Page 57 of The Holiday Swap

“Andyouneed to talk to Charlie, Sasha. This was decided weeks ago. What are you waiting for? Having second thoughts?”

A long silence, then, “I’ll talk to Charlie, once we’ve wrapped tomorrow’s teaser.”

Austin whistled. “She isnotgoing to be happy.” However, he sounded positively delighted about whatever Sasha had to talk to Charlie about. “Glad I don’t have your job, Sasha. Actually, I’m too good-looking to be behind the camera, know what I mean?”

“Honestly, Austin, you’re unbelievable.” Sasha cleared her throat, as Austin replied, “Thank you!”

“Please don’t make us regret giving you the host job over Charlie,” Sasha said, her tone clipped. “And let’s not be cute and pretend you were my first choice, okay?”

“Well, then good thing it wasn’t up to you, Sasha,” Austin retorted. “Seems my on-camera confidence was a hard-to-resist asset. And, come on—I make these chef’s whites lookamazing.”

Sasha sighed, then paused a moment before saying, “Austin, a piece of advice, not that I expect you to take it. Soon you won’t have Charlie to balance you out, so showing a touch of humility here and there would be a wise move. Viewers can be fickle, and you aren’t as charming as you think.”

•••

“So, Charlie, tell us about your signature holiday cake.” Austin smiled into the camera, then turned toward Cass.

Cass, heels back on and makeup reapplied, returned the smile. The shock at what she’d overheard had been replaced by determination, and she was laser-focused on the task at hand. She put a hand on Austin’s arm, leaving it there just long enough that the audience might view it as more meaningful than it was (two could play this game), then faced camera B. “I amreallyexcited for you to try this one today, Austin. It’s spicy, but simple, and positively sublime.”

“Sounds a lot like you, Charlie.” Austin raised an eyebrow, giving her a flirty smirk. There was canned laughter on set, and Austin looked quite pleased with himself. He was so predictably obnoxious.

“Well, if that’s a compliment I’ll take it!” Cass said, laughing easily. The buzzer dinged and she held up a finger—all of this, of course, was orchestrated—then slid on herSweet & Salty–branded oven mitts and pulled out the cake.

“This is my dad’s recipe. He’s a celebrated and award-winning chef, who also happens to know his way around pastries better than anyone I know.” She set the cake on the hot plate in front of her, happy to see it looked perfect. Her dad would be proud. “Gingerbread cake with candied ginger and orange. We’ll top it with a light citrus-infused buttercream and a cinnamon-poached pear compote on the side, and then you’ll have—in my admittedly biased opinion—the perfect holiday cake.”

“Someone is feeling confident,” Austin said, leaning over to take a deep inhale. “But... maybe a bit heavy on that orange,Charlie? A touch bitter on the nose. Guess we’ll see.” He winked into the camera. Cass gritted her teeth but kept her smile intact.

She read her line off the prompter. “Okay, Austin, let’s see what you’ve brought to the table.” Then, ignoring the next line—another weak joke about there being too many cooks in the kitchen and that only one of them could be victorious—she looked into the camera and said, “I sure hope this cake of yours can rise to the challenge.”

“You never have to worry about me—or my cakes—rising to any challenges, Charlie,” Austin replied, his charm on full force for the camera. “So this is my gram’s amaretto and apricot cake. I’ve been making it with her every Christmas since, as she says, I was ‘wet behind the ears.’ ” He bent down to open the oven door, the white bar towel in hand to take out the Bundt pan. “Simple to glaze with amaretto icing and some candied spiced apricots, this will wow any—”

Austin paused. He stared into the oven, confusion crossing his face. His eyebrows knitted together.

Cass tried to catch a glimpse inside the oven, dramatizing her movements for the camera. “Enough with the suspense, Austin. Let’s see your grandmother’s cake.” She smiled wide, covering the moment as Austin continued staring into the oven. Sasha gave Cass a look, and then whispered something to Sydney, who was standing beside her. The assistant shrugged, and Sasha frowned.

“Uh... is everything okay, Austin?” Cass asked, keeping her tone light. “Here, let me help.” She quickly slipped on an oven mitt and bent down beside Austin, pulling out the Bundt pan. Then she, and everyone else on set, saw what had rendered the great Austin Nash speechless.

His dessert was pancake flat inside the pan.

“Oh, dear,” Cass said, setting it down onto the workstation beside her glorious, perfectly puffed gingerbread cake. She cringed,extra animated for the camera, and said, “I guess sometimes youdohave trouble rising to the occasion?”

Austin stared at his failed cake. Sasha yelled cut, and marched over to the hosts. Just then Austin turned to Cass and hissed, “What did you do, Goodwin?”

“What didCharliedo?” Sasha repeated, then huffed. “She baked a gorgeous-looking cake, and you... You baked something that could pass for a ringette ring!”

When Cass and Austin both gave Sasha perplexed looks, she said, “My mom’s Canadian. Ringette’s sort of like hockey, except instead of a puck you pass a rubber ring around the ice.” Then she waved her hands around, as though clearing the air in front of her. “Doesn’t matter. We are short on time and I am short on patience. Ideally we would have two perfect cakes here, but you know what? This is fun.” Austin looked at Sasha in a way that showed he did not think anything about this was “fun.”

“I think the audience will like to see that even the experts make mistakes, right?” Sasha continued, hands on her hips as she looked between Cass and Austin. “And that they can handle missteps with grace and humility.”

Sasha was clearly speaking directly to Austin, but he wasn’t listening. Instead he was running his finger down the recipe on the tablet his nervous-looking assistant had brought him.

“Nothing’s missing. I added everything. Flour. Yes. Sugar, yup. Amaretto, two teaspoons...” he muttered under his breath. Cass stood beside him, locking eyes with Sydney. “Baking powder, added. Baking soda...” Austin paused, tapped the screen, then looked at his assistant. “The baking soda got added, right?”

“I think so,” Nathan squeaked out. “But, uh, I was making the candied apricots at the time.”

Sydney and Cass exchanged a quick but telling look. Then Cass said, “Austin, we really need to get these iced.”

“Give me a minute!” he said, loudly enough that Sasha turned around, her glare causing him to wilt slightly.

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