Cupcake Explosion (Cupcakes 4)

FOR THE FIRST time in a long time, life is good. I've got a smokin' hot motorcycle man as my fiancé, the best friends a woman could have, a couple of great kids, and things have been relatively quiet on the PI front.

You know what that means . . . the other shoe was bound to drop sooner or later.

I’ve been around long enough to know something bad usually happens when you least expect it. Blindsiding you and turning your life upside down.

And, of course, after a few months of calm, that’s what happened . . .

Just when I was ready to settle down and plan the coolest wedding Greenswood has ever seen, the shit hit the fan, and hit it hard.

My friends are fighting, because Amy May caught Bea and Carmen at my new friend Cynthia’s place, Cynthia’s Coffee and Books, eating pastries. Amy May thinks of it as a betrayal, while Bea and Carmen swear they just stopped to shop for books. Now I’m stuck in the middle.

Cade's been out of town doing God knows what for the club, not giving me input on the wedding at all. But, I guess I should have figured that, he is Cade after all, the man who said he didn’t do white picket fences.

And, my sweet little twins are turning into hair-pulling pre-teens with more drama than my old daytime soaps.

I feel like I'm being pulled in a million directions, and I've been going so crazy that Elin's swear jar is near to overflowing. I've been eating cupcakes like a woman possessed, and if I'm not careful, there's going to be a Cupcake Explosion . . . in my pants.

“YOU’RE SO ANNOYING. Why can’t you just leave me and Cassidy alone and go play with your stupid video games?”

What the hell? Was that really my sweet little Lena, talking to her twin brother like a jerk?

“Elena, I don’t want to hear you talking to Elin like that, you understand?” I asked as I turned the corner into her room.

And I kid you not, the little she-devil rolled her eyes at me.

When did my little sidekick turn into a preteen nightmare?

“Elin, go to your room and leave the girls alone please,” I asked my son, ruffling his hair as he walked by me.

“I didn’t want to hang out with a couple of stupid girls anyway,” Elin grumbled.

“Hey, language,” I said, shocked to hear him talk that way. “And, it looks like you’re the one who owes money to the swear jar this time.”

Elin sighed and walked out of the room.

I turned back to my darling daughter, who was sitting on her bed with my best friend, Amy May’s daughter, Cassidy. She’d been Lena’s best friend almost since birth. Cassidy was looking worriedly at me, but Lena had a who gives a fuck look that I knew well.

It was like looking in the mirror.

“Lena,” I said, fighting for calm. “Don’t talk to your brother that way, or look at me like that. I have no problem taking Cassidy home and letting you spend out the remainder of the weekend staring at that wall.”

I could tell she really wante

d to pull a face, or maybe roll her eyes again, but she managed to get her shit together and say, “I’m sorry.”

I nodded, then turned and got out of there as fast as I could.

Lord save me from budding teenagers.

I’d thought dealing with Elin and his hormones was going to be what pushed me over the edge, but, nope, it was going to be Lena’s newly found attitude that was sure to give me gray hair way too early.

I walked through the house, CB following at my feet as always, and decided a cupcake break was just what the doctor ordered.

I opened the fridge, pulled out the box of cupcakes Amy May had dropped off with Cassidy, and took out custard filled with chocolate icing, which was a current favorite.

My mouth was full of custard when my phone rang.

“Ha . . . bo,” was my greeting when I answered.

“May I speak to Delilah Horton?”

“Mmnhmmm.”