The Rival Baker Shared My Oven, So the Whole Town Watched Us Pretend to Hate Each Other novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Cup

The baking hall at the State Fair smelled like cinnamon and hairspray.

Forty bakers stood at forty steel tables pretending not to look at each other.

We had slot twenty-six, at one o'clock.

Our deck oven was older than Dagny and had a cold corner in the back right.

Soren had taped an index card to the oven door before anyone could stop him.

SWAP T+17, it said, in his hand. HOT SPOT FRONT LEFT. NO POWER PLAN: SEE REVERSE.

"You've been planning for a power cut?" I said.

"The sky is the color of a bruise," said Soren. "I looked."

I turned the card over.

Plan A: Door shut. Plan B: Door shut harder. Plan C: Lotte improvises.

"Plan C is my favorite," I said.

"It's the only one I can't schedule."

Our kringle lay on its parchment between us, thin and even, with the yellow line down the middle.

Pauline Hoyt walked past with a clipboard and did not look at us once.

"Entry twenty-six," she said to the ceiling, and stuck a number on the tray.

It was a blind panel, so our names were gone the moment the number went on.

I slid the tray into the oven with Soren's long peel in my hands and his hip already closing the door behind it.

I set the rhubarb half toward the hot spot, because rhubarb needs the heat.

The Old Fashioned half went to the cold corner, because the pecans brown fast and the brandy would burn.

← Chapter 21 · All chapters · Chapter 23 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend