All’s Fair In Love and Cupcakes by Betsy St. Amant

Author:Betsy St. Amant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2014-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Someone had set the clock on the wall to fast-forward, she was sure of it. Kat tried to ignore the numbers ticking away and focus on her decorations. Replays of the last round and Piper’s sneaky attempt—and near success—to eliminate her paraded in her mind, destroying her concentration. She gripped the icing bag tighter in her sweaty hands as she finally scooped the rest of the buttercream inside. She was ready to ice, just as soon as Lucas got the cupcakes out of the oven.

Which should have been several minutes ago. Where were they?

She scanned their workstation, but all she could see was Lucas, busy finishing up the white fondant angel wings they would pair with a set of crossed pistols for the cheesecake cupcakes. The effect would hopefully be enough to impress the judges. It wasn’t easy trying to make a war theme attractive. What was edible and fun about weapons?

And speaking of war . . . this had been the hardest round yet, maybe because the entire set seemed on edge. They were nearing the finish line, and this round mattered. There was only one more before the final event. Everyone knew it, and the niceties seemed to be over. Everyone was looking out for number one now, even Tameka and Tonya, who had so far been the most encouraging contestants on the set. It was an inevitable shift, but the atmosphere had plummeted all the same.

Where were her cupcakes?

She smelled them at the same time Lucas’s head jerked up from his workstation. A sugared pair of wings slipped from his fingers as his eyes widened. “Oh, no.”

Her nose told her the truth before her eyes confirmed it. She wrenched open the oven door and a thin stream of smoke seeped from the edges. Her should-be-golden-brown cupcakes were the color of charcoal.

Her apricot, pear, and cinnamon cheesecake cupcakes, the only recipe she’d been completely confident in this entire round—burned to a literal crisp.

She grabbed a mitt and yanked them out, despair and anger fighting their own war in her thoughts. She dropped the hot tray on her workstation and crossed her arms, the warmth from the mitt seeping through her apron and heating her skin. But she was already flushed. “How did this happen?”

The room stilled, even the judges hushing as they shifted on their stools to watch the unfolding drama. Somewhere in the back of her mind, her conscience urged her to reel it in, to take a step back. It wasn’t Lucas’s fault. But he’d been the last one at the oven. The last one to touch the cupcakes or mess with the timer at all. He wouldn’t have burned them on purpose. She knew better than that. But still—she had burned cupcakes, a ticking clock, and a tightening chest.

Something had happened, and she wanted to know what. Before she had a complete meltdown on national television.

Lucas stared at her, unmoving, like a deer in front of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler. “I set the timer. For seven minutes.

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