“Because you didn’t like the result?”
“That’s right. If we do things exactly the way we did them this morning, it’ll be too . . . evocative.”
“Because it reminds you of what happened this morning?”
“Yes. And I don’t want those memories hanging over my head when we bake tomorrow night for the judges.”
“Good. Everything you said makes sense to me. I know I’d be more comfortable if we changed things around. One thing for sure . . . I don’t want to step inside that walk-in cooler again!”
“Actually . . . now that I think about it . . . I’m not sure I’m entirely happy with the way the cookies looked. There wasn’t enough color difference between the butterscotch part and the vanilla part.”
“That’s true, especially after your super-colorful wedding cake. The colors on the cookies were kind of blah.”
“Right. Think about this for a minute, Michelle. Who’s the principal player here? The vanilla cookie, or the butterscotch cookie?”
“The butterscotch, of course. The vanilla’s very good, but it’s just vanilla.”
“Precisely. So why are we teaming the really good butterscotch cookie with the good, but not spectacular, vanilla cookie?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think we should team them at all.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” Hannah gave her a smile. “Let’s make Butterscotch Sugar Cookies. If we do that, we’ll have two advantages over the way we made them this morning.”
“We won’t have to roll the dough and assemble it, and we won’t have to chill the rolls in the walk-in cooler?”
“Exactly. We’ll save a ton of time, and that means we can make something else to go with the butterscotch cookies.”
“Ice cream?”
“That’s a good idea, but I’ve never made ice cream before. Have you?”
“No.”
“Ross and I were talking about it this morning and he thinks we should serve a coffee drink with the cookies.”
“But not plain coffee, right?”
“Right. We’ve done that before, although it can’t hurt to brew a pot and leave it behind at the judging table. They seemed to like that when we did it before.”
“I’ve got it!” Michelle gasped, looking very excited. “White chocolate cocoa!”
“Like the white chocolate cocoa that Lisa makes?”
“Yes, but slightly different. Most coffee drinkers like mocha. And that’s chocolate and coffee. Why can’t we put white chocolate and coffee together and call it White Chocolate Mocha?”
Hannah thought about that for a moment. “There’s no reason why we can’t do that. Of course, we’ll have to try it to make sure it works.”
“That’s easy. I’ll make it tonight just as soon as I get back to your condo.”
“And I’ll go right home and make the Butterscotch Sugar Cookies. We can try them both together and see what we think.”
“Okay. I’ll be out as soon as I paint that wall. It shouldn’t take me more than an hour.”
“That’s perfect. I should have some of the cookies baked by then since the dough doesn’t need to chill.”
“’Bye, Hannah. I love you.”
“’Bye, Michelle. I love you, too.”
There was a smile on Michelle’s face as she turned to go into their mother’s house. It was mirrored by the smile on Hannah’s face as she drove away toward the freeway and the road home.
Hannah sat down on the couch in her living room and reached for the phone. Her first two pans of cookies were in the oven and she could hardly wait to sample them. She dialed Ross’s cell phone number and sipped from her cup of coffee as she waited for him to answer.
“Hannah!”
Ross sounded surprised to hear from her, and Hannah smiled. At least this time, when something important had happened, she’d remembered to call him. “Yes, it’s me. Are you busy?”
“I’m never too busy for you. Do you realize that this is the first time you’ve called me at work?”
“You’re right. It is. I’ve got something serious to tell you, Ross.”
“Is it about the wedding?”
“No.”
“Then everything’s okay with that?”
“Yes, it is. It’s about Chef Duquesne.”
“The head judge?”
“Yes. Michelle found him in Sally’s walk-in cooler this morning when we went out to the Lake Eden Inn to practice. He was on the floor, dead.”
“Poor Michelle! Is she okay?”
“I think so, but it was a shock. How did you feel about him, Ross?”
“I had no quarrel with him. He was fine with P.K. and me when we did our interview with him in New York. And he was nice to you when you baked our wedding cake. He was really too tough on some of the other contestants, though.”
“How about the Food Channel film crew? Did they like him?”
“Not personally, but he made for a good show. If all the judges are nice, there’s not much controversy. Duquesne provided controversy in spades.”