#Chapter 173: Soaked Flowers

Abby My hands tremble slightly as I reach the door, my thoughts racing a mile a minute. The apartment still looks like a hurricane just blew through, the ingredients aren’t prepped, I’m still a mess myself, and the judges are an hour and a half early. Great. Just great. I hope that whoever shoved those paper towels and cardboard down my sink are happy with themselves. And if it was no one, and it was just a freak accident of some sort, I hope that the universe is having a good laugh over my misfortune. I take a deep breath, steeling myself for stern faces that I’m about to meet. But when the door swings open, instead of three judges, I’m met with someone who I never expected. “K-Karl…?” He steps inside without a word and holds a bouquet of soaking wet flowers, like they’ve been plucked straight out of a vase, out to me. No, he doesn’t just hold them out to me. He shoves them into my hand. Our fingers brush, sending an uninvited jolt through my already-electri