Cupcakes and Christmas - R.J. Scott Page 0,18

that day I’d been hooked on baking, and it had finally given me a career I loved.

“CUT!”

I snapped out of my thoughts and realized everyone was looking at me. What had I missed? I glanced left and right, a smile here, exasperation there. Justin winked at me. Holy shit he winked.

“Sorry,” I said because clearly I’d missed something big.

“Okay, attention please,” the director, a short round guy named Derek, sighed in exasperation. “Let’s go again, starting from Justin, season one. Let’s begin again, name, fondest memory of the show, hometown, and short introduction, and the charity you are hoping to win for. In five, four, three… ” He held up fingers for two and one, and then it was cameras rolling.

“Hi, I’m Justin Mallory from New York, and I was the winner of season one. My fondest memory of the competition was the episode where I won best in show with my take on a sachertorte. The charity I want to win the money for is the New York LGBTQ housing charity. I love cakes and pastries and not a day goes by that I don’t bake, but I have to be careful.” He patted his flat belly, and I envied his hand.

What? Earth to Brody, snap out of it.

Only I couldn’t snap out of it because Justin was the hero of my lust filled I-hate-my-ex-husband fantasies, and after talking to him today, he was even more up there. We’d been the same age, only nineteen. I was studying in college, and he was the winner of season one and taken the one hundred thousand dollar first prize. Just a skinny kid with spiky hair, eyeliner, and a ready smile, he had a passion for baking the same as me, and it didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eyes. And now I was in the same room as him, just a few steps away, and for the first time in a long time, I was attracted to a man who wasn’t my soon-to-be completely-ex.

I’d envied him then when he had the chance to bake for a living and win that money, but I’d also had a healthy lust for the way he looked. Where some people loved actors, I loved the fact he could roll puff pastry with his eyes closed. He’d filled out now, and even with his Christmas sweater and those ridiculous antlers, he was attractive. Marc had agreed, had gone on and on about Justin’s package of sex and fun, but in the same sentence, he would criticize me for spending too much time looking at Justin. I should’ve known he was an asshole back then.

He was right though about staring at Justin. I probably had done it, but Justin was more than hair and abs. He’d been the hope that one day I could get on the show and maybe win. Then I wouldn’t be a barista struggling with student loans and a marketing course that was killing my creativity one day at a time. Justin had a job in a small bakery and winning had been his ticket to a new life where he could do what he wanted. Watching him win, I’d dreamed of myself in his position, able to set up my own business doing what I loved. It had taken until I was out of college, right until season four to get accepted as a contestant, but I’d done it, and my company Bakes by Brody was given the start it needed.

Concentrate. Shauna did her introduction, then Kristen, who was next to me, and then finally it was my turn.

“Hi, I’m Brody Thomas from Corning, New York, and I won season four. My fondest memory of the competition was before my season even started. It was the day I found out I was chosen to be a part of the show. In real life I own Bakes by Brody, or 3B as we like to call it, and I’m completely self-taught. I’m hoping to win to raise funds for a local hospice back home that looked after my grandfather.” Humor, I need to add something funny. I patted my belly, which was a lot softer than Justin’s. “Like Justin, I need to be careful, but let’s be honest, if it’s cake, I eat it.”

I carried a little extra weight than I was used to, my belly soft, but I tasted cake for a living, I had to cut myself some slack. A soft belly and fifteen pounds I didn’t need