“I’m going to make the cattails with this green we made.” She poured the liquid out onto the marble pad, then rolled it into a sausage-shaped pod. As it cooled, she stretched it a bit more, changing the color and striations a bit at the same time. “This turned out better than I’d hoped. I love it.” She slowly poured the green leaves and shaped them.
Andrew reached over her with a pair of long tweezers she usually used to place edibles on wedding cakes. “May I?”
She had no idea what he planned to do. “Why not?” Why was he being so nice? She wanted so badly to not be nice to him, but all the things she’d liked best about him hadn’t changed at all. Just like old times.
He reached around her, his chin close to her shoulder, then picked up the pointed end of the cattail leaf and folded it over, holding it at an angle for a moment to keep it from flattening into itself.
“That looks amazing.”
“Wait until we stand a few up together.”
“I see what you mean.”
“If you’ll mix up another batch of caramel sugar, I’ll show you how to blow the shapes for the cattails.”
She didn’t hesitate. She mixed the ingredients and took it straight to the temperature like he’d said, and trusted the thermometer for the right time to pull it and then add the colors.
“You’re a fast learner.”
“Thanks.” She went through each step, even the part where she warmed the sugar in the oven to 275 degrees. That made so much sense now.
She finished the amber-colored sugar and handed it off to Andrew, who worked on blowing the sugar glass, much like a real glass blower, into long, tubular shapes for the cattails, then attached them to solid sugar glass rods he’d rolled out of the leftover mix earlier.
She took note as she finished up the chocolate crumb coat and laid the iridescent fondant over the cake.
“Okay, time for the big test.” She moved the mesh rack where they’d poured the sugar over the balloons to the sink. She popped the balloons and let the water run into the sink, then carried the rack back over to the counter and lifted the blue glass. “This is amazing. It seriously looks like blue water splashing up. Crazy!” She positioned it on the far-right edge of the finished cake.
“The size is perfect.”
“It is. Can you bring the fish over? He’d better fit.” That would be her luck. She didn’t want to have to remake that now that the water had turned out so great.
Andrew positioned the fish in the center of the water sculpture and pressed the dowel into the cake. “It’s absolutely perfect.”
She clapped her hands, jumping and hugging his arm. “It’s awesome. We can put the cattails right over here on the other side.”
“Yep.” Andrew handed her the glass pieces.
She set them in place carefully.
“What do you think?” He smiled. He already knew the answer.
“Thanks for your help. The sugar work makes it.”
“It’s easy once you get a little practice. Took me forever to get it right. We once had a guy from Japan come and demonstrate actual candy glass sculpting. It was amazing what he could do.”
“I can imagine you’d have to work really quickly.”
“Yes, the master pastry chef said that before he ever picked up the first piece of soft sugar glass, he had to know exactly what he was making. Once that stuff begins to harden, you have to be done.”
“I bet that was inspiring to watch.” In awe, she realized what a wonderful experience it must have been over there. Learning and doing so many things. Being exposed to things she hadn’t even heard of. It had been an amazing opportunity for him, and he’d taken it seriously.
“I can’t even explain how cool it was,” he said. “You’d have loved it. You’ll find lots of uses for it. It’s great on gingerbread house projects for the holidays.”
“Wouldn’t that be awesome?”
“You can light them up. You wouldn’t believe the gingerbread competitions over there.”
“I get it. Paris is known for their culinary expertise, but you do realize there are wonderful chefs and cuisine right here in America. We have them here in North Carolina too. Asheville has a wonderful one.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right. It’s just all I’ve focused on for seven years.”
“Don’t I know it.” She clasped her hand across her own mouth. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get snappy with you again. I don’t know why I keep doing that.”
He shrugged, then without a word he moved the pots to the sink and started cleaning up.
She let him as she made the final details on the cake. “Thanks for helping clean up. I’ll get the rest of this in the morning.”
“It is morning,” he said.
She noticed the clock. “Oh gosh. I need to get home and fix Gray’s breakfast. Thanks for your help. What a great night.”
“Yeah. Like old times, but wait…who is Gray? I didn’t. I mean…” He stared at her, his brows pulling together. “So…you’re seeing someone?”
Chapter Ten
Kelly had half a mind to let him believe she had a boyfriend. “No.” She couldn’t let him languish, although he probably still deserved to. “I’m not seeing anyone. Gray is my pet pig. I got him after you left.”
“A pig?”
“Yes. A pig. As in oink-oink. It’s a long story.”
He touched her elbow. “I’ve got to see this. Can I come with you?”
It had turned out to be a fun night, just like he’d promised, but coming to her house? She wasn’t sure about that.
“I’ll drive you over, and then when we get back I’ll be out of your hair.” He tilted his head. “Wait. You don’t really have a pig, do you? You’re just giving me a hard time.”
“Oh, I most certainly do have a pig.”
“Then prove it.”
She felt alive again with him, but he’d just be leaving again. She didn’t want to get her hopes up.
