Lei'd With Cupcakes (Cupcakes 3)

I widened my eyes at him and mouthed, help.

Cade looked around me, his face softening when his gaze landed on the twins.

“It’s just some turbulence, we’ll be all right,” he assured them, and I tried to take his words to heart.

“Are you sure?” Elena asked.

“How can you know?” Elin prompted.

“Because we’ve got stuff to do,” Cade replied easily. “We’ve got to see to Rufus and CB, and you know your dad and Mary are waiting to get some quality time with you guys. Plus, we’ve got a wedding to plan. See, too much going on … We’ll be fine.”

I could tell his words were getting through to them and making some sort of sense, so I closed my eyes and took a cleansing breath, then tried to lighten my death grip on my seat. One more good bump hit, jostling us to the side, then things evened out.

“See, all good,” Cade said, then, no shit, scooted back down in his seat and fell back asleep.

“Okay?” I asked the twins.

They nodded in response, and when they shifted away from each other and picked up their tablets, I knew they were good.

I poured myself another screwdriver, then picked up my own tablet. After I found the episode of Friends I’d fallen asleep on, I got comfortable and resumed my marathon. After a few minutes, I looked up and my eyes caught on that damn map.

Blink, blink, blink, our plane looked stationary over the ocean.

Ugh, I couldn’t stop looking. I must have complained about it out loud, because suddenly Cade’s hand shot out, pushed a button on the side of the screen, and the map magically disappeared.

“Thanks, babe,” I murmured, then turned my attention back to Ross and Rachel.

I guess I haven’t really travelled that much in my life, because I wasn’t prepared for how happy I was to be home. Seriously. I wanted to hug my front door and kiss my porch, that’s how excited I was to see my little house again.

The kids were thrilled too. I could tell by the way they hopped out of the car and barreled into the house, leaving their bags and stuff behind in the van.

By the time I finished pulling everything out and awkwardly taking their bags and mine inside, what can I say, I hate making two trips, they were already in the middle of a lovefest with Rufus and CB.

Wait… “Who the hell is that?” I asked, looking at the long-legged, overgrown yellow lab who was currently licking Elin’s face.

“It’s CB, Mom,” Elena said, looking at me like I was nuts.

“No, uh-uh,” I denied with a shake of my head. “My CB is a cute cuddly puppy. That, is a dog.”

“Puppies grow into dogs, darlin’,” Cade said with a grin.

I scowled at him, put my hands on my hips, and said, “I know that, Cade, but we were only gone a couple weeks, not months.”

Cade shrugged. “Puppies grow fast. He had a growth spurt while we were gone.”

“But…” I argued, frowning at the dog who was prancing around awkwardly, as if she wasn’t quite used to her new legs yet. She slid toward me, then looked up at me expectantly, her tongue hanging half out of her mouth. “Oh, come here,” I said, crouching down to give her a hug and accept her welcome home kisses.

As soon as I stood up, Rufus came over and stuck his head in my crotch, which was his version of welcome home.

“Hi, Rufus, yes … I missed you too,” I cooed, patting him on the head as I looked around at the house. “Carmen here?” I asked Cade.

“No, the dogs were in their kennels, but there’s a note on the counter,” he replied.

I went into the kitchen, gazing lovingly at the pictures on the wall as I passed them. When I crossed the threshold, I stopped in my tracks, then clapped my hands together happily and rushed to open the beautiful bakery box on the counter that I knew so well.

I started salivating before I’d even opened the lid to reveal Amy May’s scrumptious cupcakes.

Peeling off the wrapper of the chai cupcake, one of my absolute favorites, I peered down at the note on the counter.