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After leaving Westo his task, Noelle had moved around the room saying hello to people. She stopped to chat with Lacey Hathaway, a local documentary filmmaker who managed the local radio station, and who’d recently interviewed Noelle about her dance studio.
She now stood listening to Franchesca. She was listening. Okay, well, trying to at least. Wes looked so handsome in a dark gray button-down with a black belt and jeans. Talking or texting since they’d baked together at his house, she’d encouraged him to wear something comfortable, not too dressy. The cafeteria kitchen wasn’t enormous; it was hardly the size of his family’s home kitchen, and it would get toasty in a hurry, especially with him being so nervous.
When she’d arrived at the Bake-Off and found him standing alone, staring at where things were set up for each bachelor, she could see and almost feel the level of his anxiety. It was much higher than she’d imagined it would be. Of course, being Wes St. Claire, he didn’t have sweat on his brow or rumpled clothing. No. He was put together once again as if dressed byGQmagazine, his fear clear only to the ones who knew him well. Franchesca even commented on how cool and collected he was, unable to see the terror hiding right below the surface of the confident air about him.
“Are you hearing a word I’m saying?”
Noelle had been watching Wes roll the dough in cinnamon and sugar. So far, he’d done everything perfectly. “Huh? What?”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought. You’re too distracted by that hot bachelor boy of yours.”
That snapped Noelle’s attention away from Wes and toward her friend. “Okay. He is not MY bachelor boy, thank you very much. And I was listening to you. We are doing the performance with the kids the day before the second Bake-Off, right?”
“Right. I think that way the people all excited about the Bake-Off will be in the mood to buy tickets and see the kids perform as well. Wrap it up into the atmosphere of helping out Harry’s House.”
“That sounds great. But that’s a week away. We have a lot of work to do.”
“Tell me about it. But my kids have been practicing for a month or so and yours close to the same. I think we can pull it off. I’ve got the theater blocked off for that day and three days ahead so we can do dress rehearsals. I’ve got parents of my students already working on costumes and we can use a lot of the backdrop that already exists at the theater. We can do it.”
Noelle agreed. Her kids had been working in class on pieces they could do in the performance, but she’d also taught them what she intended to teach them in her regular lessons as well, whether that learning was used outside the classroom or not. But a lot went into planning that kind of event. Franchesca had already done a lot in preparation. They had only to finalize the date, which Franchesca had done. However, there was still much to be done.
“What can you pull off?” Holly walked up and asked. She’d been talking with Jeff and Mike, Noelle saw when she’d come into the cafeteria.
“We’re going to put on a play that I wrote,” Franchesca said. “And Noelle’s kids are going to perform in it as well. It will be an event to promote the arts in Marietta as well as raise funds for Harry’s House.”
“Fun! Count me in. I can help you guys. And I’ll put together something to hand out in town, flyers and such.”
Noelle smiled at her sister, grateful for her help. “So, are you bidding on any of these hot bachelors’ baked goods?” She looked at the men now in the final stages of baking, some faring much better than others. Noelle was glad Wes looked as if all had gone smoothly for him.
“That poor guy’s cookies are fried. I’m guessing he’s going home without anyone bidding on his goods,” Franchesca said.
Noelle knocked her friend with her elbow. “You are so bad.”
“What? I call it like I see it.”
Mike walked up to Noelle and placed a friendly kiss on her cheek. “Hey, beautiful. How’s our boy doing?”
As Noelle anticipated, Franchesca’s chin dropped at the sight of Mike St. Claire. Holly’s would have as well, but she’d done her chin-dropping time already having seen Mike at Grey’s and meeting him officially while out one evening with Jeff. Jeff placed his arm around Holly as he joined the group as well.
Noelle introduced them. “Franchesca, this is Mike St. Claire, Wes’s brother. And his friend Jeff.”
The men shook hands with Franchesca who had composed herself in a hurry to flash them both her best smile. “Nice to meet you both.”
“Where’s Annalise?” Noelle asked.
“She’s with my dad.” Mike pointed to the other side of the cafeteria where his daughter held her grandfather’s hand and twirled beneath it. A bright pink tutu was wrapped around her waist over purple jeans and she wore a matching top.
“I can’t get her to wear much else,” Mike said. His attempt at sounding irritated fell flat as he smiled at his daughter.
“She looks great,” Noelle reassured him.
“I think those colors go well together. I might have to find that outfit for myself,” Franchesca said.
Mike laughed out loud. The deep vibrato of the sound was not lost on Franchesca, Noelle could see.
“I appreciate the support. She absolutely loves your class, Noelle. It’s like pulling teeth to get her to go to school, but if I had a dime for every time she asked if it was time for dance class yet, I’d be a wealthy man.”
