Magic, Lead, and Gingerbread (The Witches of Pinecroft Cove Book 3) by Nicole St Claire

Author:Nicole St Claire [St Claire, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Apple Blossom Press
Published: 2019-12-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

An unexpected shot of adrenaline made my fingertips tingle as I surveyed the mixing bowls, measuring cups, and ingredients in front of me on the workstation. Noah stood beside me, a black apron with the Bake Wars logo having replaced the hot pink one, which I had to admit, I kind of missed. Behind Noah was a cameraman, his lens trained on Maggie Dutton, awaiting his cue to start rolling. It was almost time for the competition to begin.

“You’ll have one hour for the first challenge,” Maggie announced, her hushed tone adding urgency to the moment. “Let the bake war begin.”

The cameraman circled around to the front of the moveable island workstation, and immediately, I froze. What was I supposed to be doing? What were we making? My mind was blank.

“Tamsyn,” Noah whispered. “Start putting the dry ingredients in the bowl.”

“Huh?” was the only response I could manage. I was too transfixed by the blinking light that indicated the camera was rolling to think about anything else.

“Do you think you could stop filming for just a minute?” Noah asked, and a moment later, the light ceased its blinking. He turned to me, his expression a mix of concern and confusion. “You remember this is timed, right?”

“Yeah, I…” I had no idea what was wrong with me. We’d practiced the gingerbread cake recipe several times, so I knew what to do. The atmosphere in the kitchen was even surprisingly relaxing for what was meant to be a race. Because the space was small, the teams were taking turns using the single workstation for their challenges. They would film from different angles and later splice all the footage together to make it look like we had all been cooking at the same time at different spaces. One more example of the magic of television. Even the audience was low-key, with just a few dozen seats set up in one corner of the room, and filled with plenty of friendly faces, including Sybil and Cass. I had no reason to be petrified, and yet, I was. “Sorry. I think it’s stage fright.”

Noah gave me a sympathetic smile. “That’s okay. Just try to focus on the recipe, and forget about everything else. When the camera starts rolling again, all you have to do is measure the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl, like we practiced, okay?”

I nodded. “I’ll try.”

“Okay, rolling in three, two, one,” said the cameraman. When he reached the number one, the light began to blink. I swallowed and looked away, focusing my attention on the task in front of me.

“Flour,” I muttered, glancing at the open recipe book on the work surface. It was not the family grimoire I was accustomed to, but a cheap three-ring binder with printouts of our recipes along with notes Noah had made for each. My hand shook as I dipped the measuring cup into the bag. I stopped short as a look from Noah reminded me how picky he was about this step. I

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