“Say what you like,” Lani said dismissively, then shot Kit a wicked grin, “but I know googly when I see it.”
“I say run a background check.” This from Alva, who was standing at a worktable on the far side of the kitchen, taking cupcakes from their pans and lining them up on the cooling rack.
“On who?” Lani and Kit asked simultaneously.
“Whoever it is you’re Googling.”
“What?” Lani asked. “Oh. Not that kind of google.”
Alva merely shrugged and went back to what she was doing. “Last week I Googled Hugh Jackman. Dee Dee Banneker said he takes his shirt off a lot. Turns out, Dee Dee is right.” She continued lining up the cooling cupcakes. “I like that about him.”
Lani laughed and Kit just stared, slightly openmouthed. She was still getting used to the various sides of Alva Liles. Kindly, sweet older woman in many ways . . . and an octogenarian who held a monthly poker night and wrote a gossip-slash-advice column for the local newspaper that was like a mash up of Dear Abby . . . and TMZ. Kit never knew what to expect. Admittedly, that was part of the fun.
Smiling, Kit turned back to Lani. “I was just on the phone with George, the electrician’s brother? He was recommended for the demolition we need on that one wall, but he’s not available for another two weeks.”
“Can’t you just take a hammer to it? When my Harold and I moved into our first house, he tore out three walls with nothing more than a big mallet and some serious determination to make our dining room and kitchen one big area.” Alva paused and smiled. “He took his shirt off a lot, too.” After a brief sigh, she went back to work. “I still miss that.”
Kit heard Lani sigh beside her and glanced her way.
“What?” Lani said, smiling. “I hope I still feel that way about Baxter when I’m eighty-four.”
“I’ve seen you two together. I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem.” Kit leaned closer so only Lani could hear, and, in a hushed whisper, added, “Alva mentioned something about Hank, the guy who runs the grocery store? Are they an item?”
“Well,” Lani replied, also sotto voce, “she plays it like the two of them are at odds over his always blocking our back alley with his delivery trucks—which he does—and her always getting into trouble with the local council, on which he’s a leading member—which she does—but we’re pretty sure they’re not always at odds. Every Thursday they both kind of disappear around lunch time.”
Kit smiled. “It’s sweet that they have a weekly lunch together.”
“You can all it ‘lunch’ if you want to,” Lani said, making air quotes around the word.
Kit laughed, then stopped when Lani just nodded.
“Seriously?” Kit looked over at Alva, who was humming Elvis and swiveling her hips as she frosted. “I so want to be her when I grow up.” Kit’s voice held a fair amount of reverence. “Well, maybe without the pink hair.”
“It goes well with the raspberry velour track suit, though,” Lani said.
“True.” They glanced at each other and smiled. “So, what should I do about the wall demo?”
“Call the electrician back and see if he has any other heavy-handed brothers?”
Kit smiled. She had only been on Sugarberry for ten days, but it already felt comfortable. Lani was open and easy to know, as were the rest of the Cupcake Club crew. As was everyone she’d met on the island, truth be told.
Her thoughts immediately went to the one person on the island who made her uncomfortable. And not just in the ways he should. Morgan Westlake bothered her all right. At a time when she should be completely focused on this new path and getting Babycakes up and launched, the very last thing she needed was a six-foot-one distraction with thick dark hair, broad shoulders, and the most beautiful blue eyes she’d ever—
“She tell you she has a hot crayon date with Uncle Hunk?”
Kit blinked and visions of a smiling Morgan vanished as Dre came bumping through the swinging door with an empty display tray in her hand. It took a moment longer for her to realize what Dre had just said. It was a moment too long, as it turned out. Nothing got by the Cupcake Club ladies.
Lani’s eyes widened in surprised delight as Kit scrambled to backpedal. “We don’t have any sort of date.”
“Do too,” Dre said, sliding the empty rack into one of the large industrial sinks and sliding a rack of freshly frosted turtle cupcakes from the tall, rolling cart.
“I knew it!” Lani said. “Googly eyes tell the truth every time.”
“We were not—”
“What’s a crayon date?” Alva wanted to know. “Is that some new sort of sex thing? Because back in my day—”
“No,” Kit said in a hurry, not sure she was ready to hear anything about what Alva might or might not have done with crayons, or finger paints, or God knew what, on any day. “His niece—”
“Who is completely adorable, by the way,” Lani said, then added, “I told you, I was peeking. Cute little costume she had on. Isn’t today the big day she meets—”
“Birdie,” Alva finished. “It sure is. And I can tell you, Birdie is as nervous and excited as a new mother. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like this. Told her she better get a grip on it before she had a stroke. Had to talk her out of buying out the kid section over at Tolliver’s.”
“Well, it’s understandable she’s anxious to finally get to be a grandmother,” Lani said. “Lilly is her only grandchild. I still can’t imagine what she must have been feeling, all these years, being cut off from any kind of communication.”
“I still say give me five minutes with that old battle-ax, Olivia Westlake and I’d give her a solid piece of my mind,” Alva exclaimed. “I’ll never understand that kind of poisonous behavior.”
“Me, either,” Lani said. “I’m glad Morgan had the—”
“Balls,” Dre supplied. “Me, too. Special kid. I like her.” With that she took the tray out front . . . and Lani and Alva turned their attention back to Kit.
“So,” Lani said, with the kind of speculative gleam in her eye that, even in Kit’s short tenure, she’d learned meant she hadn’t a prayer of diverting the topic of conversation. “Tell us about this date.”
Finished with emptying the cupcake pans, Alva wiped her hands on a towel and crossed the kitchen as well. “Why crayons? Sounds kinky. He didn’t look like the type to me. Though I suppose you can never tell. Why, I remember when Harvey Rickenbottom was found out in the back shed with two of Louise Granger’s—”
“He didn’t invite me, really. Lilly did,” Kit blurted almost desperately.
Lani caught her eye and mouthed a silent thank you.
Kit smiled and went on. “Lilly was telling me about the turtles and I shared that I liked them, too.” She shrugged. “So, she asked me to color some with her. That’s really all there is to it.”
“You’ve been over to the research center a few times since you got here, right?” Lani asked.
Kit nodded. “I went in that first day, the day we interviewed, on a whim, and well . . . I like Gabe and I really respect what he’s doing down there. And”—she took a steadying breath, smiled—“with this new change in my life, I decided it would be smart of me to develop outside interests, something other than work. I loved Mamie Sue’s, but it was my whole life, it was work and home—because I wanted it to be. I think maybe that was why I didn’t have any real perspective.”
“Family businesses can be like that even in the best of circumstances,” Lani said. “You got handed a really big responsibility when you were pretty young. Then you had to deal with your sister’s husband, too. It must have been challenging.”
“It had its own special brand of challenges, yes. But, even with the loss of my grandma, and my mom and dad, mostly it was wonderful. It saved me, really. It was the one constant thing I had, the one thing I could count on to always be there. I loved the business. Truly. Every part of it. And I think that really blinded me. I was so deeply entrenched, I sort of to
ok for granted that everyone was as devoted to it as I was.”
“Well, from what I understand, they were. Except for Teddy—”
“And the members of the board he bribed.” Kit waved a hand when Lani started to say something. “It’s—okay. You don’t have to defend me. I know I made some big mistakes. It wasn’t until it all ended, and so abruptly, that I realized I hadn’t just lost my job, or my vocation. I had lost everything. My whole life was suddenly empty, because I hadn’t ever built anything else. Sure, I had friends, family. But my friends were all Mamie Sue employees, and my family . . . ”
Lani laid her hand on Kit’s arm. “Family shouldn’t turn on family. No one sees that coming. We’re all so sorry about that.”
Kit covered her hand. “I know, and I really appreciate your support.” She looked at Lani and Alva. “I’ve learned that if I think about my life in terms of things lost, I’ll never move on. In just as many ways, I could never have expected to be blessed with such a wonderful new path. And I’m really grateful for it. For you. All of you.”
Alva laid her tiny hand on top of theirs and squeezed. “We’re happy to have you here, Miss Kit. You’re family with us now.”
Kit felt her eyes well up, and it was only then she realized she’d gone a whole ten days without crying. That alone was cause for celebration. “It means more to me than you know. You all, and . . . well, everyone here. That’s why I’ve gone back to see Gabe—Dr. Langley. I really admire him, but I also really enjoy his company. I met his wife Anne the other day. They’re both wonderful, and together. . . well, it’s a special thing they have.”
“It is,” Lani agreed. “I like them both, too.”
“He’s . . . well, he’s nothing at all like my dad.” Kit laughed, trying—and failing—to imagine her father even chatting with someone like the doctor. “But I guess I have that same comforting feeling around him. I know it makes no sense—”
“It makes perfect sense.” Lani spontaneously put her arm around Kit’s shoulders and squeezed. “You know I came down here to be closer to my dad and . . . well . . . we had our share of hard times, especially after my mom passed. I’ll be honest, for a while I didn’t know if moving here was the right thing. I mean, I knew it was, but he didn’t. And that wasn’t going to be good for either of us.”
“But it’s good now,” Kit said. “I saw Sheriff Trusdale just the other day and he all but bursts at the seams talking about you.”
Lani smiled and her own eyes sparkled with a glimmer of joyful tears. “He’s a hard man in so many ways, but such a special guy in the ways that matter most. And, yes, I’m so glad we’ve figured things out.” She one-arm hugged Kit again. “Finding a feeling of family with Gabe, or Anne, or any of us, is a really good thing. That’s all I was trying to say.”
“Thank you.” Once again, Kit was stunned by the honest and sincere compassion and empathy she’d received from friends so newly made. “I really am fascinated by his work, so it’s something I’m happily pursuing. When I can, anyway.”
“What about the Westlake connection?” Lani asked. “I mean, I think Morgan seems like a really good guy, trying to do the right thing. His niece is totally cute, and you can’t help falling a little in love with her. I know his family’s law firm was involved in the sale of Mamie Sue’s—”
“How did you know that?” Kit hadn’t told anyone about meeting Morgan that first day, or her misgivings about there being a Westlake living on Sugarberry. It was her problem, not theirs.
Alva smiled. “I Googled him, too. And I might have read a few things about the sale of your family business.” She laid her hand on Kit’s arm again. “Don’t worry, dear, he seems to be nothing like his family.”
“And she’d know,” Lani added. “If there were any skeletons to be found, then—”
“Now, Miss Lani May, don’t make it sound like that. I wasn’t snooping. I was merely looking out for a dear friend.” Alva turned to Kit. “Turns out he got himself into something called environmental law. Moved all the way to Colorado over a half dozen years ago. Hasn’t had a thing to do with his family during that whole time. Normally, I’d say that’s a shame, but given what I know about his mama, I’m thinking he had the right idea. In fact, I’m surprised he stayed on the same continent with that nasty bi—”
“I think what she means,” Lani jumped in, “what we both mean—is it looks like you don’t have to worry about him being anything like the parts of the Westlake clan that helped your brother-in-law.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” Kit said with mixed emotions. “I know the word is he’s here to do the right thing by his niece, which is really admirable. I just don’t want to start my new path by tangling it up with any part of my past one—especially the bad parts. He might not be involved in what happened, but he’s directly related to the ones who were. And that’s an extended family I don’t want any part of.”
“Hear tell, neither does he,” Alva said. “That’s why he came out to Sugarberry.”
“Wonder why he didn’t just take Lilly back to Colorado?” Kit asked, curious even though she knew she shouldn’t be. The world was filled with other guys she could meet and be interested in, whose last names weren’t Westlake. She should save her curiosity for them. If she could just get those gorgeous baby blues and that wicked fast grin out of her head, she could get right on top of doing that.
“He stayed here so he could give Miss Lilly a chance to know the rest of her family,” Alva said.
“And keep her close to her Westlake relatives, too, I’m guessing,” Lani added.
“And that’s a move I applaud,” Kit went on. “I know he just lost his brother and sister-in-law, and now he’s raising a small child, and he’s helping Gabe fight for the lives of endangered turtles, so he’s almost a local hero already, but—”
“And he’s a hunk,” Alva offered. “Never hurts. I wonder what he looks like with his shirt off.” She seemed to ponder that while Lani grinned.
Kit just sighed. “Yes, he’s completely, one hundred percent white knight material. I get it. But I have no intention of getting close to him. There are a million other men out there who aren’t related to anything about Mamie Sue’s or the sale, or . . . any of it. I don’t want to get involved with the Westlakes on any level. I just . . . don’t need that.” She looked at the two women who were quickly becoming good friends. “I hope you can understand that.”
Lani smiled and squeezed her shoulder. “I do, honestly, I do. I just think that—” She broke off. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter what I think, just what you do. I don’t know and can’t know what it was like to go through what you did. And steering clear of all things Westlake probably does feel like exactly the right thing to do.”
“It does.” Kit slid her arm around Lani’s waist and squeezed back. “Thanks. For supporting me even if you don’t agree with me.”
“Oh, I get it. I just . . . ” She grinned. “Well, I’d want to see him with his shirt off, too. Just sayin’.”
“So . . . does this mean no one is going to tell me what you young people do with crayons that constitutes a date these days?” Alva straightened her apron and smoothed her netted hair. “I have a column to write and this sounds like something juicy I could use.”
Lani and Kit laughed. “I’m sure you already have plenty of other juicy tidbits to share,” Lani said. “You always do.”
And I hope I’m not one of them, Kit silently prayed. She’d heard so much about Alva’s column, she’d taken the time to read a few of her pieces. And, well, let’s just say she was hoping it would be a good long time before Alva offered her any advice in print. She had a way of illustrating her points by using stories about other island denizens. Generally not the most flattering ones. Kit had had enough of being devoured and spit out by the press. She’d take a bye this go around. For life, if she could get it.
“So, are you at least going to go color with Lilly?” Lani asked. “I mean, I know she’s a Westlake
, too, but—”
“I’m not going to turn down the poor little orphan girl, so stop looking at me like that.”
“I’d have used that exact line on you if you had made even the slightest noise about backing out. Just so you know,” Lani said, smiling.
“I had a feeling,” Kit said, smiling back. “But whether or not her uncle is there is secondary to doing right by the child, okay? We all understand that?”
“We do,” Lani said, but Kit didn’t miss her and Alva exchanging a knowing wink.
She sighed in defeat. For now. “You know, I don’t think I’ll need to call the electrician back after all. I think I’ll go smash down that wall all by myself.” She left the kitchen, realizing the other side of all this compassion, friendship, and empathy was that they’d be sticking their noses into every part of her business from now on . . . and she’d better get used to it.
She heard Lani’s laughter and Alva saying, “So, are they dating then? They’d make such a nice pair.”
Dear Lord help her, what had she gotten herself into? Seriously.
She was walking to the front door of the shop when Dre said, “If you need a big mallet or an ax, I have one of each in the trunk of my car.”
Of course you do, Kit thought, waving, shaking her head, and laughing all at the same time as she let herself out.
Chapter 8
“Is Miss Kit here yet, Uncle Moggy?”
“Not yet, sweet pea,” Morgan answered, just as he had the last dozen times she’d asked. “We don’t know for sure she can make it. She’s pretty busy getting the new bakery shop ready.”
“But they already have a bakery.” Lilly looked up from her latest Crayola masterpiece. “With the fairy lady.”
“Her name is Miss Dre.”
“I like her.”
“I know you do.”
“Maybe she can come color with us sometime.”
“Maybe.”
“Why is Miss Kit having a bakery?”
Morgan paused with a hammer in one hand and the bulletin board he was hanging in the other. At the rate Lilly’s questions were coming, he’d never get it put up. He supposed he should be grateful she was chatty today. Yesterday had been a completely different story.
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