He was magnificent. Proud, so big. The antlers were works of art and the red coat glowed in the winter light.
She thought about the little deer she found in the Christmas cracker when she was a child, and the night she saw the deer when she arrived and then the deer family Christmas decoration that Marc gave her.
She wasn’t a superstitious person but surely this had to mean something?
‘What do I need to learn from you? From this?’ she whispered.
The deer ignored her and she felt silly for asking a creature who could easily kill her what it was there to teach her.
Fear, she thought, it was here to teach her fear. But she knew fear. She had been afraid all her life. Of what people thought of her. Of taking risks. Of claiming her ideas and pulling back from Simon and asking for support and recognition. But when she looked at the animal, she wasn’t afraid.
As though understanding her, the deer ambled away as slowly as it had come into her view.
She had to stop being afraid of her possibilities. Anything was possible if she wanted it and worked hard enough for it.
Standing up she brushed off her coat and straightened her shoulders.
She would win the soufflé competition and Simon would go away and she would tell Marc exactly how she felt and everyone would live happily ever after.
She just had to have a little faith and the best cultured butter and bittersweet chocolate she could find.
26
Seth stood on a kitchen chair. He wore a red plastic top hat while Ethan stood next to him wearing a green glittery top hat.
Paul had bought them from the pound shop as a joke but the twins loved them and insisted on wearing them for their roles as scrutineers for the soufflé competition.
While the twins through it was great fun, Christa had never been more determined to win at anything in her life.
Even her finals at Le Cordon Bleu didn’t raise her adrenaline like this moment.
Everything was set out on the benches.
Exactly the same metal bowls. A double-boiler saucepan. Ramekin. A handheld mixer each, which Peggy had bought new so they had the same one of the same make. And the ingredients.
These were the only differences.
Christa had chosen a different butter and chocolate. She had kept her eggs at room temperature while Simon’s were in the refrigerator. She was surprised he did this but maybe he forgot that cold eggs don’t get the same peaks as room temperature ones.
‘The soufflés will be made at the same time. They will be taken into the judge’s room by us, and the tasting will be done. The decision will be made. And the winner of the soufflé competition will be announced.’
Christa took a quick breath in and then let it out slowly, trying to calm her nerves.
Marc wasn’t in the room. He was sitting alone in the dining room, at the insistence of the boys, who said he needed to be far away so he couldn’t cheat.
‘The judge will choose his favourite dish and only then will we discover whose is whose,’ said Seth, reading from the paper of rules that Adam had helped him write.
‘Is there a prize?’ asked Ethan and Christa saw Avian and Simon glance at each other.
‘We will decide that after,’ said Avian, sneering at Christa.
‘The soufflés will be served on the same plates so there will be no disting, disting, disting…’
‘Distinguishing,’ prompted Adam.
‘Between the dishes.’
Seth turned to Christa and Simon.
