Desserts and Death Read online

  “You really think so?”

  “Yes, Miss Harley, and I don’t just think so. I know so.”

  “Well, I have to agree with Lila that youth is wasted on the young.”

  “That sounds like a Lila-ism. I couldn’t agree more.” Amelia could hear someone talking to Dan in the background. It was obvious he was being called back to work.

  “Honey, I have to go.”

  Amelia got goose bumps hearing Dan call her honey. It was such a little thing, but she knew it wasn’t a term a guy like him tossed around. She felt as if he’d just given her a bouquet of sunflowers.

  “Okay, come by later if you like.”

  “I’ll try, but I might have to take a rain check. I’ll call you.”

  When Amelia hung up, she thought that maybe she should have a talk with Meg about the way things worked in the world. Maybe the girl already knew. The things teenagers bantered around to each other were about ten percent fact and ninety percent fiction, but it would be worth talking to her about. The last thing she wanted was for her to get carried away over the first guy who told her she was pretty.

  “I should talk to Adam, too. What’s good for the goose, and all that mumbo-jumbo.” That talk made her stomach tie up in knots. It wasn’t that she feared the worst for her son. At seventeen, he was a smart kid, and he did march to the beat of his own drum. But other than Amy down the street, Amelia didn’t know if he had an interest in any other girls or if he knew how important it was to be a gentleman.

  Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the bottle of water she had been nursing while she took a ten-minute break outside the truck. With one giant swig, she went back into the hot box and began a batch of vanilla cherry cupcakes.

  Chapter Four

  “I’m so glad you could come by.” Amelia took Lila’s jacket as she stepped inside the house. “I’m sorry it had to be on the rainiest day of the season.”

  “When there is a cupcake crisis, you can bet that I’ll come running.” Lila handed Amelia her wet coat and propped her umbrella in the corner. “What’s happening?”

  “These green tea cupcakes.” Amelia sighed. “They are missing something, and I don’t want to throw in the towel just yet. I think if I have a second set of taste buds, maybe together we can figure out what’s missing.”

  “How would you describe what they taste like?” Lila followed Amelia into the kitchen.

  “I’d say sort of cardboard-y.”

  They laughed.

  “It just has no flavor. It isn’t that it tastes bad. It doesn’t taste like anything. I’ve added vanilla extract and almond extract, but there is something in the matcha that is swallowing up all the competing flavors. It’s like a culinary black hole.”

  “Sounds like we need something with a little more kick.”

  Amelia handed her a green cupcake and waited for the verdict. “Gross, right?”

  “Not totally. But bland to be sure.” The ladies discussed all the ingredients, and finally, Lila made a bold suggestion.

  “What if we add a little honey to the mix?”

  Amelia stared into her pantry. She reached in and pulled out a little plastic bear filled with honey. Then she gasped.

  “What about a little of this, too?” It was coconut extract.

  Lila’s eyes popped.

  “That’s worth a try.” She took a seat at the table while Amelia began whipping together the ingredients. She had made several attempts before calling Lila, so the first half of the recipe was almost totally committed to memory. She carefully measured off a dab of honey and the drops of extract before tasting the batter.

  “Better?” Lila asked before sticking her own finger in the batter.

  “I think this might work.” Amelia clapped giddily. “If it does, we are going to have to charge a little more because this coconut extract is a lot more expensive than vanilla.”

  “If we market it as a fancy-pants healthy alternative, people will pay a little more. That would be the last thing I’d worry about.” Lila grabbed the newspaper that was on the counter. “Speaking of worry. Where is your brood?”

  “Meg is at Katherine’s house. Adam is at Amy’s house.”

  “A nice quiet afternoon for Mama, and there’s no wine?”

  “How about a Baileys and coffee?” Amelia suggested.

  “Now you’re talking.” Lila unfolded the paper and started perusing the headlines. “I don’t know what I’m looking at this for. There isn’t any good news or interesting factoids. Even the weather is negative.”

  “Yeah, but I get the sale papers in there, and sometimes I read the obituaries.”

  “Whoa!” Lila barked. “Now this is news!”

  “What is it?”

  “Colleen Marie Jameson is engaged to Gregory Timber Scottson…”

  “Timber?”

  Lila shrugged as she continued reading.

  “The nuptials are scheduled for one month from today.”

  Both ladies looked at each other.

  “Dare I say it?” Lila smirked.

  “Let me save you the trouble. Shotgun?”

  “That’s all I can think of. Well, it certainly isn’t the worst thing to happen to a person. But I’d have given just about anything to have been a fly on the wall during that conversation with the new mother-in-law.”

  Amelia shook her head as she set the timer for fifteen minutes.

  “You know, it’s easy to pass judgment, but we don’t know the story. Perhaps the kids really are in love. Sure, she is as green as a valley in springtime, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”

  “I find it interesting you say that.” Lila folded her arms over her chest and studied Amelia.

  “Don’t you have hope for true love?” Amelia asked. “A fairytale ending?”

  Lila smiled and finally nodded. “I remember my wedding.”

  “I’ll bet it was beautiful.” Amelia poured them each a steaming cup of coffee and added a shot of Baileys into each one.

  “It was nice. I had a beautiful dress. My bridesmaids were decent enough gals that there wasn’t any infighting or cattiness. But I remember people always saying to me, ‘Don’t worry when something goes wrong.’ Who tells a bride-to-be that?”

  Amelia leaned in.

  “I’d mention I was getting married, and some old biddy would tell me how her cake was dropped on the floor or the hall didn’t have enough seats or her dress didn’t fit right. If something can go wrong, it will. So many women said that.”

  “That happened to me, too.” Amelia shrugged. “Little did I know that it wasn’t the wedding day. It was the two decades later that caused all the problems.”

  “I was convinced that if the groom showed up, the wedding day would be a success. It proved to be right. There might have been a couple of hitches here or there, but I don’t remember them. I just remember walking down that aisle and seeing Jacob. He looked so handsome. It didn’t matter to me what else happened that day. As long as the priest got through the words ‘I now pronounce you man and wife,’ I was a happy bride.”

  “Yeah, I have to admit that John looked quite handsome, too. Back then, he smiled when he saw me. Not like now. His face is so sour it’s like he’s got a lemon wedge stuck in his cheek.”

  “I doubt that is all his doing.” Lila nodded knowingly. “He must have said a few things about you to Jennifer that make her feel a little insecure. Think about it. You’re going to be the mother of his children forever. You’re always going to be there, whether she takes his last name or not.”

  “Well, she did, and it’s over and done with. Now Colleen and Greg are headed down that path, and who knows. Maybe it will really be forever.”

  “Maybe,” Lila grumbled, not even trying to hide her doubt. “I’ll happily admit I was wrong, but I doubt I will be.”

  Once the ladies finished their cups of Baileys and coffee, the cupcakes were finished. They each took one and took a bite.

  “It tastes like a non-alcoholic piña
colada,” Lila boasted.

  “It does. This is a very smooth flavor. Light. It tastes healthier.” Amelia smiled. “Should we try a couple out tomorrow?”

  “What are you thinking will frost these?” Lila said, taking another bite.

  “Powdered sugar.”

  “Perfect.”

  As it turned out, there wasn’t a huge demand for a healthier cupcake. By five o’clock, quitting time, Amelia had only made one dozen green tea cupcakes, and there was still one left that didn’t have a home.

  “I’m thinking maybe this would be something to promote during special times of the year. Like right after New Year’s when people are feeling guilty because they chowed down all holiday season?” Amelia suggested.

  “That is a great idea. I’ll bet you’ll clean up with that gimmick.”

  Chapter Five

  About two months passed since she first tried the green tea cupcakes.

  It wasn’t often that Amelia’s creations weren’t a smashing success. This made her worry that there might be something wrong. A bad omen. But she didn’t say anything to Lila or Dan or the kids.

  It was something she needed to get through on her own. What she didn’t want to admit to herself was that she was getting a little burnt out. She loved baking. She loved her truck. She certainly loved how she was getting her loans paid off. But there was a wall on the inside of her mind that she was sure was closing in a millimeter at a time.

  “Maybe you need to exercise more,” she’d mumble at five in the morning as she drowsily came to work. “Or dare you take a vacation? Where on earth would you go? You can’t leave the kids, and they can’t miss school. Even if Lila offered to watch them, where is there to go that would be of any interest?”

  She didn’t have any answers to this, either, so it stayed deep inside her gut. A few weeks went by, and she realized she was sleeping later and rushing around in the morning, looking for her keys, her wallet, or the deposit bag.

  By the time she pulled into her spot on Food Truck Alley, she was already exhausted.

  “I need to hire someone,” she said out loud. “I’ll get Lila to write up a job description. Just so I can have an afternoon or morning shift to get some rest. That ought to do it. It’s got to be just exhaustion.”

  For a minute, Amelia thought of Lila. She had had breast cancer, but it was gone now along with both her breasts. What were the warning signs? Was she tired a lot? Should Amelia get herself checked out?

  “You are jumping to conclusions.” She put the coffee on. “Go get a check-up if you’re so worried.” That idea scared her even more. “I don’t know if I can afford a check-up right now. But that just sounds like a lame excuse to me. Yes, it does.”

  She sipped the hot coffee and switched on the ovens.

  Today was going to be vanilla cherry cupcakes paired with lemon cupcakes. The frostings were almost identical and could be shared without jeopardizing the taste.

  “It’s rare to see you staring out into space.” Dan’s voice made Amelia jump and clutch her heart.

  “What are you doing here so early?” She gasped before getting up to give him a peck on the cheek.

  “Up so early? You mean up so late. I haven’t even gone to bed yet.”

  “Busy night?”

  “You have no idea.”

  Amelia went and poured Dan a cup of coffee.

  “Have a seat while the truck is still cool on the inside.” She dragged a stool from the corner for him to sit on. “So what kept you so busy?”

  “Maybe you should be the one who takes a seat.”

  “Why?”

  “I just came from Luann Jameson’s house. Her new son-in-law died yesterday evening around four o’clock.”

  “What?” Suddenly, Amelia’s heart started racing.

  “He was up on her roof, fixing some shingles. Slipped and fell from the top of that huge house and landed on the only piece of driveway exposed beneath the roof.”

  “That’s terrible. Poor Colleen. She must be devastated.”

  “She didn’t say too much. I think she is still in shock.” Dan rubbed his face.

  “Are they having a funeral and a wake? I don’t know. I have a weird feeling maybe I should go.” Amelia thought out loud. “No. I didn’t know them all that well. Still, how sad.”

  “Yeah, well, like I thought would happen. According to Luann, Greg had been smoking pot and decided he was going to prove he was good at something. Climbed up on the roof and slid right off.”

  Amelia shook her head.

  “That’s not even the worst of it. Colleen is pregnant.”

  “Oh no.” Amelia gasped, putting her hand to her chest.

  “Oh yes. They didn’t waste any time.” Dan shook his head. “My head is throbbing. I gotta go. I’ll call you tonight after I sleep the entire day.”

  “Of course. Would you like me to bring you something to eat?”

  “Nope. Got a can of tomato soup with my name on it. I’ll be fine.”

  Amelia continued getting the ovens preheated and starting on the day’s recipes. But her mind kept drifting to that day she spoke with Colleen. She mentioned her mother, and Greg winced. It was the look of a man who didn’t get along with his girlfriend’s mother.

  Amelia might have been a couple decades older than them, but she wasn’t so old she didn’t remember how a suitor acted around her parents when it was obvious they didn’t like him. One-word answers to questions. Arms folded all the time. Plus an almost violent physical reaction when she would mention her parents. Not much had changed over the years.

  “I hate to be the wet blanket at such a delicate time,” Lila said after Amelia told her the news. “But if the guy was smoking weed and then went up on the roof, he obviously wasn’t that bright. Maybe it was a blessing this happened.”

  “Lila, how can you say that?” Amelia smiled because she had been thinking the same thing but didn’t have the guts to say it. Not so bluntly, anyway.

  “I’m not saying I’m glad it happened. I’m just saying…”

  Amelia was about to reply when her cell phone went off. It was a number she’d never seen before.

  “The Pink Cupcake. Amelia speaking.”

  “Amelia Harley?”

  “This is she.”

  “Miss Harley, this is Luann Jameson. My daughter picked up your business card some time back and said you catered.”

  “Yes, Miss Jameson. That’s true. What can I do for you?”

  Amelia stared at Lila, whose eyes bugged out of her head as her jaw dropped.

  “I’m having an intimate affair for about one hundred people, and I was hoping you could accommodate. My daughter says the double-chocolate raspberry cupcakes are amazing. I have to take her word for it. I don’t eat refined sugar of any kind.”

  Amelia pulled a pen from her purse and began to scribble down what Luann was saying on the back of a receipt while she shrugged at Lila.

  “One hundred double-chocolate raspberry cupcakes. Sure. When do you need them, and where should they be delivered?”

  “I’ll need them delivered to my house at 667 Lahon Road. It’s the house with the pillars.” She sounded bored. “Tomorrow around four o’clock in the afternoon.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Amelia agreed and took a credit card number before hanging up the phone with a “Thank you, Mrs. Jameson. See you then, Mrs. Jameson.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Lila gasped.

  “She wants cupcakes for a small affair at her house.” Amelia shook her head. “Right when her son-in-law is being laid to rest?”

  “You know what? I don’t think that’s strange at all.” Lila came to Luann’s defense. “When your whole life is work-work-work, when a crisis hits, the only thing you know how to do is stay busy. That was how Jacob coped with my cancer.”

  “You’re right.” Amelia nodded. “But I think I might stop by the wake. Maybe.”

  “It wouldn’t be the wildest thing anyone did.”

  The next day,
the details for the wake of Gregory Timber Scottson were listed in the Gary Bugle. Amelia showed up at the Brockheim Funeral Home and lingered in the back of the room.

  I shouldn’t have come to this. She smoothed the nape of her neck. I don’t know these people. But when she looked at the front of the room, she saw Colleen sitting alone. No one was talking to her or offering their condolences, even though the room had a fair number of people in it.

  Just then, Amelia saw Luann. She came sweeping into the room, wearing a rather low-cut black wrap-around dress that left very little to the imagination. Her long blond hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, and she was leading a very young, handsome fellow into the room behind her.

  “Colleen, you remember Roger?” Amelia heard her mother say.

  Colleen didn’t say anything.

  “Colleen, you look really beautiful,” Roger gushed. It was obvious he couldn’t take his eyes off Colleen, but he was keenly aware he was at a funeral.

  “Why don’t you and Roger go talk? Get some fresh air,” Luann urged.

  “I don’t want to talk!” Colleen shouted. “I don’t want any fresh air! I want Greg back!”

  She sounded so young, Amelia’s heart broke for the girl. It reminded her of the time Meg’s first pet died. She was only six, and her pet was a smelly hamster that she named Napoleon. Amelia hated the thing, but Meg loved it. She had it for two years before the little guy just fell asleep. Meg was beside herself.

  “I just want to walk in my room and see him running on his wheel.” Her baby sniffled.

  But this wasn’t a hamster. This was a husband. Amelia couldn’t stand it. She watched Colleen stomp out of the room and waited for Luann to follow after her. But Luann didn’t do that. Instead, she apologized to Roger and his parents, who were offering their condolences. Amelia couldn’t take it and followed Colleen out the door, unnoticed. She found her sitting on a folding chair in an empty viewing room.

  “Colleen?” Amelia whispered. “I don’t know if you remember me.”