“Oh, sorry. The way you seemed so excited…I thought maybe this was almost a practice run for someone.”

“I wish it was,” he said quietly.

She shrugged. “No offense, but who ever said men were smart wasn’t a woman.”

He laughed. “Probably true.”

“If you wish it was, make it so. It’s really pretty simple,” Victoria said.

He walked over to the counter then came back. “You know what, I’m going to switch something up here.”

She stopped mid-motion. “I’ve got the strawberry macarons started.”

“That’s cool. No change in the macarons at all.” He whipped past her. “It was what you said about this cake being special enough for that special person. I know exactly what cake is most important to her.”

“Now you’re talking! Cooking with your heart. I’m telling you from experience, that’s the secret ingredient in every great recipe.”

The words played in his mind. The secret ingredient? It was true that the recipe had never come out quite as perfect as when he and Kelly had made it together, but if she saw the show, she’d know he was serious. His love for her was still as strong as it ever was.

“Thank you for saying that. I think a few things just fell in place for me.”

“My work here is done then,” she said with a laugh.

“Hardly. We’ve got a lot to do over the next few hours.”

“We’ve got this.”

He prepared the cake pans and set them aside, then got right down to work on the one cake recipe he knew meant the world to Kelly McIntyre—the Triple-Layer Honey Almond Cake.

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

“One hour to go,” Martin Schlipshel announced, then made a visit to each of the kitchens, which only made Kelly want to chase him out with a rolling pin. She had things to do. He traipsed around her kitchen with his microphone, murmuring comments, but she didn’t let him get her off her game. She continued frosting her cakes. All of the elements were coming together just as she’d pictured them, and Randy was an excellent baker in his own right.

“How’s your sous chef working out?” Martin asked her.

She’d hoped he’d do his little recon mission and disappear without pulling her into a conversation. “I couldn’t have asked for a better partner.”

But that really wasn’t true. She’d had the best partner once. She knew exactly what that was like. It was more of a collaboration than giving orders. And there was a silence in the movements, neither having to ask the other for anything—one fluid creation. She still had a box of all those handwritten recipes she and Andrew had worked on. She’d always thought they’d eventually have a cookbook together. One they’d sell in their restaurant. Focus. This isn’t about Andrew.