Buttercream Bump Off (28 page)

Joe shot forward and snatched up the gun. Mel thought she had never seen anything as splendid as Joe buck naked and clutching a gun. The smell of smoke brought her back to her senses, and she shrieked when she saw the lick of flame from the candle igniting her fluffy area rug.

Joe let loose a string of curses and reached over the couch to grab his towel, which he used to beat at the flames. Mel raced to the kitchen and grabbed her water pitcher out of the fridge. She yanked off the top and poured it on the flames. They were extinguished with a hiss.

The back door flew open, and there stood Angie. She took in the scene with wide eyes.

“Joe!” she cried. “Naked in Mel’s apartment. Well, it’s about time.”

Several hours passed before Detective Martinez was finished asking questions. He seemed particularly interested in the fact that Joe was naked when the incident occurred. While Joe seemed to find this an affirmation of his manliness and confirmation of their relationship, Mel found it mortifying.

Uncle Stan, Tate, and Angie all loitered around Mel’s apartment. They watched as Jay was hauled away, and they all agreed not to call Joyce and ruin her spa time until the next day.

In the aftermath of her adrenaline burst, Mel felt suddenly tired and could no longer hold back the yawns that were overtaking her. As if sensing that she was at her end, Joe ushered everyone out of the apartment.

“Champagne?” he asked as he closed and locked the door behind them.

“That sounds lovely,” Mel said. She eased back onto the futon and rested her head. She and Joe were finally alone, the murderer had been caught, and all was right with the world once more. She yawned again.

She watched through eyes heavy-lidded with exhaustion as Joe hefted the bottle out of the melted ice and untwisted the wire holder. He covered the cork with his left palm and pushed with his right thumb. A satisfying
pop
sounded, and he stopped the cork from doing any damage.

He poured the bubbly beverage into the two waiting glass flutes and put the bottle back in the ice bucket. As she watched him, Mel saw him moving his mouth as if talking to himself. She wondered if he was giving himself a pep talk, or maybe he was just practicing for the courtroom.

She stretched, trying to get more oxygen to her brain in an effort to stay awake. It did no good. Before Joe turned around, she felt her lids droop, and she didn’t have the strength or force of will to open them.

“I can’t believe the crowd,” Joyce said as she helped serve cupcakes to the throng that filled the bakery.

“Catching a murderer is certainly giving us a boost in popularity,” Angie said. She was busing the booths in the bakery that were full to bursting.

“I’ll say,” Tate agreed. “You can’t pay for this kind of publicity.”

“Hey, gorgeous.” Roach appeared and looped an arm around Angie’s shoulders. “Got a minute?”

Angie glanced at Mel, who nodded. They wound their way through the tables towards the door. Mel turned to find Tate watching them. He looked as if he were waiting for an earthquake to hit.

“You never told her how you feel,” Mel said.

“I . . . It didn’t seem fair,” he said. “She’s cared for me for so long. I was such an idiot. He makes her happy. How can I ruin that for her?”

“Are you kidding me?” Mel asked. “Well, it’s nice to see your stupid streak will remain unbroken.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

“It means . . . Oh, forget it. If you’re not man enough to tell her how you feel, then you don’t deserve her,” Mel said. “And if she moves to Los Angeles with him, then I am holding you personally responsible.”

Tate opened his mouth to argue, but Mel waved him off. She was not in the mood to hear it.

“The natives are getting restless, dear,” Joyce said. “You’d better get on with the drawing.”

Mel glanced around the room. It was true. These people had buttercream coursing through their veins. They were amped up and ready for the contest.

Mel stepped up onto a nearby stool. “Thank you, everyone, for coming to our bakery today and for entering our Fairy Tale Cupcake contest. Without further ado, I am going to draw the name of our lucky winner.”

Tate hefted the box off the counter and held it up high for Mel.

“And the winner is . . . Wait.” She paused. “Drum roll please.”

Angie and Roach moved up closer to the front, and the two of them and Tate began to make rolling noises with their tongues.

“The winner is . . .” Mel said it again as she shoved her hand into the box full of slips and grabbed one from the middle bottom. She knew she couldn’t play favorites, but she really wanted Marty to win. He and Beatriz were standing front and center, and even though he had a few years on her, they made a lovely couple.

She held the paper in her hands and then carefully unfolded it. “The winner is Olivia Puckett.
What?
”

Mel was so surprised, she stumbled from her stool and would have fallen if Tate hadn’t caught her at the last second.

A delighted laugh that sounded more like a cackle erupted from the back of the bakery, and Mel glanced up to see Olivia standing there looking quite pleased with herself.

“You owe me a night on the town, Cooper,” she said. “Tell your driver to pick me up at my house at seven.”

With that, Olivia swept from the bakery. The crowd followed her until it was just Tate, Angie, Roach, Joyce, Mel, Beatriz, and a crestfallen Marty.

“How did she . . . ?” Mel muttered. “What are the odds?”

Mel glanced at the box. Had Olivia sabotaged her contest? Mel shoved her hand back into the box and pulled out a fistful of entries.

“Mel, you can’t pick someone else,” Angie said. “Olivia won it fair and square.”

“Really?” Mel asked. She began to unfold the papers.

Olivia Puckett. Olivia Puckett. Olivia Puckett.
“She got me. That evil, conniving, miserable woman got me.”

“But how?” Angie began unfolding papers, too. Every one read the same name:
Olivia Puckett.

Mel glanced up at her new friend. “I am so sorry, Marty. I don’t know how she managed this.”

“That’s all right,” he said. He turned to Beatriz. “I guess we’ll have to cancel our date.”

“What?” she asked. She tossed her dark hair over her shoulder and gave him an outraged look. “Are you ditching me?”

“I mean, I just figured you wouldn’t want to go out with me if it wasn’t a five-star restaurant and a limo.”

“Martin Zelaznik, what kind of girl do you think I am?” she asked. “I said yes to you, not to a fancy restaurant. Now you pick me up at six, or don’t ever bother showing up to another one of my yoga classes.”

She strode towards the door, and Marty turned and grinned at Mel. He yanked the lapels of his suit jacket into place and hurried after her.

“All’s well that ends well,” Joyce said. “Well, if you don’t need me anymore, I am going shopping. I still need to replace my heart attack dress.”

“Maybe you could downgrade it to an angina dress,” Mel said.

“Funny, very funny,” Joyce said. She blew them all an air kiss and left.

“Walk me out?” Roach asked Angie.

“Sure,” she said.

Mel and Tate were silent as the door shut behind them.

“ ‘Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,’ ” Mel said.

“Again with
Casablanca
?” Tate asked.

“It just seemed appropriate,” Mel said.

Tate pulled his apron over his head. “I think ‘We’ll always have Paris’ may be more accurate.”

They were silent for a minute. Mel wanted to comfort her friend, but she didn’t know how.

“Has she told you her decision?” he asked.

“No. You?”

“No.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know yet,” Mel said.

Tate glanced through the front window, where Angie was wrapped in Roach’s arms. “Maybe. Listen, I’m going to go.”

He gestured to the back door, and Mel nodded. She understood. He was going to slip out the back so as not to have to see Angie and Roach up close. Understandable. She set about cleaning up the slips that littered the counter.

Olivia had gotten her good. She wasn’t sure how, and she wasn’t sure when, but she did know there would be payback involved.

It was hard to believe that a mere few weeks ago her mother had been in here giddily announcing her first date. And now, one of Mel’s students sat in jail under arrest for the murder of Baxter Malloy. Rumor had it Poppy Gatwick had fled the state to be with her parents on Long Island. It appeared Jay had been right: Without the ability to buy Poppy pretty things, he couldn’t buy Poppy. The perfect couple was not so perfect after all.

A pair of arms wrapped around her from behind, and Mel happily leaned against the familiar chest of Joe DeLaura.

“The jury convicted,” he said.

Mel spun around in his arms with a joyous cry and hugged him tight. “You won, Joe, you won! That’s wonderful. Let’s go celebrate.”

“No.” He shook his head at her. Mel studied his face, and in his warm brown eyes she saw the same look that she had seen when she first realized she was in love with him.

“No?” she asked. “Don’t tell me there’s another case.”

He grinned. “No, no case.”

“Then what is it? You should be ecstatic, you should go out and pound some bubbly and howl at the moon.”

“I had bubbly last night,” he said. “While I watched you sleep.”

Mel hung her head. “I fell asleep on you. I’m sorry. I tried so hard to stay awake, really, I did.”

Joe pulled her close. “Don’t be sorry. It made me realize what a selfish jerk I’ve been, falling asleep on you like I have. My only defense is that I just wanted to be with you, even if it was only in my sleep.”

“Oh, Joe.” She had thought she couldn’t love him more than she already did. She was seriously mistaken.

“Holding you while you slept was one of the nicest evenings I’ve ever spent,” he said. “I felt like everything was right in my world because I had you in my arms.”

“I felt the same way about you all those nights I spent watching you sleep,” Mel said. “If it was the only way I could have you, then that was fine with me.”

He cupped her face and said, “Let’s run away together.”

Mel looked back out the window. Angie was here—for now. It was her turn to run the bakery for a while. Mel dropped her apron on the counter, took Joe’s hand, and didn’t look back.

A mint chocolate chip cupcake with red and white swirled mint icing and a big Hershey’s Kiss planted in the middle.