The Holiday Swap
Maggie Knox
1
Charlie
Monday: 12 Days to Christmas . . .
Los Angeles
Charlie Goodwin drew a shaky breath and tapped furiously on her phone, the screen illuminating her face in the otherwise dark storeroom. She opened an app and searched for the emergency two-minute stress-release meditation. Once the soothing voice began, she closed her eyes and took another deep breath, trying to slow her frantic heartbeat. But all that did was bring the sharp scent of peppermint extract further up her nose and into her throat. Normally she loved the smell of peppermint and all Christmas-related things. But this had been sabotage. She smelled like a giant candy cane—and she wasn’t feeling very festive about it.
Her phone buzzed in her hand and she cracked an eye, glancing at the screen. Priya Basu, her friend and on-set makeup artist.
Don’t let him get to you.
He’s a jerk and you’re YOU.
Priya was right. Sighing with frustration, Charlie leaned her head back against the wall. She whispered the mantra in time with her exhales and peppermint-scented inhales: Don’t let him get to you.
Austin Nash. Someone she had a sour history with and her co-host on the network reality baking show Sweet & Salty, which had run for two seasons but was slated to be replaced by a new show, called Bake My Day, after the holidays. The current Sweet & Salty special they were co-hosting—a twelve-days-to-Christmas countdown, featuring twelve amateur bakers vying for the top spot and twenty-five thousand dollars—was meant to be festive and fun. However, Austin Nash left Charlie feeling more bah-humbug than merry and bright. This holiday special was also Charlie’s last chance to impress the network executives and secure the Bake My Day hosting job, which would mean the end of having to share a stage with Austin Nash.
The two had known each other back in culinary school, where she’d discovered Austin was more cheater than chef after she’d caught him co-opting one of her recipes as his own. But he was slick, and she could never prove it. After school Charlie headed to Paris for a coveted internship with a celebrated Parisian pastry chef, and Austin went to New York City and, really, she hadn’t thought of him again.
Charlie had been “discovered” by the formidable television producer Sasha Torres—who was now her boss . . . and Austin’s. Sasha had come into Souci—the L.A. hot spot where Charlie had made a name for herself as head pastry chef since her return from Paris. Charlie had been tasked with presenting Sasha’s table with the flambéed cherries the restaurant was known for. Sasha offered Charlie the “Sweet” hosting side of the reality baking show on the spot.
While it had meant giving up the security of Souci, Charlie had known it could lead to even greater, more exciting opportunities—like the chance to be a solo host on a syndicated cooking show like Bake My Day—becoming an established name in the culinary world. Maybe even have her own line of cookbooks. However, what a somewhat na?ve but highly ambitious Charlie hadn’t realized when she said yes to Sasha’s offer was that she’d be sharing the stage with her culinary school nemesis, Austin Nash.
“Worst luck ever, Goodwin,” Charlie grumbled, momentarily pulled out of her meditation mantra as she thought back to that day, almost a year ago now. Apparently Austin had gotten the job because he was friends with the son of one of the network executives, yet he behaved as though he deserved to be there more than Charlie. From their first moment on set Austin had been deceptively charming and self-assured, while Charlie was initially a nervous wreck—television hosting had pushed her out of her comfort zone. And it didn’t hurt that, according to Sasha, Austin looked like a young Rob Lowe. With his impossibly perfect hair, chiseled jaw, and blue eyes with lashes for days, Austin became the “Salty” half of the duo, and it wasn’t long before things went south on set between the co-hosts.
Initially Charlie had tried to give Austin the benefit of the doubt. Even if he proved as infuriating as he had been at school, Charlie was prepared to deal with it—because this kind of opportunity didn’t come along every day. But it was soon clear Austin Nash had changed . . . and not for the better. For one, he had developed this particularly obnoxious routine where he would give shoulder massages while delivering condescending advice, regardless of whether either was wanted or warranted. “One more minute of boiling and that paté à choux would have been sublime, Charlie. Next time.”
Things got even worse when the network announced the show that would replace Sweet & Salty—Bake My Day. It would be a one-host show—which meant Charlie and Austin were now competing for one job. Plus, with a one-hundred-thousand-dollar grand prize, a recipe featured in a celebrity chef cookbook, and professionally trained participants, Bake My Day was going to make Sweet & Salty look like amateur hour.
No co-host to have to share the spotlight with; no grating or witty banter between two people who really couldn’t stand each other; more freedom to spread her creative wings; and a lot more money, because Bake My Day had an impressive budget. Charlie wanted the job, and she deserved it. She was the better pastry chef, and it was no secret that, of the two of them, she was easier to work with. She had noticed Sasha’s eye rolls at Austin’s arrogance on more than one occasion.
Working with Austin had become mentally exhausting, and Charlie was glad the special would wrap soon. He was always getting on her case, then laughing it off and saying it was all part of his “Salty” persona. Today, she had been so distracted by him she’d delivered her lines in the wrong order—something that never happened—and just before she’d escaped to the stockroom to get her thoughts together, he had pounced on her momentary lapse.