Mint Chip & Murder

by Erin Huss

  "You said you told him," he whispered.

  "Not about the wedding chapel, just about the proposal."

  "Ooohhh, this is going to be good."

  No, it's not.

  And I had no plans to tell Chase in front of Tom, and Kevin, and Amy. I had plans to tell him privately. Later. Like before the end of the year.

  I pushed past everyone and answered the door. "Hi. Give me." I pointed to Lilly's go-between bag swung over Tom's shoulder.

  "Cam, what happened to your hand?"

  "Minor sprain. Hurry!"

  The door swung open. "Thomas Dryer." Amy crossed her arms. "You have some explaining to do."

  Tom's eyes swiveled around, as if he were looking for the nearest exit.

  "We aren't doing this now," I said and grabbed Lilly by the hand. "Did you have the best day ever at preschool?"

  "Yes," she cheered. "I drew a picture, and painted a picture, and played blocks, and went down the slide, and colored a picture, and made a sandcastle, and counted bubbles, and…"

  She continued for another two minutes. Tom, Chase, Amy, Kevin, and I all stood there with forced enthusiasm plastered on our faces, waiting for her to finish.

  "…and sang a song, and blew bubbles, and my teacher tied my shoe, and I went on the swing, and then…and then…that's it." She smiled triumphantly.

  "That sounds like the best day ever," I said and kissed her on the top of her head.

  "Ways better than showing apartments," she said.

  True.

  Tom removed his sunglasses. "Did I interrupt an intervention?"

  "Yes!" Amy grabbed ahold of his tie and pulled him inside. Munch tottered behind, and I sneezed. I loved that dog. My allergies, not so much. "We need to hash out what happened in New York," Amy said then looked down at Lilly. "How about you go play in your room for just a little bit, kiddo."

  Lilly scowled. "Why is hes here?" She pointed to Chase.

  I shot Tom a look, and he held up his palms as if to say it wasn't me. "Lilly, sweetie." I bent down. "Why don't you want Chase around?"

  Lilly shoved her fingers in her mouth. "Because I don't want him to knock yous up like the woman in the barrel."

  There was a collective "ahhh, makes sense" sigh from four out of five adults in the room. I didn't sigh. I cringed, and died a little inside.

  "Sweetie, you don't have to worry about Chase ever hurting me. No one is getting knocked on the head."

  She looked at me with her big hazel eyes, and my heart swelled. "Are you sure?"

  "I promise. Chase is a policeman. Remember? He keeps the bad guys away."

  "And Daddy gets them out of jail," she added.

  "Falsely accused," Tom added then knelt down beside Lilly and tapped the tip of her nose. "I'd never let anyone hurt Mommy either. You don't need to worry."

  Lilly thought this over, her fingers still shoved in her mouth.

  "Got it?" Tom tickled her tummy. "Huh?"

  She burst out into a laugh and turned to Chase. "You better not ever knock up my mommy, got it?" she said with a stern shake of her finger.

  Oh, hell.

  I massaged my temples.

  "Got it." Chase gave her a high five, and she pranced out of the room, down the hall, and slammed her door shut. I knew that slam. It meant she was about to do a costume change. We didn't have much time. Thank goodness.

  "OK." I paused to sneeze. "Glad that is taken care of. You should be on your way to work." I manually turned Tom by the shoulders and gave him a little shove.

  "Not so fast." Amy blocked the door. "Please tell me what happened. I need to know if I'm planning a wedding or not."

  The room fell silent.

  Ugh.

  Fine!

  I sucked in a breath. "After the show, Chase and I—"

  "He took her to dinner and proposed," Kevin cut me off. "Cambria went, 'Ahhhh!' and punched Chase in the face."

  "That is not how it happened," Chase said. "She got excited and accidentally hit me in the eye with the ring."

  Amy frowned. "So there was no fight?"

  "No," I said and turned to Tom. "Don't you have work?"

  He picked up Munch. "Nah, I'm good."

  "Before we continue," said Amy, "can you please explain why your dog is wearing shoes?"

  Tom peered down at Munch's feet, as if he hadn't noticed. "The cement is hot on his paws."

  Chase and I exchanged a look, and he winked at me. He was awfully good-natured for having to deal with my intrusive friends and meddling baby daddy. Of course, he didn't know the whole truth.

  "Anyway," Amy said. "Chase, why did you propose to Cambria? You two haven't been together that long."

  "Because I love her and want to spend forever together."

  Good answer.

  "Awww." Amy clasped her hands and brought them to her cheek. "That's so sweet. But I call bull. You proposed because you're getting ready to leave for FBI training and you're worried Tom will swoop in while you're gone."

  "No, I'm not," Chase said, unmoving.

  "OK, so Chase proposes, Cambria says yes, punches him in the face, and then what happened?" Amy looked at Kevin.

  "I didn't punch him in the face," I said. "Also, it's getting awfully late. I have a lot to do today, as I suspect both Chase and Tom do—"

  "She changed her mind," Kevin said. "She was worried it was too soon to get engaged."

  Gah!

  I'd told him that in confidence.

  We were in New York, and I'd gone to his room to show off my ring. At the time, I was beyond euphoric. I loved Chase. I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else. As soon as I'd flashed my one-carat diamond to Kevin, doubt began to slither its way into my head. Sure, I was twenty-nine years old, but was I ready for marriage? Were we—Chase and I—ready for marriage? Those questions had popped into my head, no matter how hard I'd tried to make them go away. The next morning, I'd told Chase I wanted time to think about it. That I didn't want to break up, of course, but I wasn't sure if it was the right time to get engaged, with him leaving soon for training.

  "As soon as Cambria told me they were engaged, I knew it was time to take things to the next level," Tom said.

  I sneezed.

  "After Chase left, Cambria was a total downer," said Kevin. "Which is why I made the decision to cut our vacation short and go to Vegas. I also made the decision to text Tom and tell him what had happened and where we'd be." He turned to Chase. "Sorry, I'm Team Tom. He was my lawyer."

  "Wait." Amy shook her head. "I thought Tom went to New York—that's why Lilly had the Statue of Liberty doll."

  "It's the Statue of Liberty in Vegas," Tom said.

  "Wow." Amy waved a hand. "Plot twist."

  "So Tom showed up." Kevin sat on the couch and crossed his legs. "He proposed. Cambria punched him. He dislocated his shoulder."

  That was a pretty accurate synopsis. Kevin and I had been walking through the lobby of the Bellagio when I'd spotted Tom approaching. I'd had to blink a few times to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. He'd had on light-washed jeans and a tight blue shirt, with a messenger bag hung over his shoulder. His hair had been a mess, and he'd had a scruffy jawline. He'd looked like a walking Abercrombie & Fitch mannequin.

  Tom had approached us and grabbed me by the shoulders. "Don't marry him," he'd said. "I told you that I love you and I want to spend my life with you, and I meant every word." He'd reached into his pocket to retrieve the ring. It had taken him a minute since his pants were tight. When he'd managed to wrangle the little box out, he'd revealed the solitaire ring. It wasn't as glitzy as Chase's, not that I'd cared what the ring looked like. I'd cared more about the man holding it.

  My first instinct had been to slap him. So I had. Right across the face, and he'd fallen back into a slot machine and dislocated his shoulder. We'd spent the next five hours in an emergency room. And if you've never been to a Las Vegas emergency room, let me tell ya, it's quite eye-opening.

  The entire wait, he
'd continued to profess his feelings. "I've loved you since the moment Lilly was born," he'd said. "I was too afraid to screw it up, so I put you off. The biggest regret of my life. I should have asked you to marry me then." The doctor had arrived, put his shoulder back in place, given him a sling, and sent us on our way. When we had reached the parking lot, I'd told him, "I can't marry you, Tom. Not now. Maybe not ever." He'd asked me to reconsider and encouraged me to keep the ring.

  "That's it?" Amy asked. "Chase proposed, you said yes. Then you said you'd have to think about it. Then Tom proposed, and you said no." She frowned. "Anticlimactic. No?"

  "Oh, but there's more," Kevin said, and I sent him a mental message to shut his mouth. He didn't get it. "Tom flew home with his injured arm, and Cambria was an even bigger downer. So we got drunk."

  Amy cringed. "Nothing good happens when Cambria drinks."

  Nope.

  "We had a great time," Kevin said. "We went to a Magic Mike show. She got called up to the stage. She almost got arrested for swimming in the fountain at the Bellagio."

  "You jumped into the fountain?" Tom asked.

  "Not the big fountain outside the shows," I said. "He's talking about the little one in the lobby."

  Chase covered his mouth to hide a smile.

  "After I convinced the security guards to let Cambria go with a warning, we went to a bar at Circus Circus to refuel," Kevin said, and I dropped my head into my hands. "She was crying about what a giant mess her life was. How she had these two men who loved her. Blah. Blah. Blah. Yada. Yada. Yada. We got married, and Cambria bought me a thesaurus as a wedding gift."

  Chase flinched, as if he'd just been slapped. "You did what?"

  "She bought, purchased, procured, attained a thesaurus because she said I needed to learn words. I don't know. She was drunk."

  "Hold on!" I fought back the panic. "There is far more to this story."

  "Ugh." Kevin rested his head back on the couch. "You tell the longest stories," he moaned.

  Amy was shaking her head. "You married Kevin?"

  "Just listen to me—"

  "I'm going to work." Chase strode across the living room in three large steps and swung open the front door.

  I went after him. "Chase, wait!"

  "I have work to do, Cambria." He dug his keys out of his pocket.

  Mickey, my upstairs neighbor, marched by, muttering something about government conspiracies and corrupt cops. Both Chase and I stopped to say hello, then kept going.

  "Chase, please let me explain." I followed him into the carports.

  "Enough is enough, Cambria." He unlocked his car. "I asked you to marry me because I thought we were there. You wanted time to think about it, but went ahead and married Kevin on a whim, and didn't even bother to tell me."

  "Please. Just listen to me."

  Chase came to an abrupt halt, and I rammed into him, not expecting him to stop. "Go ahead. Explain," he said.

  I started to suck in a breath, and then thought better of it. Chase was not in the mood for a long, drawn-out, Cambria explanation. I could tell by the look on his face.

  "I was confused. OK. I want to marry you, but I wasn't sure we were ready. Then Tom showed up. He's Lilly's dad, so of course his proposal shook me. But, like I said, I told him no."

  The morning after Kevin's and my nuptials, I'd woken in a panic, booked a flight, come home, gone straight to Chase's house, and told him everything. I'd told him about the kiss Tom and I shared in the bathroom on my birthday. I'd told him how Tom had confessed his feelings to me a couple of weeks earlier. I'd told him that Tom had shown up with a ring and asked me to marry him. "I can't compete with him," Chase had said. "It's a losing battle. If you want to be with him, be with him. I get it. No judgment. Stop stringing me along." His words had been like little daggers to my heart. I'd realized in that moment that what I was doing to Chase was what Tom had done to me for so many years. He was on his own emotional roller coaster with me. The thought was horrid. I'd decided in that moment to give him my full heart. Even if I didn't accept his proposal, I had said that I would save the ring for when we were ready.

  I should have told him about Kevin.

  In my defense, I didn't remember too much about the night.

  Chase was growing impatient, and people were starting to file out of their apartments and to their carports. I did not want to have a fight with my boyfriend in front of my residents. But I didn't want to lose my boyfriend either. "I was drunk. I was so unbelievably drunk and upset and crying…a lot. I'm not sure why we decided to get married, but I'm like ninety-nine percent positive that we didn't sign the marriage certificate."

  "I can't even—"

  "Don't say can't," I cut him off. "It's been a really, really hard year. And I am a terrible decision maker, which is why I don't drink. At least you know that there's nothing going on between Kevin and me. It was a mistake. I'm so sorry."

  Chase clenched his jaw and looked heavenward. "I got my orders," he said.

  Oh, no. My heart clenched. I knew he'd be sent off for training, but I still wasn't ready for him to go. "Where and when?"

  "Quantico in Virginia, and I leave in two weeks."

  I nodded, feeling the effects of the last twenty-four hours with the fire, and attack by an author in pleather, and falling out of a second-story window, and solving a murder, and finding out I was jobless. I massaged the back of my neck, working out a kink. "I'll be here for you when you get back from training," I said to him, and I meant it. "You don't have to worry."

  Chase studied me intensely, and I worked hard to not show any signs of wavering. "OK," he finally said.

  "OK what?"

  "OK, we're good."

  "Just like that?" I snapped my fingers. "You're not going to make me beg?"

  "Do you want to beg?"

  "Not particularly."

  "Then we're good. Make sure you aren't legally married to Kevin, please."

  I gave him a captain salute.

  "Is there anything else you need to tell me?" he asked.

  "No." I paused to think. "Right, no."

  He bent down and pressed his lips against my cheek, brushing it lightly, sending shivers through my nerves. When he finally kissed my mouth, it was like everything had gone quiet. Like our problems had slipped away, and all that mattered was that he and I were standing there in the middle of the—

  Honk!

  We jumped back. Daniella sat at the helm of her car, laying on the horn.

  Hoooonnnnk!

  She poked her head out the window. "Find a room!"

  Chase waved. "Have a good morning."

  Daniella showed him her middle finger.

  "Like I said, I'd be a raging alcoholic if I had your job." He gave me a peck on the cheek. "And remember, we have dinner tomorrow night with Silvia and Hampton."

  Oh, hell.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Detail oriented

  I went back into my apartment and found Amy and Tom on the couch with Munch, who was lying with his belly up, tongue out, and he was wiggling around to make sure he left behind as much hair as possible. Kevin was sitting at the kitchen table next to Lilly, who was dressed like the Hulk, and the two were eating sparkle toast.

  "For the record," I heard Amy saying as I walked past them to the kitchen, "Chase has far better taste in rings."

  Oh, geez.

  "You doing all right?" I sat beside Kevin and placed my good hand over his.

  "Situation sucks."

  "That it does. What happens now?" I paused to sneeze. "Trevor gets everything and hires a new management company?"

  "Why would he hire a new management company?"

  That's right, I hadn't told him about Patrick quitting. So I did.

  "Not surprised. He could never hang," he said. "If you don't get the job next door now, then you're screwed."

  "What does screwed mean?" Lilly asked.

  I licked my thumb and wiped jam from her face. "It means someone is in big doo-
doo."

  Lilly pushed my hand away. "You're in doo-doo?"

  "Don't worry about Mommy. I'm good."

  Lilly smiled and scooted off to say good-bye to Tom and Munch. I waved from my spot at the table, too tired to stand.

  My cell rang from my purse on the counter. I contemplated letting the call go to voice mail. Surely falling from a burning building warranted a day off—or ten. I was almost out of sick days, but what was Patrick going to do? Fire me?

  Well, actually, I supposed he could. He was still my boss, and it wasn't like he was going to walk away from Elder Property Management tomorrow. My contract stated that I had to give thirty days. Surely he'd have to give Trevor at least that long to find a new management company. Or not. Honestly, I had no idea.

  Really, I should just answer the phone.

  I stood at the counter and dug my cell out of my purse. Crap. It was the Dashwoods. "This is Cambria," I answered with as much cheer as I could muster.

  "Cambria, Patricia Dashwood here. I don't want to beat around the bush. I've called to thank you for interviewing for the management position. Unfortunately, we cannot offer you the job."

  I stared down at my phone in bewilderment. Had she really just said that I didn't get the job?

  "Cambria? Are you there?"

  "Yes." I came to. "I'm sorry. Can I ask why?" Not that I had to. She'd obviously heard about the girl in the barrel and the McMillses. A triple homicide and burned down mansion in Brentwood was newsworthy. I was sure there were reporters standing outside the Burbank building, harassing my residents as they came to and from their apartments, wanting their opinion on the scandal.

  "Dependability is what we were looking for in our new manager."

  Wait…what? "Dependability?" I repeated.

  "Reliable." Kevin approached. "Trustworthy. Steadfast. Loyal."

  Loyal? I was the most loyal person I knew! "What makes you think I am not dependable?"

  "I still don't have your resume."

  Oh, no. She was right. I was supposed to bring it with me to the interview, but the goat had eaten it. Then I was supposed to email it to her, but I was distracted by murder. "Are you sure this doesn't have to do with what happened at our Burbank property?"