August 13, 2010 @ 8:55 am | Filed under: Books,The Writing Life
MELROSE MIRACLE
Chapter Nine
The next morning, Ella made sure she left in plenty of time to snag one of the front desks in Sound Stage C. She felt surprisingly refreshed after a decent night’s sleep and looked forward to the day, wondering what challenge was next on the docket.
Kim Yung Lee, the only Asian contestant, walked in right behind Ella. “Good morning.” He bobbed his head toward her, his dark hair waving with the movement. Quiet up to this point, Kim had impressed them all yesterday with his egg fu yung demo.
After a few minutes of conversation, she learned the forty-five year old Kim owned and operated his own Chinese restaurant in Lubbock, Texas. But the family business was failing and this was Kim’s way of trying to save it.
Torrie, Ben, and Dirk walked in about that time and Dirk—hearing Kim mention Lubbock—turned the topic of conversation to Texas Tech, his alma mater. “Hey, you missed a great time last night.” Torrie settled into the desk next to Ella’s. She dropped her backpack to the floor and leaned forward, planting her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand. “A lot of the crew came out with us. That cute camera man—you know, Luke—he came too.”
Ella hoped her face showed no emotion. It wasn’t like she cared what Luke Abney did, or who he saw. Or did she? She couldn’t deny the effect he had on her when he was close by: rapid pulse, heart flutters, flushed cheeks…
No doubt about it. Luke made her heart do weird—yet somehow delicious—flip-flops. Remnants of their conversation still danced in the corners of her mind, making it difficult to hide the smile that was aching to crawl across her face right now. She resisted it, though, grabbing a pencil instead and doodling on her tablet.
It wasn’t like she cared what Torrie thought. This was Ella’s first experience with this kind of attraction, or chemistry—or whatever this myriad of feelings might be labeled. She wasn’t even sure herself yet how she felt about them. For sure she wasn’t ready to confide them to others.
It had seemed like there had been a mutual connection back in Milltown, and again on that amazing all-night phone conversation. But the past few days in LA seemed to suggest otherwise. Almost like she was just one of the gang—someone he spoke nicely to because it was a part of his job.
“I wanna get to know him better,” Torrie continued, tossing one long platinum braid over her shoulder. “Away from the crowd, you know?” She grinned and Ella felt her stomach plummet. “Some good ‘ol one-on-one time.”
“Sounds…like a plan.” Ella pulled another notebook from her duffel and pretended to read through some notes. When Torrie took the bait and did the same, Ella blew out a soft breath.
She needed to get her head in this contest and off of Luke Abney. She sneaked a peek at Torrie. Why in the world would Luke give Ella a second glance when the likes of Torrie Tyler was around?
The morning session started up at 10 o’clock sharp, and not a moment too soon for Ella. Now that she was ready to put Luke on the back burner of her mind where he belonged, she was ready to throw herself headfirst into the day’s challenge. A fresh zeal burned inside her, an urgency to make the most of this incredible opportunity. If she worked hard and showed the network what she was capable of, maybe…just maybe…this contest would change the course of hers and Chloe’s life.
“Welcome to Cooking TV 101.” Nathan Charleton began, “Today you’ll learn the basics of live cooking. When you watch Kendall on Meals in Minutes or Toula on Toula’s Home Cooking, what the audience may not realize is that it is a live television performance. Done…in real time.”
Ella shifted in her chair as Dirk, on her right, whistled softly. That was something she hadn’t realized. The idea was slightly terrifying. Filming for a taped segment sounded daunting enough, but to film for a live feed? Yikes…
Nathan Charleton nodded at their responses. “Because of this, there is a cardinal rule in our network. A rule that can never be broken, no matter what.”
Ella grabbed her pen, waiting.
“A chef can never stop the show. Remember that.”
Ella heard Dirk mumbling the words as he, too, scribbled furiously on a notepad.
“Okay, let’s get started.” Nathan clapped his hands and a line of men and women filed into the studio, coming to stand at the front. “Today you’ll meet a few of the folks who make a cooking show possible.”
Luke Abney was the last to enter. He ended up directly in front of her desk and Ella felt the now familiar tug at her tummy. For the briefest of seconds their eyes locked and—though it was fleeting—time seemed to halt. Ella felt as though this man were looking inside her soul. She straightened in her chair and lowered her eyes, trying to concentrate on the introductions as Nathan Charleton announced each name.
“…Marnie Wilson!” The host paused as Marnie—just as energetic as she’d been at the meet-and-greet—took a deep bow. “Marnie is our stage manager and she will become your very best friend.” He gave a knowing nod. “Believe me, Marnie is absolutely crucial to your success in this competition.”
For the next fifteen minutes Marnie explained the use of the dreaded teleprompter and time cards. Ella was amazed at how much useful information she was able to soak up in the short amount of time. The teleprompter would not—contrary to what she’d thought—keep going if the host quits talking. Instead it is regulated to the speed of the host’s voice; if he speaks fast, the teleprompter speeds up, if the host slows it down, the teleprompter matches it.
“Time for the first challenge of the day.”
Ella looked up from her notes at Nathan Charleton’ words. Besides the host, the front of the room had been cleared. She didn’t know if she felt more relief or more disappointment that Luke Abney no longer stood in front of her.
Each contestant was given a task card. These were aqua blue note cards with a given assignment printed on them. Ella heard Torrie groan as she read hers. She turned hers over slowly, her earlier confidence in the day taking a dip.
Stretch the time, it read. Obviously she’d have to ad-lib, waiting for Marnie to give the signal that there was extra time to fill. It wouldn’t be difficult.
Ella sighed. It was just out of her comfort zone, was all.
*****
From behind his camera, Luke zoomed in on Ella’s face. He could see a tiny vein in her neck throbbing wildly and his heart wrenched. She was nervous.
Come on, Ella, you can do it. He tried to send her telepathic encouragement and he thought that, just for a second, she looked right at him. Not just at his camera, but at him. His breath caught in his throat until she looked down, at some notes in front of her, and the spell was broken.
He waited for Marnie’s countdown and kept an eye on the stage manager’s arm as it went high into the air.
“In five…four…three…two…” At one, Marnie’s hand came down and Luke pushed the red button, instantly sending Ella Paglia to the live feed. His throat felt tight and dry as he put his eye to the lens.
“You want your filling to be rich and creamy,” Ella looked up from the batter she was mixing and smiled into the camera. “Make sure it is mixed well, then pour it into your prepared muffin tins.”
Luke grinned. Thatta girl! If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought Ella was an old pro at this. He glimpsed Marnie out of the corner of his eye and watched as she gave the signal to stretch the time. There was the briefest gleam of panic in Ella’s dark eyes as they widened at the camera. She paused and Luke held his breath. Keep talking, Ella, don’t stop. Even he knew the cardinal rule of the network. There was flexibility with a lot of things, but not the cardinal rule.
“I remember as a kid I’d love to help my mother make pies and cakes,” Ella’s smile was back and she was shooting from the hip, filling the time with an anecdote. “My very favorite recipe was a cherry cheesecake—very similar to the one we’re making today.”
Marnie gave the sign for a commercial break.
“So when we come back, we’re going to taste these beautiful mini-cheesecakes. Don’t go away.” Ella finished the sentence in a rush of air and then sighed, loudly. Her lapel mic crackled and the contestants and crew laughed. It was clear to everyone that Ella was glad to have this challenge behind her.
Luke shut the camera off and backed away from the tripod. As Ella passed in front of him on her way back to her seat, he held up both thumbs. “Good job,” he whispered.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
Luke reached out without thinking and squeezed her fingertips. He glimpsed the flitter of surprise in her eyes and let go quickly. It wasn’t like him to act on spontaneous impulses—particularly when it came to grabbing a pretty gal’s hand. But there was something about Ella that tugged at his heart. Made him want to reassure her. Care for her. Let her know he was around if she needed him.
He ignored the pang of disappointment that swam around in his gut when Ella continued on to her seat. Last night’s encounter in the shopping district on Melrose had been much too short. That brief conversation with Ella had done nothing except make him want more time with her.
Of course, seeing the modeling agency where Tessa was a client had been jarring, to say the least. He’d not known the agency had changed locations and seeing the sign last night had temporarily brought all the craziness from the “Tessa years” sharply back into focus. It hadn’t been until later, when he was lying wide-awake in bed, still thinking about his chance meeting on the street with Ella that something very clear began to seep into his thoughts.
Everything he’d thought he’d wanted in Tessa, everything he thought he’d found—had ultimately been nothing more than a mirage of the heart. Yet, in Ella, those very things were alive and well. So close to him, close enough for him to reach out and grasp, if he wanted.
If only he knew Ella felt the same way…
*****
Ella all but melted into her seat. Her heart still raced from the rush of adrenaline that had pumped like fuel through her veins while on camera. She knew her cheeks were hot and flushed. Normally that would embarrass her, but right now she didn’t even care. She was floating—riding the relief of having another scary challenge behind her. Luke Abney’s unexpected touch had been like the cherry on a sundae for her. As she’d walked by, she’d glimpsed the victory she felt gleaming in his own eyes. As though he shared the moment with her.
Relaxing, she watched the final two contestants take their turns. She and the others bit back laughs as Dirk’s comical expressions grew even more outrageous as he tried—rather unsuccessfully—to make seamless switches from one camera to the next.
Torrie’s task was called the “swap-out”—placing one pan in the oven and pulling out another of the finished result. The real trick was to do this while never breaking your train of speech, something Ella knew Torrie could do with ease.
What no one anticipated, though, was that in her haste to finish her segment in time, Torrie pulled the unbaked pan of brownies from the oven instead of the finished one. Ella saw it before Torrie, and her heart ached for the girl. She shouldn’t have worried though. Torrie’s giggles at her own mistake proved infectious and soon even Marnie and Nathan Charleton chuckled with her.
If Ella had any reservations about how Torrie Tyler would fare in this competition, they flew out the window at that moment. Torrie had the entire studio eating out of her hand. With southern charm and a voice of honey, Torrie knew how to do something Ella feared she’d never learn herself: Torrie was comfortable in her own skin. It worked for her and—this time anyway—earned her a standing ovation.
Ella rose with the others, reaching out to hug Torrie as she came back to her seat. As she did, she caught sight of Luke Abney standing beside his camera. A big grin crawled across his face and he raised one thumb in the air again. Releasing Torrie, she returned the signal to Luke, knowing her own smile mirrored the one on his face.
Torrie might have received the standing ovation. But Ella had received something far more. She’d conquered another fear today and, in her celebration, she’d found another soul who—in his own quiet way—clearly celebrated with her.
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