Death of a Cupcake Queen

by Lee Hollis

  “Great. I’m going to need all the help I can get,” Nate said, smiling again so brightly, Hayley half expected a power outage from him sucking up so much electricity in one facial expression. “Nice meeting you all.”

  Hayley noticed him start to lean in to kiss Gemma, but then think better of it with her mother watching.

  Instead, he patted her gently on the cheek and was out the door in a flash.

  “Too bad you couldn’t have scrounged up a better looking prom date, Gemma,” Liddy said, watching him dash up the street from the kitchen window.

  “I totally scored. Every girl in my class was vying to go with him. I have no idea why he chose me!”

  “Because you’re beautiful, smart, kind, funny, and my daughter,” Hayley said. “There was no way he could do better.”

  “I hated prom,” Mona said, climbing back up on the stool she was using as a perch.

  “That’s because you hated wearing a dress,” Hayley said, laughing.

  “Yeah, there was that. My mother forced me to buy one at JC Penney. Remember? It was bright yellow. I looked like Big Bird,” Mona said, shaking her head.

  “You went with Norman Langford, right? I remember he loved your dress. He kept complimenting it all night,” Liddy said. “Frankly I think he wished he had been the one wearing it.”

  “Whatever happened to Norman?” Hayley asked.

  “He runs a dance company in Rhode Island,” Mona said.

  “That sounds about right,” Liddy said, nodding.

  “Speaking of dresses . . .” Hayley said, turning to Gemma. “How about a sneak preview for Liddy and Mona?”

  Liddy clapped her hands together, excited over the prospect of an impromptu fashion show.

  Gemma demurred but it was mostly for show. It didn’t take a lot of convincing before she raced up the stairs to her room to pull the dress off the hanger.

  “I know she’s going to have a night to remember,” Hayley said. “And it has to be better than my own prom night.”

  “Didn’t you go with Ruben Fitch?”

  “Yeah, I was going through my bad boy period and Ruben fit the bill. He was just back from a three-week suspension for joyriding in his father’s truck on school property and tearing up the football field. At the time, I thought his rebellious spirit was cool. But I paid the price for it. After the prom, he was arrested for public intoxication and left me to walk home in my prom dress in the rain. Then I spent the rest of the night hearing ‘I told you so’ from my mother. Not the happiest of memories.”

  Gemma descended the stairs in a Princess Sweetheart beaded sleeveless floor-length tulle dress. Even with no make-up and her hair pulled back in a lifeless pony tail, she looked absolutely stunning. Just the sight of her looking so regal and gorgeous, filling out the dress so perfectly, brought tears to Hayley’s eyes.

  “You look so grown up. It’s killing me,” Hayley said, grabbing a napkin to dab her tear-streaked face.

  Liddy focused on Gemma’s bare feet. “What kind of shoes are you going to wear?”

  “I have some white sandals I can strap on. Mom already spent enough on the dress,” Gemma said.

  “We’re going shoe shopping when you get off school tomorrow. Consider it your graduation present. I will not have you wearing some ordinary sandals with that dress,” Liddy said, slapping her hand on the counter to make her point. “There. It’s settled.”

  “Wait. I totally forgot about getting you a graduation gift,” Mona said.

  “You don’t need to get me anything, Aunt Mona,” Gemma said. “Seriously.”

  “No, I do. I’m not going to let Liddy have all the glory. What do you want? Tell me. As long as it doesn’t send my credit card over the limit. Again.”

  “Well, there is one thing . . .” Gemma said, giving her mother a playful wink.

  “Just name it. You want a necklace? We can drive up to Zales and get a nice birthstone or something to go with the dress.”

  “Actually, what I really want is . . .” Gemma said, reaching out and taking Mona’s hand. “Is for you to go to your high school reunion with Mom and Liddy.”

  Mona wrenched her hand free. “Did your nasty mother put you up to this?”

  “You said anything,” Gemma said. “And that’s what I want.”

  “You people are pure evil,” Mona said, gulping down the remainder of her wine.

  “Then it’s settled,” Liddy said. “And don’t worry, no matter what those overly made up clucking hens say or do, we will have a good time!”

  Mona sat there scowling.

  But Hayley sensed there might be a tiny part of her that might be looking forward to attending the reunion. She just had to keep up her dour exterior so as not to jeopardize her prickly reputation.

  Hayley felt in her bones that it was going to be a memorable night.

  She just had no idea how memorable.

  Chapter 8

  Hayley never imagined they could pull off a memorable reunion in such a short period of time, but from the moment her former classmates began pouring into the Kebo Valley Golf Club, hugging and laughing and snapping selfies to tweet out to family and friends, it quickly became clear the party was going to be a resounding success.

  In the end, Sabrina, Nykki, and Ivy went with a minimum amount of decorations mostly because they got bored with the effort and were distracted by a private reunion dinner for their cheerleading squad and a few more boating outings with their rich friends.

  That was fine by Hayley.

  She was left in peace to make sure there was plenty of food for everyone without busting their budget.

  Liddy and Mona showed up early to help set up the tables of appetizers and after a quick countdown of platters, everything was put out piping hot and ready to serve.

  The only item still heating up in the oven was Hayley’s tasty mini party quiches.

  Hayley also enlisted the aid of her son, Dustin, an aspiring filmmaker, to record the festivities on his GoPro camera that he saved up for all last summer from bagging groceries at the Shop ‘n Save. Dustin weaved in and out of all the clusters of revelers grabbing priceless reactions of people reunited with friends they hadn’t seen in two decades. Hayley had told Dustin not to get too fancy, but the mini JJ Abrams was panning and swishing as if this little video was destined to be a finalist at the Cannes Film Festival.

  As she removed tin foil off a crockpot of Swedish meatballs that bubbled in a sea of gravy, Hayley caught sight of Mona hugging a balding man with a goatee, so small and fragile she feared Mona might snap him in half. She didn’t recognize him at first or the man with him, who was almost as tiny and wearing a bright lime blazer that matched his companion’s. Then it dawned on her.

  Norman Langford.

  Mona’s prom date.

  The dance captain from Rhode Island.

  Mona, who had downed a few dirty martinis before the cash bar even opened, was rosy-cheeked and glassy-eyed and already having a marvelous time. She and Norman were giggling and hugging and then Mona hooked a meaty hand around the man next to Norman, presumably his husband, and pulled him into her bosom squeezing him so tight he fought for air.

  Hayley knew in her gut if she could just get Mona to attend the reunion, she would ultimately have fun, and her feeling was right.

  Hayley scanned the crowd.

  Liddy was busy flirting with all her old boyfriends from high school.

  Even the married ones.

  Sabrina and Nykki were huddled with their clique of girls, most of whom were remarkably well preserved, a couple sporting bodies worthy of supermodels.

  What the hell was their secret?

  Hayley wondered where Ivy was with her self-proclaimed world famous cupcakes?

  Maybe that was their secret to a slim figure.

  Unlike Hayley, they weren’t thinking about cupcakes.

  Or food in general.

  All the time.

  Hayley was chomping at the bit to mingle with her former classm
ates. She noticed more arriving by the minute and it made her smile. All of these people from her past in one room. It was bringing back a lot of fond memories.

  She was about to slip in line at the bar for a Jack and Coke and chat up Lisa O’Donnell, an old friend who sat in front of her in homeroom and who still lived in town and worked at the Harbor Side Hotel, when she suddenly smelled something burning.

  Her mini party quiches.

  Hayley dashed into the kitchen and saw wisps of smoke billowing out of the oven. She grabbed an oven mitt off the counter and whipped open the door, waving the smoke away with her free hand.

  The quiches were burnt to a crisp.

  Hayley sighed as she took the pan out of the oven and dumped them into the large gray plastic garbage bin in the corner.

  Still, after quickly calculating numbers in her mind, she figured they wouldn’t be short of food before the night was over. If anything, Hayley usually made too much and there were always leftovers for weeks.

  She was even contemplating writing a cook book one day.

  Recipes using leftovers.

  Now that would be a book she would buy.

  She was rinsing the pan off in the sink when she suddenly felt something squeezing the flesh on her butt.

  It was a hand.

  A man’s hand.

  Hayley spun around to find herself face to face with Mason Cassidy.

  Sabrina’s impossibly handsome tattooed boy toy.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’ve wanted to do that ever since I met you at the bar the other day,” Mason said, a wolfish grin on his face.

  She slapped his hands away.

  “Mason, stop it! Right now!”

  “Older women like you drive me crazy,” Mason said, moving in close to her, the scent of garlic on his breath making it obvious he had devoured a few of Hayley’s Parmesan Garlic Chicken Wings before sneaking into the kitchen and copping a feel.

  “You’re with Sabrina! Get your hands off me!”

  “She can’t boil water. But you, you’re a master in the kitchen, and I am a slave to any woman who can turn me on with her culinary talents.”

  Mason then pinned her against the counter, grabbing her wrists with his hands and covering Hayley’s mouth with his own.

  She struggled, but the muscled high diver was strong. He let go of one of her wrists to cup her neck with his hand as he thrust his tongue into her mouth even deeper.

  Hayley used her free hand to reach up and slip a finger through the earring hole on his left ear lobe.

  She yanked down hard.

  Nearly tearing the flesh right off.

  Mason yelped in pain and jerked his head back.

  But he still had his arms around her, pinning her to the counter.

  Suddenly there was a gasp from the doorway.

  She cranked her head around to see Nykki, a hand over her mouth as she took in the scene.

  Hayley knew if she said anything lame like “This is not what it looks like” it would just make matters worse.

  So she just stood there with Mason hanging off her knowing how bad it looked.

  Nykki’s eyes blazed with anger as she turned on her white high heels that matched her skin tight cocktail dress and dashed out of the kitchen.

  Hayley could feel her cheeks burning red and with all her might she slapped Mason hard across the face, wiping the twisted smile off his smug face.

  “You ever touch me again, I will filet you like a fish. You hear me?”

  Mason nodded.

  The smile was back on his face.

  Her rejection, her utter revulsion, just seemed to excite him even more.

  Hayley pushed him away from her and raced out of the kitchen.

  Chapter 9

  Hayley flew out through the silver swinging doors leading into the main dining room and scanned the crowd, many of whom at this point were jiggling and gyrating on the makeshift dance floor to Janet Jackson.

  She spotted Nykki, who had already found Sabrina.

  They were standing near the bar.

  Nykki’s hands gesticulated wildly as she presumably recounted the horror of what she had just witnessed in the kitchen.

  Sabrina listened to her intently, a crestfallen look on her face.

  Hayley knew she had to explain what happened with Mason.

  She began to weave through the crowd, ducking her head at one point to avoid getting struck by a woman she didn’t recognize in a cream colored gown shaking and shimmying as if she was having some kind of seizure. Probably a spouse she hadn’t met yet.

  Before she could make it all the way across the dance floor, a man stepped in front of her, blocking her route.

  “Hayley Powell! You haven’t changed a bit! Do you remember me?” the man asked, his high pitched voice cracking as if he were still struggling through puberty after all these years.

  He was heavy set with a healthy gut.

  His drab brown sports jacket seemed three sizes too small for him and the buttons on his shirt strained against his girth, threatening to pop off.

  “Charles? It’s so nice to see you. You haven’t changed much either,” Hayley lied, peering over his shoulder to make sure Sabrina didn’t run out of the reunion in tears before she had a chance to relate her side of the story.

  Charles McNally was the former student council president in high school.

  Back then, he was quite a catch.

  State champion cross-country runner.

  Politically active successfully battling the school administration for a soda machine to be installed in the cafeteria.

  A weekend volunteer with Habitat for Humanity going around the state building homes for the needy.

  And with wavy blond hair, most of which was gone now, and fresh-faced good looks, he was the topic of many discussions in the back row of study hall between Sabrina and her posse, all of whom had massive crushes on him and were determined to find themselves on his radar.

  In the end, it was Ivy who emerged the lucky victor after winning the vice president spot on the student council, though Hayley and her pals were convinced there was some underhanded ballot box stuffing to insure she won. Working on a number of projects after school and well into the night, it was only a matter of time before their hormones got the best of them and they began dating.

  They lasted through all of senior year. She dumped him during the summer after graduation. Charles was devasted and never really recovered. It even affected his studies at Wesleyan that fall.

  Charles got a scholarship to Wesleyan in Connecticut and Ivy went off to Sarah Lawrence in New York because her mother was a treasured alumnus. He let the pressures of continuing to be the best at everything get the better of him and he found himself smack dab in the middle of a cheating scandal after hiring a brainy kid to take his final exams for him. He was instantly expelled and life for Charles went downhill fast. He never recovered. Once a shining star, he was now an academic washout and Hayley heard a rumor he was pumping gas at a Chevron station just outside of Hartford through most of his twenties. Which was good honest work, but not what the ambitious Charles McNally had in mind for himself. After that, she lost track of him until he joined the Mount Desert Island High School reunion group on Facebook and posted he was planning to attend.

  “What have you been up to?” Hayley asked, her eyes still locked on Sabrina, who was now downing a drink she had just grabbed off the bar as Nykki continued to talk her ear off.

  “Well, not many people know this but I created an app called Designated Driver where people at bars can sign up and with one click a driver will find you through your phone’s GPS and get you home safely. I’ve done very well with it. Very well,” he said, making sure his point was made.

  “Like Uber, but for heavy drinkers,” Hayley said.

  “Something like that. I’m in a much better place than I was ten years ago, which was why I skipped our first reunion. How have you been, Hayley?”

  “Well,
I have two kids, Gemma and Dustin—”

  “Is Ivy here?”

  So much for his interest in her life since high school.

  “I haven’t seen her. But she will be here. She’s bringing cupcakes.”

  “I read about her successful business. Very impressive. I always knew Ivy would be a major player in the world of business.”

  Major player?

  Okay, her cupcakes were tasty.

  But she wasn’t exactly running General Motors.

  “Listen, I was wondering,” Charles said, leaning in to Hayley to shout in her ear above the music, which was now cranked up even louder as everybody rocked out to the dance remix of Annie Lennox’s “No More I Love You’s”. “Is Ivy—?”

  Hayley knew the question before he even asked it. “Yes, Charles. I’m afraid Ivy’s married. Her husband is here in town with her.”

  Charles looked as if the wind had just been knocked out of him.

  His whole body sagged and his sad eyes resembled those of a puppy just swatted on the behind with a newspaper after peeing on the floor.

  “I’m sorry, Charles. I can tell you still harbor feelings for her.”

  “I guess it was foolish of me to expect a woman like Ivy to be single and available. Of course she has to be happily married.”

  “Well, to be honest, happily might be too strong a word,” Hayley said as she watched Ivy blow through the door carrying a large pink box with her husband Nigel running behind her.

  “There she is,” Hayley said.

  Charles’ eyes widened. “That’s her husband?”

  “Yes. Why? Do you know him?”

  Charles didn’t bother answering her.

  His gaze had already floated over to Ivy. “She looks absolutely beautiful.”

  “Please don’t cause a scene!” Nigel screamed at his wife, although his voice was nearly drowned out by the thumping music.

  Nigel reached out to stop Ivy by grabbing her arm.

  She tried to shake free but his grip tightened.

  “Can we just go back outside and talk about this?” Nigel yelled.

  “No!” Ivy screamed, wrenching her arm free before spinning around to escape from him and tripping over her high heeled shoes. She managed to regain her balance but the pink box flew out of her arms and landed with a thud on the floor while four cupcakes with sprinkles were ejected and splattered on the dance floor, some cream filling even landing on the tip of Charles’ polished shoe.