She stroked Jack’s fur and he arched his back. Mel had a feeling he was still irritated, but not willing to give up the pets.
“Now, Jack,” Mel said, “you’re going to have a roommate for a—”
Ruf ruf ruf. Peanut barked, having just realized a cat was perched above her like a vulture.
“I see it’s going well,” Joe said over the barking as he returned to the room. He hurried over to Peanut’s bag of stuff and started to dish her food.
She kept barking and Captain Jack returned the greeting with a hiss.
Joe put the food down beside Peanut and she glanced at it and then the cat, all the while still barking. Obviously torn between antagonizing the cat and eating, Peanut let loose a flurry of barks and then turned her attention to her food.
Captain Jack remained perched above her with his tail swishing, but he wasn’t hissing anymore. Mel continued to pet him.
“It’s okay, buddy,” she said. “We’re just helping the canine out until her person gets better.”
Jack rose on his hind feet and used his full body weight to rub his head into her hand. Mel picked him up and snuggled him for a bit until he was his usual purring feline self.
“Maybe this will work out,” Joe said. He glanced from the dog to the cat and shrugged.
Peanut finished her food and turned to lap up some water. She let loose a big belch and sat down. As if she’d forgotten there was a cat in the house, she blinked up at Jack in Mel’s arms and then started barking again.
Startled, Captain Jack leapt out of Mel’s arms and landed on the counter with a reproachful hiss. He turned his back to them and strode the length of the counter. Peanut followed him from the ground, still barking.
Jack hopped from the counter to the back of the couch to the back of a chair and then bolted down the hall to go hide in the bedroom. Peanut scrambled to follow, barking all the way.
Mel and Joe exchanged a look and Mel asked, “Dog or cat?”
“Cat,” Joe said. “At least I know he likes me.”
“Fine,” Mel said.
Together they followed the ruckus into their bedroom. Captain Jack was up on the bed while Peanut circled the bed, barking at the cat like he’d treed a lion.
Mel reached down and scooped up Peanut. “I think she just wants to meet him.”
“Meet him or eat him?” Joe asked. He was scratching Captain Jack behind the ears, soothing his ruffled fur.
“Meet, I’m pretty sure,” Mel said. “Should I put her on the bed?”
“Could be a bloodbath. We don’t want her to do to Jack what she did to that couch cushion.”
“Good point,” Mel said.
She sat on the bed and held Peanut in her lap. Ecstatic to be up on the bed, Peanut stopped barking and sat, panting with her tongue hanging out.
“I think she just wants to be a part of the pack,” Mel said.
Captain Jack gave Peanut a disgusted look. She may have wanted in but Jack clearly wasn’t there yet. When Peanut rolled out of Mel’s arms and onto the bed with her belly in the air, Jack turned his back on her and hopped off the bed, trotting out of the room with a swish of his tail.
Peanut then turned her gaze on Mel. She looked so desperate to please that Mel couldn’t resist giving her a belly rub.
“It’s okay, Peanut,” she said. “He’ll come around, you’ll see.”
Eleven
Mel snuggled deep into her bed with Peanut sacked out between her and Joe’s feet. Joe had passed out while reading through a deposition and Mel noted the even sound of his breathing, indicating he was fast asleep.
Reassured that her bedside lamp wouldn’t disturb him, Mel finished a recipe text to Oz and then plugged in her cell phone and opened the copy of The Palms that she’d snagged from Elise’s apartment. The book began with a scene from a backyard barbecue when Elise was new to the neighborhood. Everything was very suburban until the host of the party, a person Elise referred to as Beer Gut, circulated through the party collecting everyone’s house keys.
Of course, everyone threw their keys in thinking it was to keep people from driving drunk. It wasn’t. Instead, at the end of the party the wives were to fish a set of keys out of the bowl and that was the man they were to go home with. Elise had been shocked.
Mel was right there with her. She tried to picture a party where that happened and Joe’s reaction. She glanced at her man. While she’d been reading, Peanut had wedged herself in beside Joe, who was still dead asleep and hadn’t noticed. Now they both had their heads on Joe’s pillow and were snoring softly. It was ridiculously adorable.
It didn’t take Mel much imagination to know that Joe would lose his cool at a party like the one Elise described. Not only that, they wouldn’t be returning to any of the neighborhood parties anytime soon or ever.
Elise’s husband, or rather her alter-ego/protagonist Ellen’s husband, known only as Hair Plugs, had a different reaction. He wanted her to go along with the party game. He felt that it would help them network with their neighbors and get to know people. Elise . . . er . . . Ellen was unhappy with his reaction. She felt he should protect her and get her out of there, not think about his career. Mel was with her on that one.
Hair Plugs put the pressure on, however, and Ellen soon found herself going home with a man who wasn’t her husband, a man she called Turtle. Mel could not put the book down. She felt like she was watching a slow-motion train wreck and yet she couldn’t look away or stop reading.
Ellen’s night was awful. She couldn’t go through with sleeping with the man so she got him roaring drunk and snuck out when he passed out. She walked home by herself as the sun rose, wondering what had happened to her husband and what would happen to their marriage now that they lived here in this neighborhood called the Palms.
Mel was riveted. She only closed the book when it landed on her face with a splat when she started to doze out of sheer exhaustion. From the opening chapter Elise penned a story about the seedy underbelly of the wealthy suburb and its sleazy inhabitants. Mel wondered if Elise would have written the book if her husband hadn’t divorced her so he could marry Mallory, known as the Child Bride in the book, who it turned out was on the prowl for husband number two.
As the novel told it, Hair Plugs was so determined to have his new wife accepted by his peers that he had done everything he could to make certain Ellen was rejected by all of her former friends. In the divorce, he tried to have it written into their agreement that Ellen would move away and leave the neighborhood to him and his new wife.
Added to the crushing blow of being forced to give up her home and her friends, it was an especially wrenching maneuver because “Ellen” couldn’t have children and the new wife wanted to start a family right away.
In the morning, Mel wasn’t surprised she’d spent a fitful night with disturbing dreams about Elise, Hair Plugs, and pens that spurted blood instead of ink. The one thing she couldn’t figure out from the beginning was why Ellen stayed married to Hair Plugs, or rather Elise to Todd. Surely she could have left him at some point in their marriage when everything started to go horribly wrong.
She woke up to Captain Jack batting her nose. She reached out from under her covers and rubbed his head. He purred and then began to walk on her, up and down from her shoulders to her knees and back, which was his way of insisting that she wake up and feed him. Right now.
“All right, all right,” she said. She pushed the covers off and glanced at Joe. Peanut was still wedged up against him, sharing his pillow and snoring softly just like Joe. She had also managed to maneuver herself under the covers.
As if sensing her gaze upon him, Joe opened one eye, and said, “She snores.”
“Uh-huh.”
“She’s under the covers.”
“Yup.”
“She can’t stay.”
“For now or forever
?”
“For now,” he said. “I wasn’t aware forever was on the table.”
He moved to get up, being careful not to jostle the dog. What a fibber! He was totally smitten with Peanut.
“It’s all right if you wake her,” Mel said. “She probably needs to go out.”
“Oh, well, she’s had a rough night,” he said. He tucked the covers in around her. “I figure she could use the rest.”
Mel shook her head at him. “‘He went for her like she’s made outta ham.’”
“Best in Show?” Joe asked.
“Look at you, getting the movie quote right,” she said. “I’m so glad the bakery crew has been such a good influence on you.”
Joe rolled his eyes but it was with a smile.
Captain Jack, clearly unhappy that he wasn’t the center of attention, gave a howl. The noise snapped Peanut awake and she bolted up, getting tangled in the covers as she tried to make a leap for the cat.
Jack hissed and hightailed it out of the bedroom. Peanut launched herself off the bed to give chase.
“And they’re off,” Mel said as she hurried after them.
Mel let Peanut out into their fenced backyard and fed Captain Jack, who seemed much happier with his food bowls up on the counter. When Peanut came in, she was so distracted by her food, she forgot all about the cat.
Mel brewed a pot of coffee and took up the book where she’d left off the night before. She was fully engrossed when Joe entered the kitchen. He had to say her name three times to get her attention and then he pointed his thumb at Captain Jack.
“He’s not coming around, is he?” Joe asked.
“What makes you think that?” she asked.
They watched as Captain Jack swatted yesterday’s mail off the counter onto Peanut, where she was licking her empty bowl as if more food might appear if she licked deeply enough.
“A hunch,” he said. He glanced at the book. “Good reading?”
“Horrifying,” she said. “It’s got it all—sex, power, the rich behaving badly—and Elise barely concealed people’s identities. I can see why there was outrage. If not for the dirty deeds then for some of the nicknames. Can you imagine being known as Foot Stink or Oozing Sores?”
“Those are bad, but enough to try and murder her?”
Mel didn’t like to admit it, but she could see someone being angry enough to kill Elise for this book. It wasn’t just the insulting names she had for everyone, it was also the secrets, the bad behavior, the cheating, the lying, and who really hated whom and what they did to show it.
It was like a how-to manual on cruel and outrageous behavior that she couldn’t stop reading. When Joe kissed her good-bye to leave for work, she glanced up and looked at him, really looked at him. Then she dropped the book and hugged him.
Joe hugged her back and then pulled back to look at her. “What’s up?”
“Just insanely glad that I chose you,” she said. “You’re a good man, Joe DeLaura.”
He kissed her and then smiled. “Not to be argumentative, but I’m pretty sure I chose you.”
Mel grinned at him. She’d had him in her sights since she was twelve and he was sixteen. There was no way he’d pined as long as she had and he knew it. Nice of him to pretend, however, and it was just one more reason why she loved him.
“What’s the plan with the fur people?” he asked.
“I’m going to take Peanut with me to work and beg Oz to let me keep her in his apartment,” she said. “I just don’t think she should be alone, and Captain Jack could probably use a break from her.”
“That’ll get us through today,” Joe said. “I’ll ask my brother Dom if he has any baby gates we could borrow. We can use them to barricade the dog in the living room tomorrow and keep her from destroying the whole house.”
“See?” Mel asked. “It’s all coming together.”
Joe gave her a dubious look but he didn’t argue. He kissed her one more time, rubbed Captain Jack’s ears, and patted Peanut on the head. Mel watched him go, admiring the cut of his suit and the prosecutorial way he carried himself.
When the door shut behind him, she glanced at the pets and said, “I’m going to marry him.”
Captain Jack gave her a bored look as if this was old news, but Peanut barked as if in approval. Of course, the girl got it.
* * *
• • •
Mel had to go to the bakery no matter how much she wanted to stay home and work her way through a pot of coffee and Elise’s book. When she arrived, she found Angie already in the kitchen with Oz. They were standing by the worktable, looking at several cupcakes. Angie had her arm around Oz’s waist, and she was leaning against him.
“Everything okay?” Mel asked.
“It’s perfect,” Angie sobbed. “Look!”
Mel approached the table and felt her eyes go wide. On the table was a small tier of cupcakes done in Angie’s wedding colors of aqua and pewter. Each cupcake was an explosion of delicate white blooms with aqua leaves tucked in and small pewter-colored accents. They were intricate and lovely and Mel marveled at the detail Oz had wrought in the fondant and the frosting.
“Oz, these are by far your finest work,” she said. She grinned at him and saw a flush color his cheeks.
“They’re only practice,” he said. He waved his hand as if he didn’t think much of them. “I just wanted Angie’s approval before I start working on the final product.”
“You have it,” Angie said. She let go of him and clutched her hands in front of her. “Oz, it just means the world to me that you’re making my cupcake tower.”
“Don’t mention it,” he said. He looked as if he really meant that.
Peanut, who had strolled in beside Mel, was clearly desperate for attention. She sat on her haunches and barked at Oz.
He glanced down at the dog as if eager to have the attention off of him. “And who do we have here?”
“Her name is Peanut and I was wondering if she could hang out in your place for the day since she and Captain Jack could use a little time apart,” Mel said.
“You and Joe got a dog?” Oz asked.
“Sort of,” Mel said. “She belongs to Elise Penworthy, so we’re fostering her until Elise gets out of the hospital and can care for her again.”
“That’s cool,” Oz said. “I’ll take her up and get her settled.”
Mel handed him a bag of dog stuff. “Have I offered you a raise lately?”
“No,” he said. “And I’m definitely due.” He jerked a thumb at the front of the bakery and said, “Go look and see what I had to put up with today. I’ll bet you double my salary.”
Mel gave him an alarmed look and headed towards the swinging door that led into the bakery. Angie fell in behind her and together they eased the door open and peered out front.
They scanned the bakery, looking for what might have upset Oz. Mel glanced at the counter, where Marty was supposed to be working. There was no Marty just some guy with jet-black hair and Clark Kent glasses.
Mel narrowed her eyes. The Clark Kent wannabe had bushy gray eyebrows.
“Marty,” she said. “What are you doing?”
“Aw, man, how’d you know it was me?” he asked.
“The stooped shoulders, droopy pants, and gray chin stubble gave it away,” Angie said.
Marty reached up and pulled off his wig and glasses. “I don’t understand. This disguise always worked for Superman.”
“You are not Superman,” Mel said.
“Yeah, you’re more like Heartburn Man or High-Fiber Diet Man,” Angie said.
Marty lowered a bushy eyebrow at her. “Now, was that nice?”
“No,” Angie said. She hung her head. “I’m sorry. I just don’t see why you feel the need to be in disguise. Tell those thugs your daughters hired to go to h—”
&
nbsp; “Are they still following you?” Mel asked. “How does Olivia feel about that?”
“I don’t know. She threw me out,” he said.
“What?” Mel asked. “But I thought . . .” She didn’t know what she thought, so she stopped talking.
She didn’t want to make Marty feel worse by rejoicing in his breakup. Still, Mel had always hoped he’d find someone a little more stable than Olivia. Then again, without Olivia to intimidate his daughters, they might pack Marty up and drag him back to the Midwest with them. Mel hated that. Marty, like Oz, was family.
“It’s okay,” Marty said. “I’m bunking with Oz.”
Mel and Angie exchanged a look. Oz hadn’t mentioned Marty moving in with him, but then maybe he had enough on his plate being in charge of the wedding cupcakes and all.
The front doors opened and a mom with two kids came in. Marty went to wait on them while Mel and Angie backed up until they were in the kitchen once again. Angie’s phone chimed and she took it out of her apron pocket. She glanced at the display and frowned. “Wedding stuff. I have to take this,” she said.
Mel nodded. She glanced down at her handbag and noticed Elise’s book sticking out of the top of it. Maybe she could do a little reading before diving into the baking for the day.
She entered her office and closed the door. She put her cell phone on her desk and then put her purse away and sat in her chair with her feet up on the desk. Elise’s writing was a bit overdone, but Mel could overlook the overblown turn of phrase for the sheer circus-like atmosphere of the neighborhood of the Palms. It was like an old black-and-white forties movie where the heroine in a peignoir threw a martini shaker at the back of the man who was betraying her with the neighbor.
Mel devoured the juicy novelized version of Elise’s life, learning among other sordid details that Mallory Cavendish, aka the Child Bride, had apparently been the new wife of the pervy elderly neighbor Elise called the “Fossil.” When Fossil died, Hair Plugs rushed in to console the young widow, and the next thing Ellen knew, she was kicked to the curb for a younger model who wanted to have children, something that Hair Plugs decided at the age of fifty-five that he desperately needed.
Wedding Cake Crumble Page 11
