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Richard strolled over as I was cleaning up my booth. The garden was empty, the party most definitely done.
He gave me a sympathetic grimace. "Oh, Paige. Such a tragedy to have a bake as good as yours go into the trash. They really looked like something special." He held up his punch card. "You were first on my list."
I shrugged, trying not to show how much it was actually bothering me, and folded up the tablecloth. "It's fine. Come down to Bitter Beans and I'll bake you up a batch with no punch card required."
He shoved his hands into his trousers. I could see he had really taken pride in getting dressed up this morning. His shoes had a shine, everything was pressed neatly, he even matched his bow tie to the suspenders I could see peeking out underneath his blazer.
"I've never seen anything like this," he stated, shaking his head as he watched all of the dispirited contestants packing it in. "Not in all my years." His face turned dark. "Only thing different this time than all the other times is that new judge. They never should have disqualified your grandmother and impugned my reputation."
"I have a feeling that what's going on here has more to do with wanting our island to fail than your organization," I tried to reassure him.
"Who would want this charming island to fail?" he asked with horror, motioning to the rose bushes and blue skies. "It is a paradise!"
I smiled. He had such a way of looking on the bright side of things.
But then his face fell. "All I know is that our organization is done for. All this scandal and sabotage? What contestant would sign up to be a part of something like this again?"
It dawned on me that meant he was out of a job. "Oh my," I said, reaching out to him. "What will you do? Will you be okay?"
He waved away my concerns. "Oh, I'm old and retired. This was just a little side hobby for some pocket change. I had a long and illustrious career as a chemist back when I was young. Perhaps that's why I was drawn to baking. It really is all chemistry, isn't it? Precision and knowing how things will react to each other is key."
"Totally!" I replied.
He looked past the gate toward the town. "Perhaps this is just a sign it is time for me to downsize." He smiled at me warmly. "Perhaps just the excuse I need to pack up all my things and move into a cottage on the hill next to you."
It dawned on me I had never mentioned where I was living to him. "Oh! You know the cottages where I'm staying?" I remarked.
He looked like he had been caught talking out of school. He stammered, "Your grandmother mentioned it. I asked if you lived with her and she told me about the cottages. And then Bryce mentioned it, too. He was complaining about how rustic it all was and that he couldn't believe people actually lived up there, and then mentioned you were his neighbor."
It figured that Bryce was whining. But before I could say anything else, Granny came over. She was wearing a tight sweater covered in rhinestone coffee beans. She hooked her arm through the crook of Richard's elbow. "What are you two gossiping about?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing..." Richard replied. "Just the cottages on the island."
"They really are lovely," she said. "You like it up there, don't you Paige?"
I nodded. "They're a little isolated, but I'm going to be sad to leave it."
"Leave it?" asked Richard. "Where are you going?"
"She's just here for the summer," Granny said. "Sure am going to miss her help."
"And where will you be returning to?"
I shrugged. "Still figuring that out. I really wanted to get some more training. My dream was to use this competition to help me to get into the Cordon Bleu, but..."
We all looked around at the disaster of the day.
"Well, there's no training quite like hands-on experience," he replied, sagely.
"I'm so sorry this hands-on experience has been so terrible, Paige," said Granny, her face wrinkling with regret. "Your cinnamon rolls are legendary. For something like this to happen... for everyone to get sick..."
"It's just so weird," I replied. I gave them the full rundown on the flyers, and how Shelia and Bryce had been disqualified. They both looked shocked.
"Is that what was going on?" asked Richard. "I saw Shelia leave, but I didn't understand why. After everyone became ill, I just assumed she was the first victim. She and Bryce were an item?"
"Explains all of his wins," I noted.
Richard's face darkened as he looked off toward the hotel. "I never would have thought that she... She was always the epitome of professionalism. I suppose it was all just a smoke screen to keep us from guessing what was going on behind closed doors." He patted Granny's hand. "Would you mind if I excused myself? I feel I need to go talk to Victor and Shelia about what has gone on. We probably will need to make a phone call to the central organization to let them know. I assume Victor will be making the call, but... well, with a man like him, sometimes you don't want him to be the bearer of bad news. He has a tendency to make everything sound a little worse."
"I'm not sure how one could over exaggerate the disaster today was," I remarked.
"Oh, you do not know Victor," Richard replied wryly. "Hopefully I'll see you later."
Granny gave him a peck on the cheek and watched him fondly as he toodled away.
"He's a good man," she replied. "And I'm so glad he's here to take care of things."