Page 76 of Darn Knit All

“He’s one of the top designers in the world.”

“My apologies. He’s afashionabledick.”

She snorted, then bent over her drawing, considering the areas he’d circled. She sucked in a breath. “We’ll just have to keep going until I work out how to give him what he wants.”

What he needs is someone to tell him where to shove it.

I wisely kept that thought to myself.

“Contestants, you have thirty minutes of today’s sew to go!” Michelle yelled from the platform at the front of the room. “And because we’re not going to make this easy for you, we have another surprise.”

Assistants streamed into the room to place boxes on our tables before walking away.

“You may now open your challenge box!”

I looked at Mai who seemed frozen, her fingers clasping a roll of satin.

“You want me to open it?” I asked, my voice low as cameras surged toward us, capturing every reaction.

She nodded, the color draining from her cheeks.

Around us were gasps and laughter, shrieks and sighs as the contestants unpacked their mysterious item.

With a flourish, I whipped open the box, shoving my hand inside to withdraw?—

“Candles?”

“That’s right, contestants!’ Michelle swept across the platform, swirling in her gown. “It wouldn’t be a Royal Gala without a little drama thrown into the mix. It’s up to you to incorporate these items into your look!”

Around the room, each couple received something different. There were plates, napkins, even cutlery.

The candles toppled from my fingers to scatter across the workbench.

“Mai? What are you thinking?”

Silence.

Looking up at her, she seemed frozen, her eyes trained on the wax sticks.

“Mai?” I stepped closer, blocking her from the cameras. “You okay?”

She sucked in a deep breath, her head snapping back. “I… I….” She looked at me helplessly, tears glinting on her eyelashes.

Fuck.

I leaned in, covering my microphone with one hand, my lips brushing her ear. “Go. I’ll distract them.”

She nodded frantically, stepping back as the judges began to walk around the tables, drilling the contestants on how they were pivoting their designs.

“Candles!” I boomed, swinging my arms wide and shooting the camera a cocky grin. “Are they expecting us to set the dress alight? That would certainly be memorable.” I grabbed my crutch and powered toward the fabric area, forcing the camera operator to follow me as Mai slipped away.

“Don’t worry, Mai! I’ll check which fabrics aren’t flammable!” I stopped at the fabric rolls, reaching out to finger a piece of flannel. “After all, we want Medusa notcinder-ella.”

Celeste shot me a thumbs-up, her grin large and ecstatic. As predicted, I’d managed to win her over through good cheer, lots of puns, and a shit-ton of coffee hand-delivered to her each morning.

I glanced back at our table, grateful to find that Mai had disappeared and the countdown clock was minutes away from ending our day.

Filling time, I walked around the materials, joking with the camera and generally getting in the way of the other contestants and crew until Michelle blew her whistle, halting the day’s work.

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