Some Like It Spicy by Robbie Terman Read Free Book Online Page B

rubbed his hands together, like a wizard creating a new potion. He slid his tongue over his front teeth, pausing on the gold one. “We got us a crab po’ boy sandwich. I made crab cakes with fresh crab, red peppers, scallions, a little bit of egg and milk, and breadcrumbs, and then rolled them into balls and deep fried them. I put some Dijon mustard in the bun, then the crab balls, and topped it with my hot-pepper slaw. Enjoy.”
    Ty, Andrea, and Claude each took a bite. Ashton held her breath as she waited for them to speak. When Ty did, she was disappointed.
    “Thanks, Duffy.”
    It was her turn.
    She took a few deep breaths and commanded her brain to tell her heart to calm down. The muscle was in heart-attack territory.
    “Hi, Ashton,” Ty said. “Tell us about your dish.”
    “It…it’s…” Her cheeks flamed as she stuttered. She lowered her lashes to hide from the embarrassing number of eyes on her. Her mouth refused to work. How had she ever thought she could do this? To stand in front of all these people and be judged was proportionate to deep-sea diving with sharks and stingrays.
    She could feel her shoulders slouch, her body begging to fold into a protective ball. It was the same position she’d mastered in childhood during one of her father’s verbally abusive tirades. She would just quit, she decided. Open her eyes and tell them this was all a big mistake.
    Her lids lifted, and her gaze immediately found Ty. But instead of the scorn she expected to find in his eyes, she saw sympathy.
    “Just take it slowly,” Ty soothed. “This is why we do a practice run. No one is perfect in front of a camera the first time.”
    “But we are on a schedule, dear,” Andrea said tartly, tapping her foot. “So, let’s try to get through this.”
    Ashton breathed deeply until she could feel her body start to relax. She ignored Andrea, Claude, and everyone else in the room and kept her focus on Ty.
    When she finally spoke, her voice wasn’t as cracked as she feared. “I made a chicken-salad sandwich. I boiled and pulled the chicken and mixed it lightly with mayo and Dijon, dill, red grapes, and capers. I used ciabatta bread, cutting it like a pocket and removing the dough, then stuffed the chicken salad inside.” She’d been talking way too fast for television, but at the moment, she didn’t care.
    She’d made enough sandwiches for each judge and as they chewed and swallowed, she watched their faces, searching for any indication of whether or not they liked it. The judges gave away nothing and moved on to Lance.
    “Okay,” Lance said, clapping his hands and dancing from foot to foot like a child with a bladder problem. “What we got here is a teriyaki rice bowl. I stir-fried the chicken in teriyaki, added diced pineapple, bell peppers, and carrots. I layered it over jasmine rice and topped it with some crispy wonton noodles. Bon appétit.”
    The judges gave one other sideways glances. “Is there a fork?”
    Lance shook his head. “Nope. The idea is that the small pieces make it easy to just tip the bowl into your mouth.”
    Ashton bit her lip to keep a straight face, but Duffy belted out a laugh.
    Ty’s attempt at tasting the dish left him with a teriyaki mustache on his lip. Andrea and Claude didn’t fare any better.
    The tasting complete, the judges faced the chefs.
    “Let’s start on the end with Anthony,” Ty said.
    Ashton tried to pay attention to the judges, but her pounding heart clogged her ears like cotton balls. She rolled her hands into fists and squeezed, a technique she’d learned from dealing with her father. Usually, the pressure gave her something to focus on, so she didn’t do something stupid, like burst into tears. Or lose her temper.
    But this was different. She wasn’t going to be berated in private, with just her mother as witness. She’d be put down in a room full of her peers, by a man who made her knees wobbly. And in a matter of days, she’d be thrown to the wolves on