CHAPTER TEN
Ten avocados sat on each of our eight stations.
“Today, you will make your best dish using avocado,” Shep announced. “I expect it to be creative, reflective of your own culinary style, and of course, delicious.”
We were instructed towards the large pantry and a cooler truck in the field where we could gather more ingredients, but the avocados at our station would be the only ones available to use for the competition. I noticed Aiden waving at Shep. When he walked over to him, Aiden said something in his ear which was immediately ignored.
“Time starts now!” Shep announced.
I ran to the cooler and grabbed fresh ingredients. In the few minutes we’d been allowed to come up with a plan, I’d decided to make a fresh corn and avocado salad featuring an avocado and cilantro dressing to showcase my California-style cooking. The dish was simple but displayed several techniques that I felt could push me into the next round. To add a bit of creativity, I scooped out the guts of one avocado to create a guacamole style sauce and stuffed the shell with a perfectly fried egg and some herbs, green onions and crumbled candied bacon bits over the top.
Aiden seemed distressed as he cut into his avocados. I watched as he tossed several into the trash beside his station and then moved towards Shep. “My avocados aren’t ripe,” I heard him say.
“Well, you’ll have to make do,” Shep replied.
I didn’t have time to get sucked into the drama, but Aiden was making it difficult not to as he huffed back to his station and began slamming things around.
Everyone else seemed content with the fruit they were given, so I wondered if Shep had purposely created this obstacle for Aiden in hopes to rid him from the competition and get him out of his way.
“Hands up,” Shep announced.
I stood with my hands high in the air and stepped back from my plate. The dish was extremely attractive and delicious, so I knew it would get me through, but I hoped it was creative enough to gain another win.
Shep and two other judges, guests that I remembered from his show, walked around the tables and tasted each dish. They offered up their critique immediately instead of waiting until the end this time, and many were getting poor marks for not thinking outside of the box.
By the time they got around to me, it was obvious that they were disappointed in most of the other contestant’s dishes and my stomach flipped as I felt suddenly insecure about the salad and egg that sat in front of me.
Shep smiled at me and shoved his fork into the salad. “Simple, but delicious.” He smiled and looked at the fried egg stuffed in the avocado shell. “Now that’s thinking outside of the box,” he offered, and the other judges agreed.
Relief fell over me as they all moved to the next station. When they landed at Aiden’s, the complaint from all three judges was the texture of his avocados. “They weren’t ripe,” Aiden explained with obvious irritation in his voice.
“Well, a great chef knows how to leap an obstacle, not use it as an excuse,” Shep said sarcastically.
After they tasted each dish, Elle, myself, and Janine were brought up front as the top three. When they announced the winner I was surprised to hear Janine’s name and not my own. Aiden was called in the bottom three, something no one expected. I held my breath as they called the loser, and when it wasn’t Aiden another rush of relief fell over me. This time, to everyone’s surprise, it was Monopoly man who went home.
The competition was over and Gretchen announced the remaining seven would be heading to Maine. “It’s a large self-sustaining farm that runs a bed and breakfast,” she said cheerfully. Her finger pushed her thick-rimmed glasses back up her nose where the sweat had caused them to fall before pushing her black hair away from her face. It was hot in Florida, almost too hot to function, so Maine sounded like a delightfully cool treat.
I rushed to Aiden and wrapped my arms around his waist. He pulled away, obviously still irritated by the outcome of the competition. “At least you made it,” I said with encouragement.
“At least I made it?” he said hatefully and pulled my hands from around his tense body before walking away.
“He’ll cool down,” Elle offered, taking my arm. “Let’s get on the shuttle, at least it’s air conditioned.” She snickered at her own sarcasm and I struggled to stay quiet in case Aiden could hear.
I gave Aiden his space and stayed with Elle during the ride to the airport and the flight. When we got off the bus, we were all assigned rooms. Again, I would be bunking with Elle. Aiden was nowhere to be found. I knew he had gotten off the bus ahead of us, but within minutes, he was missing.
Gretchen pushed through the crowd of contestants and crew to grip Shep’s arm. “We have a meeting with the production crew.” She spoke quickly and without her normal perkiness. Shep rolled his eyes, looked around the crowd and then followed her into the producer’s trailer that was set up next to the large bed and breakfast.
“What’s that about?” I asked Elle. She shrugged, grabbed her suitcase, and headed towards the house.
I looked around for Aiden, but he was still nowhere to be seen. “Right this way, ladies,” a small redheaded woman with bright pink lipstick that clashed with her skin tone said cheerfully. I picked up my suitcase and followed her into the large colonial house and up the spiral wooden staircase to a small room at the front of the hall. “If you need anything, please just let me know,” she said and shut the door behind her as she left.
“Well, this is better than the campers,” Elle said as she flopped her body onto the larger bed in the room. “A little too cutesy for my taste though.” She picked up a ruffled throw pillow and tossed it to the floor.
“I’m going to go check on Aiden,” I said, ignoring her rantings about the floral prints and the puffy valances on the windows.
I walked down the long hallway and peeked into each room to search for him. Derick, a tall man with a goatee, was in the last room alone.
“Have you seen Aiden?” I asked.
“He’s my roommate, but no sign of him yet,” he replied.
The woman with the pink lipstick stopped me at the bottom of the stairs. “Can I get you something, sweetie?” She seemed irritated that I was already out of my room.
“No, I’m just looking for someone,” I replied, noticing the relief on her face. It had to be tough running a bed and breakfast and pleasing pretentious guests day after day. I chuckled to myself as I thought about how we’d all been living in campers for the last week. This was luxurious compared to that. Doubtful she would have too many complaints.
Outside, I stood on the front porch and took in the view of the farm. It was clean, organized, and seemed to go on forever. The producer’s trailer door opened, and Shep walked out, followed by the producer, Gretchen, and two other production crew members, and finally Aiden.
Shep and Gretchen headed towards their trailers, and the production crew stayed in a huddle outside the producer’s trailer while Aiden headed towards the house.
“What was that all about?” I asked, filled with concern.
“I filed a formal complaint on Shep,” Aiden said, his blue eyes blazing. “He purposely tried to sabotage me in the last competition.”
“How?” I asked but already knew.
“My avocados, they weren’t ripe. I told him that before we started and he just smiled and walked away,” he snapped.
“So, what’s going to happen?” I asked. “Will they throw him off the show?”
Aiden laughed, and the sarcasm dripped from his lips as he tightened them into a straight line. “Yeah, right,” he scoffed. “Heads up. They’ll probably want to talk to you.”
“Me, why me?” I panicked.
“Because the entire reason he’s trying to get rid of me stems from you and his jealousy,” Aiden insisted. “I told you the kind of man he was, Claire, and the more you lead him on, the harder he’ll be on me.”
“I haven’t led him on!” I exclaimed, rage and hurt warring with each other.
Aiden’s eyes were heavy and lingered on mine as his mouth relaxed and his lips parted. I could tell he was struggling for the right thing to say, and in this moment, I didn’t feel there was a right thing. He’d already said enough.
“I see how he looks at you, and he’s constantly giving you special treatment. The others see it too. You need to steer clear of him. He’s probably just creating this drama for better ratings.”
“I have no desire to be in a dramatic love triangle for better ratings on this show,” I insisted. “I left California to escape drama, and to focus on my career.”
“I’m sorry, it’s not your fault,” Aiden said softly. He reached out his arms and pulled me into his chest. I was standing on the top step of the porch while he was on the bottom. It felt strange to be taller than him as my head leaned down onto his shoulder, my body relaxed into his arms.
Was Aiden right? Was Shep eliminating any competition for me? Or was all this for ratings?