Cupcake Bakery 2 - Buttercream Bump Off by Jenn McKinlay

Author:Jenn McKinlay [Jenn, McKinlay,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PENGUIN group
Published: 2010-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

“Aunt Mel, look at me!” a hip-high Darth Vader shouted as he waved a lightsaber at an equally short Luke Skywalker, who was racing away across Joyce’s backyard.

“I’m looking,” Mel yelled back and grinned. Her nephews had been battling each other all evening. She had even spent half an hour tied to an orange tree, pretending to be Princess Leia until Joe showed up and, in his best Han Solo impersonation, saved her. At which point he kissed her, making both boys gag and retch.

“I wish I had their energy,” Joe said as the boys raced by again, making all sorts of loud lightsaber noises.

“No kidding,” Mel said. They were sitting at her mother’s patio table, having just finished dinner.

“It’s all I can do to keep up with them,” Charlie said from the hammock nearby.

“Ditto,” said his wife, Nancy, who was sharing the hammock with him.

“Boys, cookies!” Joyce called from the doorway.

Darth and Luke turned on a dime and sped for the house.

“Wash your hands!” Nancy called after them.

“Aw, Mom, I just licked them clean,” Darth Vader complained. “See?”

He dropped his lightsaber and held up two sticky hands for inspection. Nancy and Joyce exchanged a look that was equal parts maternal amusement and gross-out.

“Soap. Water. March,” Joyce said.

“Aw, crud,” Darth and Luke grumbled as the door shut behind them.

“Thanks for coming down with the boys,” Mel said to Charlie and Nancy. “They’ve cheered Mom up tremendously.”

“Exhausted her is more like it,” Charlie said. “But we’re happy to be here. So, do the police have any suspects?”

“You mean aside from Mom?” Mel asked.

“And my sister’s new boyfriend?” Joe asked.

Mel and Joe linked hands. Neither one of them was happy about the Angie-Roach situation.

“They don’t really suspect Mom, do they?” Nancy asked.

“I don’t think so, but Detective Martinez stopped by the bakery yesterday, and I don’t think it was to buy cupcakes—although he did,” Mel said.

Joe sat up straighter. “You didn’t tell me about that.”

“I didn’t?” Mel asked. “Well, after last night’s concert and staying up so late with Tate and Angie, my brain is a little fuzzy.”

“I don’t like this,” Joe said. “I don’t like Martinez sniffing around the shop.”

“Well, it’s not like he thinks Mel is a suspect,” Charlie said. “I mean, you weren’t even there, right?”

“There is the dress debacle,” Mel said. “But no, I don’t think he thinks I’m a suspect.”

“Maybe he wants to date you,” Nancy said and wiggled her eyebrows.

Mel glanced quickly at Joe, who glowered and said, “Sorry, you’re off the market.”

She grinned at him. Not that she had been worried or anything, but it was good to know that Joe was still in. Maybe tonight would be the night. She felt herself break into a sweat, and it wasn’t from nerves.

An old-fashioned telephone ring sounded, and Joe fished his phone out of his pocket. He glanced at the screen.

“Sorry, it’s the office,” he said. He squeezed Mel’s hand before letting go, and then strolled over to the edge of the yard to stand between her mother’s orange trees.

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