“He said that it was impossible, that he’d never had anything to do with my mother. He told me that he knew trouble when he saw it . . . and . . . he accused my mother of . . . of playing around with every man on his kitchen staff!”
“I’m so sorry.” Hannah’s heart went out to Brooke.
“But that’s not all! When I started to cry and told him that my mother was dead, he wasn’t sympathetic at all. And then he said that this was a first for him, that nobody had ever tried to shake him down for a higher score in any competition he’d judged by claiming to be his illegitimate child!”
Hannah knew the next part of the story. “So you ran out of his room, crying.”
“Yes! I ran straight back to my room. And I double-locked the door, and I cried and cried. And then Loren heard me crying and knocked on my door.”
“You told him what had happened with Chef Duquesne?”
“Yes! And he called room service, ordered a bottle of wine for me, and let me talk until I fell asleep. When I woke up in the middle of the night, Loren was there, curled up and sleeping on the little couch in my room. And he was still sleeping right there when I woke up the next morning.”
“Loren’s a good friend to have,” Michelle said.
Brooke smiled. “Yes, he is. I was feeling so terribly alone and upset when I got back to my room. Thinking about it now, I really don’t know what I would have done without Loren.”
Hannah glanced at the monitor and smiled. “And speaking of Loren, there he is now. I’ll turn up the volume. We were so busy talking, I guess we missed Gloria.”
“Good!” Brooke said. “I didn’t want to see her anyway.” She paused for a moment and then she smiled. “Look at Loren’s cookies! They’re just beautiful!”
Hannah and Michelle exchanged amused glances. Loren’s cookies looked very good, golden brown on top and artfully arranged on a cobalt-blue platter that made them look even more golden and delicious. Handsome, yes. Good-looking, yes. But neither Hannah nor Michelle would have described them as beautiful. It seemed that their friend Brooke was now seeing one person in the world through rose-colored glasses, and only one emotion could cause a phenomenon like that to occur. Perhaps Brooke didn’t know it yet, but they did. Brooke was definitely falling in love with Loren.
It was time for the judges to tally the scores and Hannah had to admit that she was more nervous than she’d been in any of the other challenges. Coming up with a good score in the cookie challenge was of paramount importance to her business.
“Smile,” Michelle urged her, as the judges took their seats and the cameras began to pan the contestants.
Hannah smiled, hoping that her put-on smile didn’t look like a grimace. This part of the program made her even more anxious than she’d been when she’d presented her cookies to the judges.
The announcer always started with the lowest scoring entry and worked his way up to the winner of the challenge. Hannah took a deep breath and held it. She didn’t think she’d come in dead last, but anything could happen.
“In fifth place is Chef Gloria Berkeley,” the announcer declared, and Hannah breathed a huge sigh of relief. She’d truly believed that her Butterscotch Sugar Cookies were just too good to come in last, but it was still a big relief. If she came in fourth, she wouldn’t be happy, but she could live with herself. And if she came in third, in the center of the pack, she would be disappointed, but not devastated. Second would be better, a lot better. After all, every other contestant was a noted dessert chef and she was just a small-town baker. But if somehow luck smiled on her tonight and she came in first, she would be ecstatic!
“Our fourth-place winner is Chef Rodney Paloma.”
The moment Rodney’s name was announced, Michelle reached out to squeeze Hannah’s hand. Their sisterly radar was at work again. If Gloria and Rodney had taken fifth place and fourth place, the top three were Hannah, Loren, and Brooke. Now she could relax slightly.
“The judges wanted me to tell you that the top three places were very difficult for them to decide. For this reason, they have reached a tie for first place in the cookie challenge. The third-place cookie was excellent and received top scores on appearance, consistency, and flavor. The judges did not feel, however, that it was as innovative as the top two cookies. For that reason, third place belongs to Chef Loren Berringer.”
“This leaves a first-place tie between Chef Brooke Jackman with her unusual and innovative chocolate rosette cookies and Hannah Swensen with her incredible Butterscotch Sugar Cookies!”
Hannah heard the next announcement through a fog of happiness. The announcer was telling the audience that the next and final challenge of the competition would be a free-for-all challenge. The contestants were allowed to choose any dessert they wished to make and present it to the judges.