.

She’d always hated when celebrities acted like fame was such a hardship. But she hadn’t understood how completely her privacy could be invaded until she’d seen the headlines full of speculation stamped above the pictures of her leaving her doctor’s office. The more outrageous the lies became, the more closely she guarded the truth.

For the past eleven months, she’d worked practically nonstop, trying to keep her mind occupied and her heart from breaking at the thought of the life she’d once had growing inside her.

Suddenly, she didn’t feel like going back to her hotel room to sit alone with her thoughts. She shrugged off her chef coat, grabbed her purse, and headed for the door.

Twenty minutes later, she handed cab fare to her driver and climbed out of the car. The glow of blue neon cast a ghostly pallor over the line of people waiting outside the door. She fell in at the end of it, behind a couple of skinny guys who clung to each other like new lovers celebrating the freedom of a night out in a safe place.

The line moved quickly. Within a few minutes she’d handed over the cover charge and was allowed inside. She entered a dark room, lit by various colored lights and laser effects. A haze of artificial fog hung in the air, and club music seemed to vibrate all the way through Maya. She felt like the young girl she’d once been, new to New York City and bursting with newfound freedom. She’d discovered her own sexuality on dance floors just like this one, with liquid courage and the support of her gay friends making her brave enough to explore her desires. She’d toned down the drinking a great deal since then, and, now that she thought about it, she didn’t have as many real friends either.

She moved through the crowd of gyrating college-aged kids and older gay guys trying to cling to their dance-music-fueled youth. As she navigated into the large room used for the drag show, she passed the restrooms. The collection of women and men in both lines obviously had little regard for gender-specific facilities.

In the showroom, the dozen or so tables near the stage had already been claimed, and people had jammed into the area behind them. Maya fell in with the people passing through the crowd like a tiny stream cutting its way through a forest. As she moved, she brushed bodies on both sides, sometimes turning sideways and shuffling along to avoid an errant elbow, drink, or hand holding a cigarette. Several times, she nearly crashed into the girl in front of her when traffic halted abruptly.

She finally made it to the back of the room where a bar stretched across one wall and a duo of bartenders managed the flow of alcohol like air-traffic controllers. No one seemed to recognize her. Over the years she’d learned to distinguish between an interested look due to her appearance and one born of recognition. Then, of course, there was the expression of the person who had figured out that they’d seen her somewhere but hadn’t yet placed just where.

She’d just squeezed into a space at the bar and was still waiting to catch the attention of the bartender when she felt someone press close behind her. She turned her head, coming eye-to-eye with an attractive brunette. Pretty—yes, but her hair was too light, not the deep, rich brown of Shannon’s.

Maya shook her head. Why should she suddenly be comparing other women to Shannon? She barely knew her, and all she’d done so far was aggravate Maya with her lack of confidence. Sure, she was attractive, in a humble, accessible, down-to-earth sort of way. But women like that rarely caught Maya’s eye. She tended to notice women who were different—who stood out in a crowd, not only the classically beautiful, but also flamboyant and super-confident women of all shapes and sizes.

“Can I buy you a drink?” The woman leaned in and spoke near Maya’s ear in order to be heard. Her hair smelled like cigarette smoke, and the sting of alcohol on her breath said it wouldn’t be her first drink of the night. Maya had no idea what Shannon’s hair smelled like.

“Sure, thanks.”

When the bartender came over, she ordered rum and Diet Coke.

“I haven’t seen you here before.”

She managed to suppress an eye roll at the obvious line. “I don’t know how you’d tell with all of these people.”

“I come here a lot.” The woman winked and grinned as if she’d just revealed some impressive tidbit about herself.

“I’m just passing through.”
In more ways than one.
She glanced in the direction of the door, but she couldn’t see it through the crowd.

“A tourist, huh? Business or pleasure?”

“A little of each, I hope.” Before she could stop herself, she flirted, more as an automatic response to the interest in the woman’s voice than anything else. She sipped from her drink, then replaced it on the bar, careful to keep it close. She wouldn’t have more than the one. When she visited a new city, she didn’t seek out the bars for alcohol. She did so because they were the easiest place to blend into the crowd—an accepting crowd—and not be alone for a little while. She didn’t have to be Maya Vaughn; she could become just another body in the throng.

The lights went down even further and a spotlight focused on the center of the stage. Over the house speakers, an announcer introduced the emcee for the show. Maya turned, finding that if she tilted her head just right she could see most of the stage. She was grateful for the entertainment that would keep her from having to make any more small talk for a while.

*

“So, did you meet her?” Even through the phone, excitement colored Jori’s voice.

Shannon laughed. “Is that really your first question?” She’d been the first of the roommates to get up and showered this morning. So she took a few minutes while the others were getting ready to make a phone call.

“Yep. You can’t talk about the show, and you’re not allowed to do anything else. So is there something else new you have to catch me up on?”

“Fair enough. Okay. Yes, I met her.”

“Is she as hot in person?”

“Hotter.” Shannon whispered, glancing around to make sure none of her roommates were within earshot. They’d gathered in the kitchen eating the breakfast Alice had prepared. Shannon couldn’t eat a thing until she’d had at least two cups of coffee. “Insanely hot. And confident. And so focused you can just see it in her eyes. But I don’t think I made a very good first impression.”

“You sound smitten.”

“Maybe I have a little crush. But it’s purely professional.”

Jori laughed. “You have a professional crush?”

“You know what I mean. Okay, so it’s physical, too. But think about what we know about her. She’s a player, a
bisexual
player at that.”

“Sounds like Sawyer when I met her. Except for the bisexual part.”

“Yeah? I don’t remember hearing any rumors about Sawyer having an abortion last year.”

“Wow. That sounded a little cold. I didn’t know you were such a fan of the tabloids.”

“I can hardly miss them. I remember every headline screaming about it. I’ve told you what my ex-husband and I went through trying to have a baby. I wouldn’t trade Regan for anything, but I wanted a baby of my own so badly. I can’t respect anyone’s decision to terminate a life because pregnancy is inconvenient.” As she heard the bitterness in her voice, Shannon became aware that her phone calls were being monitored. They hadn’t been given the details about who would be listening, but she could guess, and she didn’t want some production assistant spreading gossip about her opinions on Maya Vaughn’s life choices. “I gotta go, Jori. We’re due to leave soon and I have to get downstairs. Tell Sawyer I said hello.”