Speaking of fireworks, they were her job, and she got to work on the Isomalt, getting ready to stretch it and do her best to make it look like bursts of light in the sky above her picnic. She used clear and colored it, some red, some blue. The rest would stay clear. She and Hadley found some clear sticks they’d use to “put them in the air,” and Regan sent up a quick prayer to the baking gods to help her not break them.
She was working on shaping one when Liza came around one of the screens. “Chefs,” she said by way of greeting.
“Chef,” they responded in unison.
“And how are we doing?” Liza had her hands clasped behind her back as if resisting the urge to touch things, or maybe to help. She peered over Regan’s shoulder, which, no, didn’t make her nervous at all, for fuck’s sake.
Feeling herself starting to sweat, she forced herself to focus and work and pretend one of her idols wasn’t hovering over her, judging her every move.
Finally, Liza moved over to Hadley’s area, where she was putting the lid on the cooler of tiny cans. “Interesting,” she said as she watched for a moment, and Regan had to force herself not to roll her eyes. Would it kill the woman to offer some encouragement? Hadley did a commendable job of keeping her hands from shaking. Regan made a mental note to compliment her on that later.
Liza watched for another moment, said, “Mm-hmm,” and was on her way. Hadley looked at Regan and they both blew out breaths, then laughed quietly with each other.
“Holy fuck,” Hadley whispered, and that pretty much said it all.
They got back to work.
* * *
They were all nervous.
All you had to do was look around to notice, and that’s what Ava did, now that the screens had been taken away and the assistants sent off to another room. Nobody spoke. The entire kitchen was silent. But everybody was moving in some way. Maia’s knee was bouncing up and down like a jackhammer. Paige was chewing on a thumbnail. Madison spun the silver ring on her middle finger. Vienna sat perfectly still unless you looked very closely, and then you could see the muscle in her jaw working as she clenched and unclenched her teeth. And Regan? Regan was adorably—and literally—twiddling her thumbs. Her fingers were entwined and her thumbs rolled around and around each other. She glanced across the aisle and gave Ava a wink.
Liza’s crew had taken the bakes away just before taking the screens, so nobody got to see anybody else’s project. Liza was going to have each one brought in on its own, one at a time, and the bakers could talk about them and about their process.
So they waited.
Finally, Liza came strolling in, looking very satisfied with herself. Ava was kind of amazed at how her view of the famous chef had changed over the past weeks. Seven weeks ago, she didn’t thinklooking very satisfied with herselfwould have been a way she’d describe Liza Bennett-Schmidt, her idol. But today? Definitely. Her ego was much, much larger than Ava had expected. And her kindness? Kinda lacking. But she shook those thoughts away and did her best to focus on the learning she’d done here. Because there had definitely been a lot of that, regardless.
“Chefs,” Liza said.
“Chef,” they parroted back.
“How do you feel?”
Nods, shrugs, and a couple ofgoodswent through the room. They all looked exhausted but also relieved. Ava knew she was. Relieved to have this day over. Presenting was the easy part.
“Well, you’ve shown terrific creativity on this project. I’m very impressed with most of you.”
Themost of youdidn’t bode well, but it was also unsurprising. It seemed Liza always chose one of them to focus her negativity on with each project, and Ava hoped it wasn’t her turn.
“Our first bake is from Maia,” Chef Liza said, and two staffmembers carried in Maia’s bake. “Maia, would you come forward and tell us about your work?”
“Sure.” Maia glanced across the aisle at Vienna, who gave her a thumbs-up.
At the front of the room, she turned to face her peers, just as Liza said, “I see you found your bandanna.”
“Yeah. I tore the whole room apart and then yesterday, it just…appeared.”
“Weird,” Liza said.
“Right?” Maia asked, and their gazes held for a beat before Maia began her presentation. “To me, July Fourth has always meant a weekend at my grandparents’ cottage on the lake.” Her bake had a lake as the central focus, a cake with a dip in it and covered by blue Isomalt to give the impression of glimmering water. There was a dock protruding into the lake, a couple canoes, and a small cabin. All very detailed. People were fishing, and two figures bobbed in the “water.”
Ava was just thinking about how impressive the detail was when Liza said, “Well, your people look a little toy-like.”
“I mean, they’re miniature, so they kinda are,” Maia said softly, absently tugging at the bandanna around her neck. They didn’t normally respond to Liza’s critiques or try to defend themselves, so Ava was surprised to hear Maia’s voice, as quiet as it was.
Liza nodded as she studied Maia’s work. “Your piping here on the edge is a little messy. Nice work on the dock, though.” She circled, then pointed. “One of your canoes is cracked.”
