Page 40 of Never Kiss Your Brother's Best Friend

“It was a long shot. I wanted to surprise you both if I got it. I knew it wouldn’t be on TV because they weren’t going live until it was down to five, so there was no reason to say anything.”

“Mia Louise Donovan,” I scold her. “We don’t keep secrets from each other, ever. We tell each other everything, always and you know that. I have half a mind not to give you a slice of that S’mores pizza,” I jest.

“I know. I’m sorry. I wanted it to be a surprise. I’ll never keep anything from you two again.” The three of us link pinkies in a tradition as old as time, the famous “pinky swear.”

“Ok, so I have to know,” Zoe chimes in, “what was your creation?”

Mia hangs her head. “I’d rather not say…”

“What, why?” Zoe prods. “Everything you make is amazing.”

“Well, it ended up being a mix of that I made, along with what I chose to call it.”

We both lean forward, “Go on.”

She takes a deep breath. “I wanted to do something different, something out of my comfort zone to really impress the judges. I went with a specialty croissant. My thought was to take the flaky exterior and conceal a fiery surprise inside.”

“Oh, nice,” I comment.

“I decided to make a blend of spicy ingredients, jalapenos, pepper jack cheese and a siracha-infused sauce so you got a burst of heat with every bite.”

I raise my hand. “I love it. I’d like to trade in my Reuben pizza for it right now!”

That gets a giggle from Mia. She looks like she needed one.

She continues. “Going with the hot croissant theme, I shaped the dough into the body of a dragon. Then I used a knife to create scales. I even cut strips for the wings and tail and added smaller details like claw and spikes.”

This sounds amazing. I can’t imagine what the problem was.

“The finishing touch was supposed to be a glaze made from chili-infused honey that made it look like the dragon was breathing fire. But the time was about to run out, and I couldn’t find the honey, so I used soy sauce.”

Not a perfect substitution but still sounds okay.

“I mixed the soy and chilies together quickly and poured it in the mouth as they called ‘time.’ I was so flustered I forgot I was supposed to come up with a title for my creation. Seconds later, they called my name. I was the first to present.”

Mia shakes her head, then rubs her face with both hands.

“When they asked me what I was calling it, I blurted out 'Dragon’s Breath Croissants'.”

Ew. Well, that’s probably not top of my list for names, but I guess it’s not horrible.

“As I got ready to present my dish, I noticed the soy sauce was not a good choice. Instead of the mixture being red and thick like it would have been if I had used the chili and honey to represent fire, it was a nasty shade of brown and very runny."

"The name Dragon’s Breath Croissants sounded even less appealing when the dragon looked like it just threw up some sort of swamp sludge.”

Zoe and I burst out laughing.

“You guys, stop laughing at me!” Mia says. But she can’t resist the laughter bubbling up inside her and she joins us.

Before I know it, tears are streaming down our faces from laughing so hard. It takes us quite a while to settle down again.

“All right, enough about me. Come on, Emma tell us what’s happening with Sterling and the shelter.”

They are not going to stop until I tell them what’s happening, so here goes.

“Things are good. We are definitely moving in the right direction. We took Buddy and handed out flyers in town a few days ago. We’ve gotten a lot of support already.” I give them a quick smile.

“That’s it?” Zoe asks, clearly not buying it.

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