Gum Drop Dead: Cupcake Truck Mysteries by Emily James

Author:Emily James [James, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781988480275
Publisher: Stronghold Books
Published: 2020-12-03T16:00:00+00:00

13

For the first time in my life, bruises meant success.

Dan had been able to demonstrate how to escape a hold, and I’d gone through with it. I hadn’t even felt discouraged when we’d passed the group class on our way out, and I saw how far ahead of me they were. I’d get there. I didn’t have a timeline like they did. Dan said his friend ran this class every twelve weeks. We’d be able to keep coming as long as I needed.

Dan parked in front of Claire’s house—my house—and gently pressed his fingers to his cheekbone. “Good thing you gave me this rather than the other way around.”

I cast him a sidelong glance. “What? You wouldn’t want to try to explain to people how you gave me a shiner?”

“I wouldn’t want you to lose customers because you looked like you got in a fist fight. If I go to investigate a case looking black and blue, suspects will think I’m tough.”

He flexed a t-shirted arm.

Dan wasn’t heavily muscled like the man who ran the self-defense class, but he was fit enough that flexing did show off his toned arm. The same arm that’d been around me more times than I could count now and was helping me learn to feel safe again.

There was a time when I thought that would never happen.

I laughed at Dan’s joke and climbed out of the car.

“They’re back,” Janie’s voice called out from the direction of the kitchen as soon as I opened the door.

She ran down the hall with Claire’s no running in the house echoing after her. She stopped in front of me and thrust out a homemade card. The red construction paper sported a yellow flower, the two colors coming together to make the petals look distinctly orange.

I opened it. Inside, she’d printed her name in her big, blocky, just-learning-to-write style. She’d also drawn a heart.

Dan scooped her off the floor and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Where’s my card, munchkin?”

He set her down, and Janie gave him her most serious face. “You’ve gotten plenty of cards from me. Isabel needed one.”

My throat clogged. Which was stupid. A card shouldn’t make me feel like crying. There wasn’t even any reason to cry.

I blinked hard and gave Janie my biggest smile. “I’ll put it on the fridge where I can see it every morning.”

Janie nodded like she wouldn’t have expected anything less.

Claire finally caught up to her and turned her around. “Go put away the crayons and the rest of the art supplies.”

Janie glanced at Claire as if she was considering running there, but she skipped off instead. She cast a look back over her shoulder that clearly said I’m not running. Claire pretended not to notice.

She motioned Dan and me toward the living room. “I want to talk about the next steps for the business.”

Dan hooked a thumb in the direction Janie had disappeared. “I’ll get Janie and leave you to it.”

“Oh no you don’t.” Claire clamped a hand around his wrist and practically dragged him to the nearest chair.

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