Page 50 of My Irresistible Enemy

“You don’t what?” she prompted.

I gave the camera a helpless smile. “I just don’t want to say something if he’s not—like, I don’t want him to think that I—because I don’t, I’m not trying to—that is, I just—he’s so—” I bit my lip, then laughed around it, like I was trying and failing to keep a secret. “Ugh. Why did I even come on this show?”

“Should I remind you again about what you said about finding a boyfriend?”

“No, please don’t.” I laughed. “I know what I said. But it was just a joke, you know? I never expected…”

“Never expected to mean it?” Nora finished for me.

I didn’t respond to that with words, just smiled widely and then hid my face in my hands again, like my crush on Nolan was so big I couldn’t even look at it.

“So are you looking forward to Friday and the festival down at the harbor?” she asked after a moment.

“Sure. Well, assuming I’m still here, of course. I might be voted off, obviously.”

“Oh, I don’t think there’s much chance of that.” Nora grinned. “Still, should be a nice break from the intensity of the baking tent, right? A chance to socialize with the remaining bakers?”

“Of course. It’s always nice to let your hair down a bit, so to speak.

“And get a chance to see more of the town of Adair and Summersea Island,” she prompted.

“Oh, definitely,” I said, suddenly remembering the talking points Tanner had instructed us all to work into our confessionals. “It’s gorgeous here on Summersea, and Ilovethe Wisteria Inn, but I can’t wait to see more of the island and learn more about its local culture.”

Apparently, the island’s tourism board was hosting a shrimp and grits festival down at the harbor this Friday night, and the show was obligated to showcase it in return for some local tax break they’d been granted. I actually found shrimp a little creepy. Something about their antennae always made me think about bugs. But I could do my part to talk it up.

The interview wrapped up quickly after that, and Nora threw her arms out wide and stretched as the camera guy left the tent. She uncapped a bottle of water and took a deep drink. She must have seen me looking at it longingly, because she tossed another bottle over to me.

“Good stuff,” she said, nodding at me.

“The water?” I asked.

“No, the stuff about you and Nolan.” She grinned. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you two actually liked each other.”

I grinned back. I’d told her and Em about our plan, and they’d both agreed to help where they could. “That’s the idea. You think it’s working?”

“You’re still here, aren’t you?”

She had a point. Last Friday’s elimination had been a white-knuckle ride. The judges had called Nolan and me last in the group of bakers who were safe, and even after they’d said our names, I couldn’t quite believe our plan had worked. It wasn’t until a whole day later, after they’d cut Miriam and sent her home, that it began to sink in.

“You haven’t heard anything else, have you?” I asked Nora. “From Tanner, or anyone in contact with the network?”

“About you and Nolan?” She shook her head. “No. I was lucky to hear what I did that one time. But my guess is, as long as you keep this up, you’ll be safe for a little while. Viewership shot up last week, and you’re all anyone’s talking about.”

“Well, Iama good actor, even if I do say it myself.”

She tilted her head to the side and gave me a skeptical look.

“What?” I asked.

“I was just thinking. Itisan act, right?”

“The thing with me and Nolan? God, yeah.”

“You’re sure?”

“Nora, he didn’t even want to talk to me after we found out we were safe last week. He’s doing this purely to help his chances of staying on the show. Unless we’re on camera, he doesn’t even want to be in the same room as me.”

She made a face. “If you say so.”

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