Kelly and Andrew looked at each other.
He shrugged. It made no sense at all.
“Now, the two of you haven’t yet tried each other’s entries, is that right?”
“Correct,” Kelly said.
“Right,” said Andrew.
Georgie, the head judge, got up and carried a tray over to them. She came to Kelly first and gave her the piece from Andrew’s entry, which consisted of a sliver of cake and a macaron. Then she took the other plate to Andrew.
He recognized the cake immediately. She’d made their recipe too. A warm glow flowed through him, and this time it wasn’t the stage lights. Could it possibly mean she’s been thinking what I’ve been thinking all along?
“Go ahead, give them a taste.” Martin watched them both take a bite. “I bet you can see why we’re having such a tough time judging this final round.”
They exchanged another look.
“Kelly, what is the cake that you baked for us?”
“Triple-Layer Honey Almond Cake.” Her mouth pulled into a rigid smile, but he knew her real smile. That wasn’t it. His mood sank. She was mad.
“Andrew?”
He glanced over in Kelly’s direction. “The same. With a tower of macarons in passion fruit, almond, and strawberry with ‘yes’ on one side and ‘I do’ on the other.”
“She had a similar concept. With the chocolate conversation heart answers. I guess great minds think alike,” Martin said. “We’re going to take a quick commercial break, and we’ll be back.”
The cameras pulled back, and the commercial aired on the screens at the edge of the stage.
Martin walked over and spoke to them. “Filming in front of a live audience creates a lot of challenges as it is, but this is the first time we’ve had to punt on the rules.”
Kelly’s jaw pulsed as she turned to Andrew. “That’s my recipe.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
No longer sequestered, Kelly and Andrew were escorted off the stage into one of the green rooms, although it wasn’t green at all.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Kelly spun around on him. “Why would you use my recipe?”
“Wait a second,” he said. “That wasn’t your recipe. We worked on it for weeks and weeks together.”
“Excuse me, so then your Lobster Risotto is also my dish? I helped you with that, I seem to recall.”
“I guess so. That is your favorite cake. At least, it was. I mean, a lot of time has gone by, but I know how much you loved it, and we had so many great nights working on that recipe together in the kitchen at your parents’ house while they were at the restaurant.”
“That’s true.”
“It was my idea to add the strawberries,” Andrew reminded her.
The edge of her mouth quirked at the edge. “It was better than the fresh blackberries I tried at first.”
“But it inspired your recipe.”
“See?” Her eyes danced. “You admit it. It’s my recipe. That cake has been one of my best recipes for years now. I’m known for it.” Her head lolled to the side. “Andrew, you’re privy to recipes from the finest restaurants. Why on Earth would you use that one?”
“First off, don’t underestimate your talents, Kelly.” He tipped his fingers under her chin. He wanted to pull her into his arms, to put everything behind them and turn back the calendar. “Second, my sous chef made a comment about putting my heart into the work, and something clicked. I realized at that moment that if I were making the proposal cake for anyone, it would be you. That’s why I made that cake. Your cake.”
He paused.
“Kelly, you’re the only woman I’ve ever asked to marry me. The one person I could ever imagine sharing my life with. That Triple-Layer Honey Almond Cake represents us to me. The weeks we worked on it were the best in my life. We burned it, we over-spiced, under-spiced…remember when we tried it with the coconut?”
“And when we tried it with marzipan instead of almonds,” she said. “Totally different.”
“You knew what would work. It wouldn’t have happened without you. It was your project, and I loved being a part of that. It’s one of my best memories.”
Her eyes glistened. “Mine too.” The words were barely audible.
“When I was at my mother’s, I was in the attic getting some stuff and I came across a box of our things. That recipe was in the box. I never would have remembered how to bake it if I hadn’t just seen that. I tried to make it a few times when I first got to France. It never turned out.”
“The judges clearly loved it tonight.” She pressed her lips together. “What were you leaving out before?”
“I don’t think I left out anything. I think the missing ingredient was us. It’s our love that makes that cake so perfect.”
Her eyes softened. “I never stopped loving you.” Her chin trembled. “You’re the one who didn’t come home.”
“I know. I’m so sorry.” He brushed her hair back from her cheek. “This cake was more than an entry, it was my heartfelt…I don’t know…my feelings for you coming out. This isn’t coming out right.”
She cocked her head and looked confused, but at least she wasn’t fuming like she’d been a few moments ago.
He took her hand. “Kelly, if I were asking you to marry me again, that’s the exact cake I’d have baked for you.” He rubbed his thumb across the top of her soft hand. “Would you have said yes?”
She pushed her hair back over her shoulder, then touched her hand to her mouth, but she didn’t answer.
“I really wish you would.”
She closed her eyes. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s the truth. I felt it as soon as I saw you again.”
“Don’t throw me off my game. We aren’t done here yet. One of us is going to win.”
He shrugged. “I kind of already did.”
“Excuse me?”
It took him a minute to realize she
