Tres Leches Cupcakes (41 page)

Authors: Josi S. Kilpack

Tags: #Cozy Mystery

Sadie considered how best to proceed as she and Breanna took a few more bites of their meal but decided she might as well lay all her concerns on the table. “I’m also a little worried about Shawn.”

Bre kept her eyes on her food, a sure indication that she was hiding something, and Sadie’s stomach fell, though she was relieved to know that Breanna was in the loop. As much as she hated being left out, if Shawn were in
serious
trouble, he wouldn’t talk to Breanna about it, right? If Sadie hoped to get more information she couldn’t push too hard. “Does he seem okay to you?” she asked innocently.

“Well, you know, he’s finishing up school this summer, and it’s not the best time to get a job and, well, it’s a big transition.”

It was obvious that school and the inevitable transition that followed wasn’t
it.
“Why wouldn’t he talk to me about that?”

She still wouldn’t meet her mother’s eyes. “Um, well, have you asked him what’s wrong?”

“Of course I have,” Sadie said, offended by the very suggestion that she wouldn’t have called her son on his behavior. “He’s assured me everything is fine, but he only calls me back about half the time these days. I just feel this . . . vagueness from him.”

“Maybe don’t worry about it, then,” Breanna said, attempting a smile as she finally made eye contact. “When he’s ready, he’ll tell you.”

“So he
is
having trouble that he doesn’t want to talk to me about.”

“Mo-om,” Bre said just as the roar of a lion cut her off. Breanna rummaged in her bag and pulled out her phone. She’d majored in zoology and currently worked as a docent at the London Zoo, so of course her text message tone was a lion’s roar.

“They’re here,” she said while typing a response.

“Shawn and Pete?” Sadie asked, sitting up straighter and instantly dropping her concerns in favor of an appropriate welcome for her two favorite men. “Where are they?”

“Shawn says they just had their ‘Welcome Aboard’ photo taken.”

“Together?” Sadie said, a tender lump in her throat at the thought of Pete and Shawn superimposed in front of their boat, the
Celebration
.

Breanna smiled at her and sent a reply text message. “They’re on their way up. Shawn said to save him some bacon.”

“Does he know it’s undercooked?”

When Pete found them, Sadie jumped up for a hello kiss and hug. It had only been a week since he’d dropped her off at the Denver airport so she could visit some friends in Portland before the cruise, but she’d missed him. Only when she pulled back from the embrace did she realize he was alone. “Where’s Shawn?”

“He said he’d catch up. I think he saw someone he knew.”

“Really?” Sadie asked with heavy skepticism in her voice as all her concerns came rushing back. What were the chances of him knowing someone on this cruise?

“He told me to go ahead and he’d be right behind me.” They all looked behind Pete, but there was no 260-pound Polynesian man with an afro bringing up the rear.

“You go get yourself some food—avoid the bread pudding, though—and I’ll find my boy,” Sadie said to Pete. She hadn’t seen Shawn since Christmas—far too long without one of his signature bear hugs. She knew she’d feel better once she saw him in person.

“Okay, he was one level down, in front of the elevators when I last saw him.”

Sadie nodded and made her way out of the dining room and down the set of stairs just outside the entrance to deck eleven. Unlike level twelve, it was a cabin deck. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs to look around, and although there were several people waiting for an elevator, Shawn was not one of them. She headed to the port side and glanced down the long narrow hallway lined with turquoise doors that led to the passenger cabins. There was a couple coming out of a room but no Shawn. She crossed in front of the elevators to the starboard side, glanced left, and then right. She was relieved when a familiar set of shoulders and six inches of picked- out curls caught her eye. She smiled to herself and started heading toward Shawn’s towering form when she realized he was talking to someone. And he didn’t look happy about it.

Sadie slowed her steps and observed the scene with a little more interest. The woman Shawn was talking to had dark skin and long thin braids pulled back into a bulky ponytail. Some of the braids were dyed hot pink. She wore a black cotton dress and was very engaged in whatever it was she was explaining to Shawn, who had his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face.

The woman was gesturing with her hands, but the expression on her face was somewhat pleading, as though she was trying to convince Shawn of something. As Sadie got closer, she realized the woman was older than Shawn, mid-forties, Sadie would guess, thickly built, and at least six feet tall. The two of them completely blocked the hallway.

Sadie stopped about twenty feet from them, not wanting to be rude and interrupt, but not inclined to back away either. Why was Shawn upset? Who was this woman?

The woman said something, then leaned forward slightly, awaiting his answer. Shawn shook his head and began to speak, then saw Sadie out of the corner of his eye. She smiled, but he didn’t smile back and instead turned back to the woman with some urgency. Sadie couldn’t hear what he said, but the woman looked at Sadie too. She didn’t smile either, and Sadie found herself taking a step backward. Were they angry with
her
? What for?

Shawn said something else, and the woman nodded, turned away from Sadie, and proceeded down the hall. Shawn looked after the woman for a moment, then turned back to his mother. It took him ten feet before he managed to put a fake smile on his face.

“Who was that?” Sadie asked.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“But it seemed like the two of you—”

“Gosh, Mom,” Shawn snapped, “can you please just not worry about it?”

Sadie lifted her eyebrows in surprise. Shawn never talked to her like that. At least not since he was twelve and she’d grounded him from his GameCube for sassing her.

His expression softened and he took a breath. “Sorry. I’ve got a lot on my mind right now. Where’s the buffet?”

Sadie opened her mouth to ask what he had on his mind, but the way he was holding himself and shifting his weight from one foot to the other kept her quiet. Her son was twenty-three years old, and he’d been living on his own for a long time. He was a grown man.

Sadie forced a fake smile of her own and tucked her wanting-to-know-everything instinct away while putting out her arms, her signal that she wanted a hug from her favorite boy. “It’s great to see you.”

Shawn wrapped his strong arms around her back, but he didn’t squeeze her quite as tight or hold on for quite as long as she’d expected. “Good to see you too, Mom.” He pulled back and headed toward the elevators. “Is the food on deck twelve, then? I’m starving.”

“Yeah,” Sadie said, following him down the hall. “One deck up.”

Just before they turned out of the hallway, Sadie looked over her shoulder. The woman Shawn had been talking to ducked out of sight.

A heavy feeling settled into Sadie’s stomach as she and Shawn climbed the stairs leading to deck twelve. Over the last few years, Sadie had developed an extreme dislike for secrets. And now it seemed as though her son was keeping one of his own.

About the Author

Josi S. Kilpack began her first novel in 1998 and hasn’t stopped writing since. Her seventh novel,
Sheep’s Clothing,
won the 2007 Whitney Award for Mystery/Suspense, and
Lemon Tart,
her ninth novel, was a 2009 Whitney Award finalist.
Tres Leches Cupcakes
is Josi’s seventeenth novel and the eighth book in the Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery Series.

Josi currently lives in Willard, Utah, with her husband, children, and dog.

For more information about Josi, you can visit her website at www.josiskilpack.com, read her blog at www.josikilpack.blogspot.com, or contact her via e-mail at [email protected].

It’d be a crime to miss the rest of the series . . .

by Josi S. Kilpack

Available online and at a bookstore near you.

www.shadowmountain.com • www.josiskilpack.com