Soufflés at Sunrise (23 page)

The buzzer rang, and he, Polly, and Clarissa ran for the tables. Al and Chase had lost time, so they had to wait. Kai didn’t feel the least bit vindicated by that.

“C
ONGRATULATIONS
, P
OLLY
. You’ve won this week’s challenge,” Diego said. “The judges really were wowed by your trio of tea-flavored profiteroles. It was creative, delicious, and all of the elements went together perfectly with an elegant presentation. Good work.”

Polly beamed, and the others applauded her. Kai was happy for Polly. She was an awesome chef who’d just happened to be overlooked at times when he thought she shouldn’t have been. He was glad she was getting recognition.

“Chase and Kai. Congratulations to you two as well. You had very high scores with the judges. Good work.”

Chase had gone with three berry-and-chocolate combinations: a cherry and dark chocolate tart, white chocolate and blueberry panna cotta, and milk chocolate cups filled with strawberry and cranberry mousse. They had looked fantastic on the plate, and Kai was a little jealous that he hadn’t had chance to try them himself.

Chase and Kai didn’t hold back. Kai grinned at Chase and
reached over to sling an arm around his shoulders. He figured if they didn’t like it, they’d cut it from the final film, but he wanted to show Chase he was proud of his work and happy to be in the good score range with him.

“There was some amazing work today and really no disasters, but we’re getting close to the end of the competition, which means sometimes it’s only the least good that gets burned, not the worst. This is one of those weeks. Can I have Clarissa and Al step forward?” Diego said.

Kai had high hopes. It was Clarissa’s second time in the bottom, although she’d won the week before. Unfortunately, it was Al’s second time in the bottom as well. Kai didn’t want to compete for the final with Clarissa. He knew she’d try to pull something.
Please kick her out….

“Clarissa, your cupcake trio was delicious and beautifully decorated, but the judges have warned you about too many cupcakes before when you failed to wow them in the sweet and salty challenge. Al, your trio of mousses was again delicious and the flavors married well with each other, but the judges also feel that you were too safe. If you stick to something like mousse, change up the flavors more, give them something that they don’t expect. That said, you’d never shown them a mousse before.”

Diego paused. Kai started to hope maybe Clarissa was really going to go. It didn’t sound like they were going to burn Al.

“Only one of you can stay and the other will be burned, and this week, Clarissa, luck isn’t with you. I’m sorry, you’re burned.” Diego bowed his head in the typical way he always did, like he gave a crap whose dreams he was crashing to the ground. Usually that meant a teary good-bye and a few hugs. Kai didn’t know what to expect from Clarissa. She seemed sweet on camera, but she hadn’t made any friends in the other contestants, for sure. And that was an understatement.

While he didn’t expect sentimental good-byes, what he didn’t expect was her to bark out, “I’d like to talk to Tommy. Alone.”

Kai figured he was screwed. He knew she’d seen him pass Chase that ingredient and had just been holding on to it until it was her best time to use it. He knew she’d have no problem telling Tommy exactly what she’d seen. What he didn’t know was if that was enough to get him kicked off, or if Tommy wanted him to stay enough that he was safe. The others didn’t know what to do. They milled around for a moment before the cameras were turned off and they were directed to clean up and head for the shuttle.

Chase came over to Kai. “Hey,” he said quietly.

Kai didn’t know exactly what that “hey” meant, but he’d take it if for no other reason than they were talking. Chase looked at him for another few moments, eyes shy and downcast, before he turned and walked toward the shuttle.

Whatever that just was….

Kai didn’t even know what to think anymore. It was the first semipleasant words Chase had said to him in weeks. He didn’t exactly expect any more of them.

W
ELCOME
TO
Burned
, where we find fresh new cooking talent… and a few culinary disasters! This is the last elimination before our final challenge to see who is
Burned
’s pastry champion. Polly’s trio of delicious tea-flavored profiteroles brought her into the semifinal on top. Last week saw the end of Clarissa, always a favorite with the judges for her sweet, beautiful cupcakes and cakes. She lost originality points, though, when she turned out more cupcakes that were a lot like things the judges had seen before. And so, like all the chefs must be until we find our champion, she was
Burned
.

This week, in our last elimination round before the finale, we see the chefs work with an old-time favorite. Jell-O. But they won’t be doing just anything with it. Their creations have to be unique, sophisticated, and show that Jell-O isn’t just for kids and old-fashioned vegetable dishes. We can’t wait to see what they come up with!

Our grand prize winner gets a year of pastry training in Paris, a whole kitchen’s worth of top-of-the-line commercial tools and appliances, and a hundred thousand dollars for his or her own business.

With stakes this big, we ask the one question on everyone’s mind: Do these chefs have what it takes to rise to the top? Or will they get
Burned
?

C
HASE
LOOKED
over at Polly next to him and grinned.

“You ready for this?” he asked.

“Let’s rock it,” she said and held her hand up for a high five. Chase couldn’t help but laugh as he slapped her palm.

For once Chase didn’t feel too bad about the midweek challenge. They weren’t playing to win or lose time in the final challenge; instead the prize was the order they’d get to pick their ingredients in. Of course, Chase still wanted to win, to get first shot at picking his flavors, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he went last.

Being paired with Polly gave him renewed confidence. They hadn’t worked together yet in the competition, and he was excited for the chance. Polly was an amazing chef, and he respected her talent. He figured, if nothing else, it was going to be fun.

“Are you ready to make some….” Diego paused dramatically. “Macarons?”

Polly laughed. “Awesome,” she said under her breath.

Diego went on to explain they would be tested not on their creativity, style, or flair—the judges wanted to see bakery-ready identical macarons, a dozen of them each in two flavors.

“We’ve got this,” Polly said when they were dismissed to start planning. “I love macarons.”

“I like
eating
them,” Chase said, and poked her in the ribs.

“I think we should go super traditional,” she said, flipping her long braid back over her shoulder. “Let’s do the basics really well. Diego just said they don’t want anything flashy. It’s substance over style.”

“That’s fine by me. How about vanilla and… chocolate?”

“Espresso?”

“Even better. Vanilla and espresso.”

Chase was used to the cameras following his every move in the kitchen, so when he almost walked into a cameraman who had been filming their conversation, Polly cracked up laughing.

“Sorry!” Chase exclaimed, holding his hands up as he jogged over to the pantry to start collecting ingredients.

The good thing about vanilla and coffee flavors was they colored themselves, meaning he didn’t have to worry about food coloring upsetting the delicate macaron recipe. He grabbed vanilla pods and a rich, dark bag of espresso beans from the shelves, along with the almond flour and other ingredients that had been set aside for them on the main table.

When he got back to the station, Polly was well underway with the standard prep, having set up the baking sheets and piping bags ready to get started. She’d drawn three-dozen circles on the baking sheets so they’d have a guide for piping and they could abandon any that didn’t bake evenly.

The next hour and a half was as fun as Chase had hoped for. Polly hummed as she worked and communicated well at each stage of the process. Chase couldn’t help but compare the challenge to the one he’d done with Kai, but that wasn’t fair, not really. Things were weird with him and Kai. Even after his dumb sort of try at bridge building the other night. “Hey.” How stupid.

“Done,” Polly said, sliding the second baking sheet into the oven.

“Awesome.”

“Fillings?” she asked.

“Oh.” Chase thought for a moment. “I guessed we’d go with the same flavors as the shells. Classic and simple, you know?”

“Hmm.” Polly leaned a hip against the counter. “How about we put vanilla in the coffee shells….”

“And coffee in the vanilla ones?” Chase finished for her with a laugh. “Nice.”

“Do you have any particular recipes in mind?” Polly asked as she started to pull powdered sugar, heavy cream, and butter onto the counter.

“Cream?” he asked. “Really?”

Polly gave him an odd look. “Don’t you put cream in buttercream frosting?”

“I guess I don’t have a lot of macaron experience.”

“Do you trust me?” she demanded.

“Sure,” Chase said with a laugh.

“Great. Can you get that mixer going, please?”

At times Chase felt a little like Polly’s sous chef, though he didn’t really mind. She was very confident in her cooking, which meant he didn’t have to worry about the finer details. He was constantly impressed at how well she worked and how familiar she was in a kitchen, considering how young she was.

As they worked on the fillings, Chase let his gaze wander over to where Kai and Al were working frantically on their pink and purple macarons. It was funny, really, how the two teams had decided to go in totally opposite directions; Chase and Polly’s cookies would have subtle, natural tones, and Kai and Al’s were bright and vibrant.

“I have no idea who’s going to win this,” Chase said as he turned away from Polly and pulled the baking sheets out of the oven. The shells had a beautiful, glossy finish, and the cracked feet told him they’d managed to create perfect macarons. He carefully slid each shell onto a cooling rack and wiped his arm across his forehead instinctively.

“Me either,” Polly said, stepping over to look at the shells. “These look good to me, but….”

“Yeah.”

There was no way of knowing which way the judges would swing. Now that there were only four of them left, even the smallest thing could mean the difference between failure and success.

Chase was relieved when they had a few minutes left to present the macarons in a bakery box, alternating the colors to make it look pretty. He gave Polly a firm hug as the buzzer sounded, and nodded to himself. They’d done well.

In the end, the judges said it was almost too close to call, and the delicacy of Polly’s coffee macaron had secured the win for her team—just. Unsurprisingly, she won the overall prize of first to the tables, and Chase thought she deserved it.

This challenge had been just what he needed to get into the mindset for the final test of his
Burned
career.

T
HIS
ISN
’
T
good.

Chase had a feeling something was about to go down, and he didn’t like it one bit. Tommy and a couple of the network suits who’d been hanging around looking suspicious the whole time they’d been baking the macarons were muttering in the corner. Of course, they always looked like some expensive herd of Mafia hit men, so that wasn’t really anything different.

“Gentlemen,” Tommy finally said. “Perhaps we should take this into my conference room.” He glanced around again like he had about a thousand things to hide, and then ushered the suits down the hall.

Chase wasn’t an eavesdropper, really, he wasn’t, but he knew whatever the hell they were talking about in that office had to do with them. He’d seen the guys eyeing him and Kai all morning. If it was about them being fake rivals again, he deserved to know. If someone had found out they had been a hell of a lot more than friends at one point, well, then he needed to know so he knew how to handle it. Whatever it was, he figured it was bound to be about him and Kai. He’d seen them watching both of them more than once during the filming.

Tommy had left the door to the conference room cracked, which was convenient. Chase had been planning to listen through the vent in the bathroom, but he didn’t even have to do that. He felt like some kind of spy, albeit a huge dorky one who was likely to get caught. Everyone else had cleaned up from the challenge and was making their way to the shuttle. Chase would look pretty damn guilty of something if he were caught in the back hall. He tried to be silent.

“Have you made your choices, gentlemen?” Tommy was asking. “Who do you want on next season’s posters?”

Wait. What? That wasn’t about his and Kai’s relationship. That was them… fucking deciding who was going to win before a single dough had been mixed for the final. Chase clapped a hand to his mouth when an outraged squeak nearly escaped.

“The girl’s out. So’s the big guy. Not sexy enough to sell the show to the housewives. That leaves the blond and the dark guy. I was watching them, and they both have potential. What are their names again?”

It was a voice Chase didn’t recognize. Probably one of the suits.

“Kailua Chin and Chase Christiansen are their names,” Tommy replied.

“Are either of them noticeably better? I like that Kailua guy’s name, and he’d look pretty on the posters.”