Page 101 of The Baking Games

"This is amazing. I absolutely love this cake. It doesn't even look like a cake," Keira says.

"Yeah, it's really beautiful, and you really spoke to what Keira loves," Keaton says, putting his arm around her waist.

"Tell us about the flavors in your cake," Marco says.

"Well, it's a five-tier cake, obviously. The top tier is a vanilla sponge cake with blueberry and cream cheese filling. The second layer is a coconut cake with pineapple curd and coconut buttercream. The third tier is a carrot cake with walnuts and cream cheese frosting. The fourth tier is a pistachio sponge cake with rose water buttercream. And the fifth tier holding all of it up is a dark chocolate cake with mint chocolate ganache. The turret at the top is made of white chocolate sponge with a raspberry mousse filling."

All of them look surprised at what I could accomplish in such a short time period. Honestly, I feel like I need to go lie down and take a very long nap.

"This is absolutely amazing, Savannah. You really went above and beyond."

"Thank you."

"Okay, folks. We will give the audience at home fifteen minutes to go ahead and vote. We'll also show some unseen moments from the season while we wait for all the votes to come in, and then we will announce the winner of the first-ever Baking Games competition. Don't go anywhere," Dan says to the camera as we cut to a commercial.

"This really is beautiful, Savannah. I'm so impressed," Keira says.

I feel very starstruck at the moment. I want to ask her for her autograph, but I feel that might be out of place in this situation. "Thank you very much. I had a lot of fun making it."

"Good luck," she says, walking away. I look at Rhett; he nods at me, and I nod back. We both know that this is it. The thing we've been waiting for all these weeks, the thing we're both trying to get and only one of us can have.

After a very long fifteen minutes, Dan pulls the microphone up to his mouth, and I know this is it. Rhett and I are now standing next to each other, holding hands. I can feel him squeezing tighter than he normally does.

"We want both of you to know that this was a very hard decision for the judges, and the audience votes were super close, closer than any other of the competitions this whole season. So, in the end, it actually came down to Keira and Keaton to make the decision. It is their wedding, after all. So we would like to congratulate the winner of The Baking Games, which is..." long pause for dramatic effect, of course, "Savannah!”

My eyes fill with tears of joy. I can't believe that I won. I know my sister is probably jumping up and down in our living room right now, watching me win. Rhett hugs me tightly. "Congratulations, Savannah! You deserve it. I’m so proud of you,” he says, his lips against my ear.

"Thank you, Rhett. Your cake was amazing, too. I'm just so happy right now." Tears stream down my cheeks like a river.

"Well, there you have it, folks. Savannah Greene is the winner of The Baking Games. Thank you all for joining us on this incredible journey. We can’t wait to see you all during season two next year!” Dan says as sparkly confetti falls from the ceiling. I won The Baking Games, and I can't believe it.

CHAPTER 26

RHETT

She won. Savannah won.

I know I should feel sad that I didn’t win, but all I feel is happy for her. I imagine that money dropping into her bank account and how safe and secure she’ll feel for the first time in her life.

I only want good things for my Sunny.

The competition ended last night, and Savannah spent the evening doing interview after interview through Zoom and on the phone. By the time she was done, we ate dinner and crashed. Our last night together wasn’t nearly as romantic as I’d hoped.

I had hoped to talk to her without cameras around, tell her how I really felt, see if she felt the same, and exchange numbers so we could keep in contact. Instead, she fell asleep with her head on my shoulder, and we woke up early this morning in the courtyard. When she realized the time, she ran upstairs to finish packing.

“All packed up?” She’s standing in the doorway of my room with her luggage in hand.

“Almost.”

“When does your flight leave?”

“Later this afternoon. Yours?”

“In a little over two hours.”

“Yikes. I guess you have to get to the airport soon then, huh?”

“Right now, actually. My driver is waiting.”

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