Page 5 of Sugar and Spice (Glitter and Sparkle #3)

Slowly, my brain sparks back to life. I cock my head to the side, narrowing my eyes. “And how, exactly, would you go about that?”

He gives me a slow smile. “Oh you know—the usual. Write you a song, sing to you on stage. Before you know it, you’ll be holding a handmade poster with my name on it.”

And dang it, though he looks as earnest and wholesome as apple pie, his eyes give away that he’s teasing. And wouldn’t you just know it, sweet, dry humor is apparently my kryptonite when it comes to cocky musicians.

“Decorated with hearts and puffy paint,” I say, matching his expression.

His grin is fast and devastating. “Naturally.”

Sadie clears her throat. “Um, Harper? We kind of need…”

With his gray eyes still locked on mine, Mason says, “I’ll let you get back to work.”

I rip my gaze away from his, nodding, and he ambles away.

Sadie leans close, her eyes bright. “Oh. Wow.”

I only manage to nod. Now that it’s over, I feel like an idiot, especially considering the cameras caught it all.

She nudges me in the side like we’re actually friends and gives me a knowing look. “So…do you want on the show now?”

And though I frown at her, and though I’ll deny it until I’m blue in the face, I do want on that show. Oh, do I ever.

Avoiding her knowing eyes, I begin to clean up my mess. “We need to hurry. We’ll never finish if we talk all afternoon.”

“Let’s watch it again, shall we?” Riley asks, restarting the awful video. I shake my head, my cheeks hot with embarrassment.

My entire family—and all of Brandon’s as well—has gathered in our living room to witness Sadie’s and my national television debut.

Thankfully, our parents watched once, laughed and cheered, and then wandered into the kitchen to chat, taking my often-obnoxious, twin eight-year-old brothers with them.

You’d think Riley would let it go, considering Linus showed up a few hours ago, but she happily perched on the floor, snuggled next to him, and continued her torture.

Watching it is worse than living it. I come off as a ditzy, wide-eyed groupie.

At least, appearance wise, I look good. Somehow, I managed to mostly miss myself when I dropped the flour sifter.

My hair is perfect, and my makeup is in place.

I was afraid the lights would make me look shiny, but thank goodness, I don’t have to deal with that embarrassment on top of everything else.

The clip ran tonight on HBN’s bake-off coverage, and it’s gone crazy on YouTube. I’m even more popular than the girl who caught her hair on fire while toasting coconut.

“Oh, here’s a caption for you,” Lauren says from next to me on the couch.

She has her computer perched on her lap, and she grins at me before she reads, “ More than cookies are baking up on this year’s Christmas Cookie Bake-off.

This afternoon, sparks and flour flew between guest judge, musician heartthrob Mason Knight and contestant hopeful Harper Newton.

Is love in the air? We don’t know, but we’ll be yuletide cheering them on. ”

Before I can comment on how corny the caption was, Brandon makes a scoffing noise. Lauren catches my eye and raises a brow in question. Sadie, looking slightly uncomfortable, looks at her hands.

I don’t have time to overthink Brandon’s response because my phone rings again for the billionth time. It’s incredible how a viral video showcasing you stammering over a “musician heartthrob” will have friends and acquaintances crawling from the woodwork.

This time, I don’t recognize the area code, much less the number. I ignore it and pretend to go through my email.

“And this is the part where Harper fell in love,” Riley says, muting it so she can narrate—as she’s been doing the whole evening. “And this is when every female in America decided they hate Harper.”

I can’t help it—I glance at the TV because I know she’s talking about the part when Mason practically whispered in my ear. Butterflies flutter in my stomach at the memory. Living it was intense enough; watching it is almost too much.

“And this is where Harper started flirting,” Riley continues.

Growling under my breath, I look back down.

“And now we’ve come to the end, where Mason smiles wistfully at Harper when he thinks the cameras aren’t on him.”

I didn’t know about that part until the video debuted. Did it make my jaded, Grinch-like heart a little mushy? Maybe.

Brandon scoffs under his breath, probably irritated that our families have basically ignored the fact that Sadie was in the camera shot too. Barely in the shot, as the cameras were focused on Mason. And Mason was focused on me.

Sadie, however, doesn’t seem to mind. She sits with us, happy as can be, sweet smile on her face.

We did well yesterday. Our cookies turned out as planned despite our rough start. They tasted great, the texture was perfect, and they looked beautiful. As Sadie described them on the mandatory judge’s questionnaire, they’re an old-fashioned favorite with a scrumptious, modern twist.

Now, all we can do is wait. Unlike on the show, we don’t meet judges at this stage. All the cookies will be tasted, marked, and then the producers will inform two lucky teams that they’re going to the actual bake-off at HBN’s holiday lodge in Colorado.

Two teams out of fifty-six.

Sure, our cookies were good. But I’m not holding my breath.

I’m startled from my thoughts by a text. It’s the same area code as before, but the phone number is different.

Lauren leans over. “You have the strangest look on your face. Who’s the text from?”

I angle the screen toward her so she can take a better look.

“ Will you think badly of me if I admit I pulled your number from the entry forms? ” she reads aloud and then looks up, an incredulous look on her face. “You don’t think it’s…”

“No.”

Riley stops the video and looks back at us from over the arm Linus has slung over her shoulder. Her eyes are as wide as an owl’s. “You have to answer it!”

“Fine.” And though I try my best to appear calm and collected, my skin is humming with delightful anticipation. What if it is Mason?

And why do I care? Good grief—I spoke with him for thirty seconds.

I ask who the anonymous texter is, and then I set my phone in my lap like I don’t even care if Mason—or whoever the person is—answers.

Twenty long, agonizing seconds later, my phone chimes again.

I’ll give you a hint: I’m sure you’re decorating my poster right now.

Oh. My. Word. No one else heard us, and I haven’t told a soul. Those words were between us alone. It is Mason.

But no.

No.

“Well?” Riley demands.

All I can manage is a blank stare. My mouth works, but I don’t seem to be talking.

“It’s him!” Riley squeals, jumping up and dragging Linus with her.

She jumps up and down with her arms wrapped around his waist, and he laughs. With a brow raised, he asks, “Should I be worried?”

She grins and leans in close, whispering something in his ear. He turns bright red and glances at us to see if we heard. When he realizes he’s in the clear, he whispers something back, and she laughs, hugging him.

I look away and turn my phone over and over in my hands. They’re so happy.

Jealousy—it’s a nasty creature.

“Aren’t you going to answer it?” Riley demands.

“And say what?”

She growls—actually growls—and snatches my phone away from me. “It needs to be something flirty?—”

“But not desperate,” Lauren interrupts.

Riley nods, and her thumbs fly over the screen. Before she can send the message, Brandon pulls the phone from her hands. Smiling, but somehow not, he gives my sister a stern look. “He messaged Harper. You don’t even know if she wants to respond.”

And all six of them turn to me. Put on the spot, I clear my throat. “I don’t know.” Then, not quite able to look at Brandon, I say, “It would be rude to ignore him.”

Without a word, Brandon hands me my phone. There’s something in his hardened expression that tells me he doesn’t approve—but why should I care?

I quickly scan what Riley wrote, erase all of it, and type, You haven’t even wrote me a song yet. I think it’s a little early to pull out the puffy paints.

Then I bite my lip, trying and failing to hold back my smile.

Less than half a minute later, he responds, I’ll have plenty of time to work on it for you…because you’re going to Colorado.

I stare at the text, dumbfounded.

“Harper, what’s wrong?” Lauren asks.

Was that just a touch of light-hearted optimism or is he stating a fact?

Before I can ask if he’s serious, he responds, Congratulations. I don’t know about you, but I’m certainly looking forward to the next few weeks.

“Harper?” Riley demands.

I look up, still in shock, and turn to Sadie. “We’re on the show.”

“We’re…what?” Sadie blinks at me, just as baffled as I am.

Shaking my head, I look back at my phone. “We were selected for the show. We’re going to Colorado.”