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I went back out into the front and was surprised to see Trinity and Peggy standing just inside the door, both of them covered in snow, laughing as they brushed themselves off.
“Ladies, come in. I didn’t think you’d be coming today,” I said as they both took their coats off.
“Better late than never,” Trinity said, slipping out of her coat. “I hope you have a pot of coffee on.”
“Do I have coffee on? Has the Crispy Biscuit ever let you down?” I giggled, pulling two cups off the cup stand. “Did you ladies want anything to eat?” I asked.
“Did you ever get those cinnamon buns done?” Peggy asked, slipping into their usual booth.
“I did. As a matter of fact, I just made them fresh this morning. You’ll have to let me know what you think of them,” I said as I plated one for each of them and set them on the tray with their coffees and made my way over to the table.
I placed both coffees in front of them and then placed the plates down on the table. “Enjoy, ladies. Let me know what you think of those.”
“Oh my gosh, Brooke, these mugs are adorable!” Trinity said, picking hers up and looking at it.
I’d ordered in custom holiday mugs for this holiday season and they’d arrived yesterday. “Thanks, there are four different ones, I figured they were a nice touch to add to the festive holiday feel around here.”
“They are just absolutely adorable!” Peggy said, looking at hers and smiling.
“Glad you like them, today is the first day I’ve had them out. I was hoping that Thomas would have had my new cupboard completed, but he let me know he was running a bit behind on it.
“Yes, it should be here in the next couple of weeks. He does send his apologies.”
“No worries. Enjoy, ladies.” I smiled before leaving them to enjoy the cinnamon roll and went into the office and sat down behind the desk and opened my email. Immediately, my eyes landed on the email I’d been avoiding most of the week.
Festive Treasureshad been waiting to hear from me, to know what recipe they could be expecting. I opened the email and read it over for the sixth time, hoping that perhaps the wording had changed and that they were going to kick me out of the contest instead. However, the words hadn’t changed.
I looked at the deadline date, I had to let them know by tomorrow or else they would disqualify me from the contest. I pulled the letter off the peg board and opened it, reading over the acceptance once again. Then I stared down at the name that was signed on the bottom.
I’d had no idea what had happened to Tristan. I remembered I’d asked around at school, but no one knew much of anything. In fact, most students wondered why I even cared after all the trouble he’d been during the first year. I’d even eventually broken down and tried messaging him again, but it did little good; it was as if he had disappeared off the earth. Until now. As I sat there, I silently wondered if he’d ever gotten his Michelin Stars that he’d wanted so badly back in the day and I giggled to myself. I opened my browser and googled his name, nothing about Michelin Stars came up, just a bunch of articles he’d written over the years withFestive Treasurespopulated the screen and a Facebook profile. As I scrolled, I noticed one of the most recent articles: a congratulatory post, congratulating him on becoming a judge for this year’s Countdown to Christmas.
As I read the words, a sinking feeling came over me. Was he really going to be one of the judges for the contest this year? There was no way this was happening! Looked like out of the both of us, I had become the more successful one, I thought, thinking back to how he’d made fun of me that first day. As I ran over the memory in my mind, I decided that there was no way I wasn’t going to enter this contest. I was a damn good baker and chef and I planned to win this contest this year, and I feared with him as one of the judges, he would let it get too personal. I folded the letter up and pegged it back up on my board and then hit reply to that email.
In a matter of minutes, I sat reading what I’d written, thanking them for the opportunity but that I would not be participating in this year’s contest. I stared at the screen, my mouse hovering over the send button, every fiber of my being screaming back at me. Why the hell shouldn’t I participate? Surely, after all these years, he wouldn’t still be so cocky. There was no way possible I would have a mark on my back. He probably didn’t even remember me, and there were other judges judging this year’s contest. He wasn’t the final say. I blew out a breath, and instead of hitting send, I deleted all the words I had written and began again, this time letting them know I was delighted to be participating and that I’d be entering my cinnamon rolls.
I hit sent without giving it a second thought, and then I stepped out front to find Trinity and Peggy still laughing away, their plates clean. “So, ladies, how was that cinnamon bun?”
“Fantastic,” they said in unison.
“Best I’ve ever had,” Trinity answered. “I’ll have to get some to-go. Thomas will love them. I’ll also have to take some out to Aunt Vi and Jed when we visit next week.”
I smiled. “You got it. Oh, not sure if you heard yet, but I was accepted into theFestive TreasuresCountdown to Christmas Bake-Off again this year. That is the recipe I have decided to enter.”
“Oh, I just got that magazine in the mail,” Peggy said. “I haven’t read anything about this contest though.”
“I’ve entered before. They’ve held it for the last couple of years. But this year they are holding it right here in Willow Valley.”
“Oh wow. How did we get so lucky?” Trinity questioned.
“I’m not sure. I was the second-place winner last year. Perhaps that is how,” I replied, thinking back to the location of last year’s contest. They had held it in the winner’s hometown though, not the runner-up.
“I hope you ladies will come and root me on. Perhaps even enter into the contest as well,” I said, tapping Trinity on the shoulder. “They are having additional tryouts on the first.”
“Ha, no way. My baking can’t hold a candle to yours.” Trinity laughed.
“What about you, Peggy?” I questioned.
“If it were flower arranging, I’d enter in a moment, but baking, you know as well as I do that I purchase all my baking here.”
