Vanilla Beaned

by Jenn McKinlay

  She should have known better. As soon as she stepped into the main room, where Angie was sitting with Tate, Angie rose from her seat, crossed the room, and hugged her.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “You’ve been crying, haven’t you? Is it a little post-traumatic stress?”

  “No, just allergies,” Mel said. She hugged her friend back and then released her.

  Angie looked like she was about to argue, but Tate spoke first.

  “Yeah, I heard the pollen count was abnormally high.”

  Angie looked at him like he was thick, but he shook his head. Angie heaved a sigh and gave Mel a look that clearly stated that they would be talking later.

  There was a knock on the penthouse door, and Manny appeared in the doorway. He gestured for everyone to stay put while he went to answer it. He arrived back in the room moments later with Billy Eastman and Sydney. She was clutching a large stuffed panda and looking wide eyed at the enormous room.

  “Mommy?” she called.

  Holly must have had a mother’s bionic hearing because she came running down the hall in a bathrobe with a towel twisted around her hair. She opened her arms and Sydney launched herself into them.

  “Oh, baby,” she said. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  Billy glowered as he took in the reunion. “I’m only here because your attorney threatened me with a lawsuit if I break the custody agreement.”

  “My what?” Holly asked as she glanced over Sydney’s head.

  “How can you do this?” he demanded. “How can you put our daughter in danger like this? I thought you were a better mother than that.”

  Eighteen

  Holly looked shaken and Tate stood, moving to stand right in front of Billy. “Don’t. Holly didn’t even know about this. It was my attorney who arranged it.” He gestured with his thumb at Manny. “We have our own police detective staying with us. Sydney couldn’t be any safer.”

  Billy glared at Manny, who met his rude stare with one of his own.

  “Detective?” Billy scoffed. “From where?”

  “Scottsdale, Arizona,” Manny said.

  “Please,” Billy said. “What do you do, spend your days searching for rich ladies’ lost dogs? This is Vegas.”

  “Manny is a homicide detective with an impeccable record,” Mel said. She strode forward, staring at Billy Eastman as if he were a wad of gum on her shoe. “Plus, he saved me from burning to death in a fire. You ever save any lives?”

  Billy was silent.

  “Yeah, I didn’t think so,” Mel said.

  Billy ran a hand over his face. He looked genuinely contrite, and Mel could tell by the fine lines around his eyes and his overall pallor that he was feeling pretty stressed.

  “Is everything okay?” Holly asked. “Is Lisa—”

  “She’s fine,” Billy said. “Or at least, I assume she’s fine. She won’t let me go to the doctor with her; in fact, she won’t let me do anything with her. I think she’s avoiding me. Is that normal when a woman is expecting? I don’t remember you being like that.”

  “Every woman is different,” Holly said. “Maybe she just needs some rest. She’s, what, five months along? I remember feeling so tired then.”

  Billy nodded and looked relieved and then he turned to Manny and said, “I’m sorry I was a jerk. I know you’ll take care of our girl.”

  “With my life,” Manny said.

  Billy nodded. He turned and scooped up Sydney and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek that made her giggle. “Be good and I’ll be back later, okay?”

  “Okay, Daddy.” Sydney hugged him back.

  Mel could tell that Billy wanted to talk to Holly some more so she turned and smiled at Sydney. “Do you want to go see our pool? Maybe you could go for a swim later?”

  “Can I?” Sydney asked her mother.

  “Sure,” Holly said. “I’ll just work out your pickup time with your dad.”

  Mel took Sydney’s hand and the two of them went out to the pool area, where Marty and Oz were lounging like two lizards in the sun.

  Mel watched as Holly and Billy worked out Sydney’s schedule under the watchful eyes of Manny and Tate. In a way, she couldn’t blame Billy for being worried about his daughter, but at the same time, he had no right to keep her from Holly, especially when the only time Holly got to see her daughter was for a few hours in the afternoon. Mel could only imagine how hard it must be.

  “What’s your panda’s name?” Mel asked Sydney.

  “Rupert,” Sydney said. “He’s my baby.”

  “Well, he sure is a handsome fella,” Mel said. She glanced at the bear with his multiple bald spots, missing eye, and torn ear.

  “Isn’t he?” Sydney asked. She hugged her bear tight. “Do you have a baby?”

  Mel glanced over at Oz and Marty, who had moved to the pool and were now bobbing around the narrow space like two turtles on a log.

  “No, I have a cat named Captain Jack.”

  “That’s a funny name,” Sydney said.

  “He’s a funny cat. Actually, he has a black patch over his eye that makes him look like a pirate, so the name seems to fit,” she said.

  “You should have a baby, too,” Sydney said. “My stepmother Lisa is going to have one. It’s going to come out of the pouch in her belly any day now.”

  “Pouch?” Mel asked. She bit her cheek and tried not to laugh.

  “Uh-huh,” Sydney said. “You just strap on your pouch while the baby cooks and then ding when the baby is ready, you take it out of its pouch.”

  Somehow Sydney had gotten the idea that humans birthed like marsupials—would that it were that easy.

  “Well, I’m not really ready to have my pouch filled with a baby yet,” Mel said.

  Sydney nodded. “Lisa says not everyone should be parents. That it takes a special person to be a mom, a person who will do anything for her child.”

  Mel glanced at the window and saw Billy Eastman leaving while Holly hugged her middle tight and glanced at Sydney. She smiled so that Holly would know Sydney was okay. It was clear that Holly loved her daughter very much, especially as she was abandoning her career and starting over just so she could spend time with her.

  “I think she’s right,” Mel said. “Good thing your mom is that special sort of person, huh?”

  “Yes!” Sydney agreed and then added, “And I am, too.”

  Mel smiled. Sydney was a great kid and so was her mom. They had to find out who was wreaking so much havoc in their lives and stop it.

  “Hey, sweetie.” Holly stuck her head out the door. “Your dad says you can stay for a few hours so long as Detective Martinez watches over you and he has agreed.”

  Sydney bounced up from her seat and clapped her hands. She hugged her mother and then went around her into the suite, where she hugged Manny. He looked surprised and then amused. Then he asked Sydney something and she jumped up and down again.

  He stuck his head back out the door and said, “We have a game of Go Fish starting up, any takers?”

  “I’m in,” Holly said.

  Manny looked pleased and Mel realized that there was definitely a thing between these two.

  “I have to pass,” Mel said. “I have some work stuff I have to do.”

  Manny didn’t press it, but turned to Holly instead and said, “Your daughter has managed to wrap me around her finger in about five minutes.”

  “Really?” Holly asked. “How’d she do that?”

  “She looked at me with those big, beautiful blue eyes, the ones just like her mother’s, and declared I was her hero,” he said. “She is a natural-born charmer.”

  Holly laughed. “That she is.”

  Sydney tugged Manny back inside and the two of them made for the dining table in the room off the kitchen. Manny took the cards that Sydney handed him and he beg
an to shuffle.

  “Mel, can I ask you something?”

  Mel turned to see Holly looking at her with a worried expression.

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “Are you . . . that is . . . Vegas sure is a long way for a guy to travel to keep an eye on a friend,” she said.

  Mel had a feeling Holly was talking around the point. She wondered if she should wait for her to get there on her own or help her along.

  “I suppose it depends on the friend,” Mel said. “Marty and Oz are friends and employees so they’re a bit different.”

  “I was thinking about Manny,” Holly said. “He came all the way up here just to make sure you’re all right. That’s pretty special.”

  “Manny is a special kind of guy,” Mel said.

  “Oh,” Holly said. She looked momentarily sad and then rallied with a smile. “Well, I’m glad you have such a great boy—”

  “Friend,” Mel said. “He’s just a friend.”

  “Really, ’cause I could swear . . .” Holly stopped. She looked embarrassed.

  “He’s a special friend,” Mel said. “We met a few years ago when my mother went on a date and her beau ended up dead.”

  “Oh my god, how awful,” Holly said.

  “We didn’t get on at first,” Mel said. “Then this crazy woman tried to kill me and a whole bunch of other people by burning down a building. Manny pulled me out of the fire. He saved my life.”

  “Wow,” Holly said. “And you’re really just friends?”

  Mel thought about it and knew it was true. Despite enjoying the mild flirtation between Manny and her, they would always just be friends.

  “Yeah,” Mel said. “Just friends.”

  “Oh, I get it. He’s married, isn’t he?” Holly asked. “Or gay, is he gay?”

  “No and no,” Mel said. “As far as I know, he is one hundred percent available.”

  “Okay, cool,” Holly said. She turned and went toward the house then she spun back around and asked, “And you don’t mind if I . . .”

  “Not at all,” Mel said. “Have at it.”

  Holly hurried inside, shutting the door behind her.

  “How do you get one hundred percent available off a guy who has been pining for you for over a year?” Marty asked. He floated by her on his spongy pool noodle.

  “He has not been pining,” Mel said.

  “Please, he calls himself your number two,” Oz corrected her. His dark hair hung over his eyes, shielding his expression and giving Mel no clue as to whether he was teasing her or not. “If that’s not pining, I don’t know what it is.”

  “It’s pitiful, that’s what,” Marty said. “A man can’t be making a fool of himself like that over a woman.”

  “This from a man who wore an Elvis wig and jumpsuit to see if he could score with the ladies,” Mel said. She reached into the pool and splashed the two of them. While Marty was spluttering, she asked, “Does Olivia know about you dressing up? Should I text her a picture?”

  “No!” Marty said. “Let’s just keep this excursion on the down low.”

  “Speaking of your girlfriend, have you made a decision about her ultimatum yet?” Mel asked.

  “Don’t pressure me,” Marty said. “I’m working on it.”

  “Tick tock,” Oz said. Marty gave him a death glare.

  Mel and Oz exchanged a smile.

  “Besides we have bigger problems than my love life right now,” Marty said.

  “I’m beginning to think this excursion is going to be just that, one big problem,” Mel said. “I don’t see how we can move forward with the franchise until we know who is trying so hard to stop it.”

  “My money is on the ex-husband,” Marty said. “I don’t like him.”

  “You don’t like anyone,” Oz said.

  The two of them climbed out of the pool and toweled off. Mel took an available seat beside the pool with them. She glanced back at the suite and watched Sydney and her mom playing Go Fish with Manny. The three of them were grinning at each other and Mel felt a pang in her chest at the thought that this was what Manny was looking for, it was what he deserved, and it was what she could never give him. Not while she was still all twisted up after Joe. She was happy for Manny; really she was. Well, she would be if she weren’t so busy feeling sorry for herself.

  Mel shook it off. She tipped her face up to the sun and tried to tell herself that everything was going to be okay. She supposed she should call Joe back and apologize. She knew he was trying one of the biggest cases of his career. Frank Tucci needed to be put away and Joe was the man to do it. She was proud of him, so proud, but she missed having a boyfriend and she really resented being alone all the time.

  Okay, clearly she wasn’t ready to call him back just yet. It didn’t matter. He would be so busy wrapping up the case, he wouldn’t notice that she was giving him the cold shoulder, or if he did, he’d be able to compartmentalize it until the case was done.

  “I think it’s a crazed fan,” Oz said. He had his head tipped back as he reclined in his lounge chair, soaking up the rays. His long thick hair, which usually hung in a fringe over his face, was dripping wet from his time in the pool and he’d shoved it to the side. Mel realized Oz was a pretty handsome young man when he chose to show his face.

  “You mean a stalker?” Marty asked.

  “Exactly. I heard Holly telling Manny about him this morning,” Oz said. “I think he’s the one behind the gas leak, car crash, and shooting.”

  “Why?” Mel was curious to see how Oz had puzzled this out.

  “Assuming the stalker is a fan who likes Holly’s show, then they have to be freaking out that she’s going to quit and open a bakery,” he said.

  “Yeah, no more ogling her in her sparkly gee-gaw outfits,” Marty said. “Makes sense.”

  “Only to a man,” Mel said with a frown. “We really need to know who is so obsessed with her. You know, it could be someone in the show.”

  “Like who?”

  “Levi Cartwright,” Mel said. “He is totally dependent upon Holly for his positive feedback.”

  “Then why would he hire someone to shoot her?” Oz asked. “He won’t really get the love he wants from her if she’s dead.”

  “Unless he’s so angry that she’s leaving him that he shoots her in a rage,” Mel said.

  “Whoever shot at the house was a pro,” Marty said. “They weren’t shooting to kill.”

  “How do you know?” Mel asked.

  “The shots came through the second-floor window when we were all clearly visible through the glass on the first floor,” Marty said. “No one is that bad of a shot.”

  “Maybe,” she said. “But here’s what I don’t get: The first two incidents happened while we were scouting bakery locations. Destroying the shops made certain that Holly would be unable to move ahead with her bakery. So, it seemed the motivation was to stop the bakery. But shooting at Holly’s house is a totally different modus operandi.”

  “What do you think it means?” Oz asked.

  “I think whatever is happening is aimed at Holly, and I think it’s moved from trying to stop her from opening the bakery to trying to stop her permanently,” Mel said. “It could be this stalker she has, maybe they’re freaking out so much that she’s leaving the show that they’d rather see her dead.”

  “That’s seriously twisted,” Oz said.

  “I can’t think of any other explanation,” Mel said. “Can you?”

  Both Oz and Marty looked thoughtful and then they shook their heads. They had no answers and Mel didn’t have any, either. Either the shooting at the house was about something else entirely or the person after Holly had gone from stopping her dream of opening a bakery to out and out trying to kill her.

  Mel fell asleep poolside. She blamed the apple brioche but she knew it was reall
y just her body’s reaction to all the stress. There was no greater cure for anxiety than a bowl full of frosting or a nap. Given the extra weight she was now carrying, she was glad the nap had won that round.

  Mel staggered out of her chair. Marty and Oz were gone, presumably to another Elvis impersonator event. When she glanced at the suite, Holly was back in the kitchen while Sydney sat at the counter coloring with crayons.

  Mel opened the door and stepped inside. The heady smell of vanilla hit her senses and she thought she might just get to try her other stress buster.

  “Whatcha doing?” she asked.

  “Baking,” Holly said. “It’s my stress reliever. Mario was super cool about sending up some ingredients so I could play in the kitchen.”

  “Mind if I join you?” Mel asked as she scrubbed her hands at the sink.

  “I don’t know,” Holly said. She gave Mel a considering look. “Do you have any experience?”

  Nineteen

  “No, but I am an excellent taste tester,” Mel retorted.

  “Well, I suppose everyone has to start somewhere,” Holly said.

  They set to work, finishing up the vanilla cupcakes. They tried a variety of frosting techniques and Mel was pleased to see that Holly had a wide knowledge base when it came to style and technique. She also had a good eye for presentation.

  “Where did you acquire your baking skills if you never attended culinary school?” Mel asked.

  “I learned by doing,” Holly said. “My grandmother, Mammie Cay, owned a bakery in Shellsburg, Iowa, population nine hundred and seventy-three.”

  “You worked for her?”

  “Sort of. My dad ran out when I was a baby, so my mom and I went to live with Mammie Cay. Mom worked in the bakery, and when I was old enough, I helped out after school and on weekends,” Holly said.

  “Sounds nice.”

  “I hated it.”

  Mel gave her a confused look as she watched Holly squeeze her pastry bag and make a perfect swirl of thick, delicious vanilla buttercream on the cupcake.