Muffins & Murder (Sweet Bites Book 3) (Sweet Bites Mysteries) (16 page)

“Hey!” Honey gave him a playful push and he laughed.

I sighed heavily as if I were exasperated by the byplay, but secretly, I loved the fact that Honey had become such good friends with Lenny, cementing my pieced-together family. “Work starts awful early in the morning. Staying up late to dig through Francine’s house will make it hard to stay awake tomorrow.” I that mulled over in my head, and it made a lot of sense. Nothing else was panning out, and my best bet was probably going to be to do some digging. This would be harder than at the hotel, or the barn and getting in would be a problem.

“Come on, I can tell you’re considering it.” Honey’s smile grew confident.

“How to get inside, that’s the question,” I finally said. “I don’t think we can count on you being so lucky with the lock twice.”

Honey pumped her fist in the air. “Come on, you don’t think I’ve let my lock-picking skills grow lax, do you? Why do you think I installed that deadbolt on my basement door? Because I don’t want my kids into the dried tomatoes? No, I did it so I could practice during all the boring parts of my day.” She glared over at Lenny, who chuckled. “Apparently I get lots of time to practice.”

He smirked.

I lifted my brows. “Really?”

“Hey, if I’m going to be the sidekick in this arrangement, I figured I ought to have a few useful skills.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, but her expression showed only satisfaction.

“I’ve done a little lock picking myself,” Lenny said, looking hopeful. “Not recently, of course, except when I got locked out of my place a few weeks back, but I could come along, just in case.”

I considered the option more seriously, then shook my head. “I can’t let you do that.”

“Why?” He looked hurt.

“Because someone might notice us, remember? You don’t need any more trouble with the law. You’re getting married in a few days, and it’ll be a really depressing wedding if we have to hold it at the county jail.”

“And the honeymoon would suck,” Honey said.

“Point taken.”

I looked at them, seeing their interested and eager faces. I settled on Honey’s. “Fine. Tonight at midnight.” I sighed and shook my head. “Man, can we be any more predictable?”

I had been back at the bakery for less than fifteen minutes before Jack and Sadie came in. I hadn’t seen him for a couple of days, since our visit to the forest ranger, and was glad to see him. Then again, I was always glad to see him.

“Hi, Tess!” Sadie greeted me, her curly pigtails bouncing as she moved. “We came for cookies!”

“I’m so glad you came in,” I told her. “How are you doing?” I came around the counter and gave her a big hug. She was a sweetheart.

“Good. Dad said I was being so good I deserved a treat.”

I looked at Jack, loving the way his strawberry blond hair fell over his forehead and slightly into his eyes. He was past due for a haircut, but I didn’t mind. “You must have one of the best behaved daughters on the planet, considering how often you bring her in here.”

“What can I say, I’m a lucky dad.” His eyes were on mine, making my stomach tremble. “I haven’t heard anything from you for a while. I decided I should check to make sure you haven’t been hurt or something. That you’re not lying unconscious upstairs. You’ve had an oddly quiet investigation this time.”

“That’s because all of my leads have gone nowhere.” I frowned, thinking about how many dead ends I’d hit.

He sent me a commiserating look and I turned my attention back to Sadie, not wanting to ignore her. “So, what would you like today?” I moved behind the counter again and pulled out the peanut butter oatmeal cookies for Sadie and a piña colada cupcake for Jack, then took a seat beside them.

“Quiet today, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Morning was crazy, and you just missed a rush. I need to get off my feet.”

“Glad to give you an excuse.”

Sadie started talking about something that happened at school and we both focused on her for a while. I loved seeing them together. She was so bright and happy most of the time, and he doted on her, which made my heart melt.

Lenny came out to talk to us for a few minutes and helped a few customers who came through. He disappeared again after shooting me a knowing look.

When they were finished with their treats, Jack sent Sadie back to wash her hands. He waited for the bathroom door to close behind her, and turned to me. “I wondered if you’d like to grab dinner sometime.” He said the words fast, as if afraid he wouldn’t get them out otherwise. “I’m off tonight or we can put it off until after this next shift.”

His paramedic schedule was mostly made up of twenty-four and forty-eight hour shifts, so he had whole days when he was busy with work, and then whole days free.

Inside I felt like I was twirling with excitement—this was a real, honest-to-goodness date. “Tonight sounds nice. Can we make it around seven? That’ll give me time to change after I lock up.” We would be back in plenty of time for my break-in with Honey at Francine’s tonight, right?

“That sounds good. I’ll pick you up then. And I’m thinking about that Italian place on the freeway, if that works for you?”

“Terrific. They have great tiramisu.” I hadn’t actually been to the restaurant yet, but I’d had takeout a couple of times. Honey mentioned the ambiance was perfect for date night, and there was no one I wanted to go out with as much as Jack.

“Good.” He smiled, his hands in his back pockets, as if unsure what to do with them.

Sadie came out of the bathroom, her hands still damp. “I’m ready, Dad. Can we play on the swings now?”

“You betcha, kiddo.” He snagged her around the waist, lifting her half over to his shoulder so her head flopped down his back.

“Dad!” her protest was punctuated with giggles as he poked her in the side with an index finger.

“See you later.” I wanted to laugh as well as they both called out goodbyes before they exited through the front door. The bell over the door warmed my heart and I turned back to the wedding cake designs I’d been working on before their arrival.

On the outside I was just smiling, but inside I was twirling in circles. I had an official date with Jack.

Cupcakes

1 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp coconut extract

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 Tbsp vinegar and 1 cup of milk)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup crushed pineapple

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Blend in coconut extract and then the buttermilk. In another bowl mix the salt, baking soda and flour, then add slowly to the wet ingredients, mixing as you go. Add the crushed pineapple and mix well. Spoon the batter into cupcake liners about so they are about 2/3 full.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until just starting to turn brown around the edges. Makes 2-dozen cupcakes.

Frosting

1/3 cup butter or shortening, softened

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp coconut extract

4-5 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup coconut flakes

Mix all of the ingredients except coconut flakes until it’s well blended. Then add the coconut flakes and mix well.

Wait until cupcakes have completely cooled before frosting.

When I finished work, I called Honey to tell her about my upcoming date. I hadn’t told her yet that Jack asked me out, too busy to text her about it when he left my shop. Now I could talk—for a few minutes, anyway. That was all I had to get ready before Jack arrived.

While the phone rang, I opened my closet door and started flipping through my clothes. I needed to find something cute and flirty for tonight, but not
too
flirty—it was a first date, after all.

“Tess!” It was Chance’s voice instead of Honey’s which threw off my train of thought.

“Hey, bud, what’s going on?”

“Mom left her phone in the living room. Have you found the killer yet?”

“Not yet, bud. We thought maybe we did, but it didn’t pan out. We’re still looking.”

“You mean Cole Taylor. He wouldn’t kill anyone; he was cool. He coached my football camp this summer. Did the same person kill him as Miss Clark?” His voice was low and upset. “I saw it on the news, they say it was the same person.”

I winced, wishing I could say something to make it all better. “We don’t know for sure. I’m looking into it.”

“You have to find out who it was, Auntie Tess. Please!” He only called me Auntie Tess when he wanted something.

I couldn’t drop the investigation now, so the answer was easy. “I’m doing my best. I’m sorry. It’s hard when someone you know and like dies, isn’t it?”

I heard Honey’s voice in the background, and Chance replied, “I was just talking to Tess,” a little grumpily. “I hope you find who did this,” he said to me.

“What’s up?” Honey asked in lieu of greeting a few seconds later. “You’re not backing out of our adventure tonight, are you? Because I just finished talking George into letting me go.”

“No, it’s not about that, though I’m glad he’s not going to make a fuss about your joining me. I had a visitor at work today.”

“You had dozens of visitors at work today,” she pointed out. “I was one of them.”

“Yes, but Jack always sticks out from the crowd. Especially on days when he asks me out.”

Honey squealed like an excited preteen. “It’s about time! I can’t believe he finally got up the nerve. What are you doing, and when?”

“Tonight, in about half an hour, actually. We’re going for Italian. I wish I had time for you to come over and help me pick out an outfit.” I rejected a blue top and settled for one in burgundy.

“I expect a full play-by-play tonight.”

“While we’re breaking into Francine’s? That’s very burglarish.”

“Before, during, after. Whatever. Promise. I have to get my vicarious first-kiss thrills from someone.”

“You get lots of kisses,” I pointed out.

“Yes, but no more first kisses. First kisses have a power that married-for-ten-year kisses just don’t.”

“I haven’t had any married kisses, so I couldn’t tell you, but I admit, I’m looking forward to tonight. As long as it took him to ask me out, he probably won’t kiss me until the third date.”

Honey laughed. “Don’t you let him. If he doesn’t initiate, consider it your duty. You have to know if it’s worth going out with him again, don’t you? What if there’s no chemistry?”

I remembered some of the electric gazes we’d shared in the past few months. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

“Good. Then you should have plenty to fill me in on tonight. Don’t be late coming to pick me up.”

“I won’t.” I really wanted to keep talking, but I needed a quick shower before Jack arrived—I did not want to smell like a bakery tonight. My stomach fluttered and I felt a thrill of excitement—tonight was going to be good.