For the Love of Cake Read Free Page B

Unlike the usual airbrushed headshot, this photo appeared to be a cropped version of a snapshot. It depicted a woman seemingly mid-smile, as if the grin hadn’t completely formed yet, but her full lips definitely teased upward. The tiny lines that creased the corners of her eyes hinted that her humor often reflected in the light-brown irises.
    “Oh, Soccer Mom it is.” Wendy tapped a finger against the page. “In order to fulfill a lifelong dream, she went to culinary school after her daughter graduated high school.” She tossed the bio on the sofa cushion between them and picked up the next contestant’s information.
    Maya scanned the soccer mom’s sheet. According to the bio, Shannon Hayes was forty-two years old, but she listed only one job in the culinary field—at a bakery in Nashville. With so little experience, she’d likely be one of the first eliminated, which would be a shame, because Wendy was right. She was good-looking. She glanced at Shannon’s picture once more, then laid the paper on the pile and reached for another one.

C HAPTER T WO
    “It’s just how I imagined it would be.”
    Shannon glanced at the woman seated next to her whose already high voice was driven up an octave with excitement. Then she turned her attention back to the buildings passing by outside the window of the sleek black SUV. Less than an hour ago, she’d left her home for an undetermined amount of time. The email she’d received from the producers indicated a tentative timeline for filming all but the finale episode. Depending on when she got eliminated, she might be gone a day or, if she was lucky and made it to the end, almost three weeks. She’d secured her apartment and arranged for her daughter and son-in-law to check on it, hoping for the latter. The SUV picked her up at her front door, then swung by the airport to retrieve the other three occupants. Now, as they rode through downtown Nashville, she tried to imagine it through the eyes of a visitor. She drove past these bars, restaurants, and souvenir shops lining Broadway every day on her way to Drake’s, and though she certainly felt different today, the storefronts appeared disappointingly familiar.
    “I just love country music.” The woman practically crawled into Shannon’s lap while trying to see out the window on her side. “Look, do you think he’s a singer?” When she turned her head to follow the retreating back of a man in a cowboy hat on the sidewalk, her face was uncomfortably close to Shannon’s.
    The man could be a street performer or an aspiring recording artist. In this woman’s field of vision the cowboy stood out among the crowd. She didn’t see that the majority of the people were either tourists or everyday businessmen and women who worked in one of the many multistory buildings lining the streets. In fact, if one looked past the honky-tonks, downtown Nashville wasn’t much different from many American cities of its size. Within a few blocks, the skyscrapers gave way to a mix of strip-style business complexes, several universities, and residential areas made up of everything from turn-of-the-century architecture to newly constructed condo complexes.
    Shannon pressed her head into the headrest, trying to restore a degree of personal space. The woman grinned and settled back in her seat with a toss of her long blond hair.
    “Sorry, I’m Alice.” She grabbed Shannon’s hand from where it had rested on the seat between them and shook it vigorously. She glanced around as if including the other man and woman in the vehicle in her introduction. They both nodded politely, but neither engaged in conversation. “I’m so excited to be here. But I’m real nervous because I left my cupcake shop with my second cousin looking after it, and she’s not very dependable. But how could I turn down an opportunity like this? I mean, I’d probably sell my soul, let alone my store just to make it on this show.”
    “Shannon,” she said when Alice