Lei'd With Cupcakes (Cupcakes 3)

“I love these,” I cooed as I trailed my finger over a pretty necklace made of sea glass. “It would be perfect for my friend Carmen.”

“What’s she like?” Alani asked as she picked up some earring and held them to her lobe. “How do these look?”

“Gorgeous,” I replied, then handed both the necklace and earrings to the lady who’d made them. “We’ll take these.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Alani argued.

“I know, I want to,” I replied with a smile, handing her the earrings as I paid for the purchase. “Carmen is a nut. She’s the newest to our group and I already love her more than cupcakes, and that’s saying a lot. She’s a reporter and blogger, and seriously the fastest talker I’ve ever heard. She’s also the sweetest, most giving and loyal person I’ve ever met, and I’m trying like crazy to hook her up with my other friend Bran. He’s a lawyer and I can totally tell they’re crushing on each other and would be so good together.”

“I hope I get to meet them some day.”

“Me too. I hope you guys will all come out to visit us.”

We were turning the corner when I saw a table filled with stamped tablet cases. I started laughing as I picked a powder-blue one off of the table that said I read Regency Romance, so suck it.

“Oh my god, I have to get this for Bea.”

“What does Bea do?”

“She’s a cop for Greenswood PD. She and her partner Shannon just got married, and I’m always ripping on her for her love of historical romance,” I said with a smile while the merchant wrapped up the cover. “Which reminds me, I need to pick up something for Shannon too. She’s easy though. She already told me to get her anything plumeria and she’ll be happy.”

“Anyone else you’re looking for?” Alani asked.

“My bestie Amy May. She’s a baker, so anything to do with baking, baking supplies, food, and she’ll be happy.”

“Okay, I’ll help you look,” Alani said as we started walking again. “Your friends sound nice.”

“They’re the best,” I replied, a small smile playing at my lips. “I wouldn’t make it through the day without my girls. They always have my back, and I have theirs.”

“My friend Hannah was like that for me,” Alani said wistfully.

“Was?”

She shrugged and said, “We haven’t been talking much lately.”

“That’s too bad. Do you mind if I ask what happened?” I asked, wondering if greasy, smarmy guy had anything to do with it.

“We just started hanging out with different people, I guess. She’s all about this new guy she met. He’s older and kinda creepy, if you ask me. And she’s always with him. I tried to hang out with them a few times, but it always made me feel weird. I don’t like the way he talks to her, or the things she’s been doing.”

“What kind of things?” I asked, thinking maybe I got it wrong, and it wasn’t Alani who was mixed up with that thug. Maybe she was looking out for her friend.

“Hey, what about this?” she asked, crossing to one of the tables and pointing to a cookbook featuring recipes from a local baker.

“Yes. Perfect,” I said, then tried to bring back the conversation and get more intel. “About Hannah…”

“I’ve got it handled,” Alani said, then effectively changed the subject when she asked, “Hey, do you want to try some local barbecue? They’re selling some right over there.”

“Sure, that sounds yum,” I replied, then paid for the book and followed her to the barbecue.

I’d need to gather more facts before saying anything to Cade and his folks. I’d hate to rat on Alani for seeing some nasty guy and have the details wrong. If it was actually this Hannah making bad decisions, and Alani was trying to help her friend out of a bad situation, then maybe I shouldn’t say anything.

I didn’t know, all I was sure about was that I needed to find out who that guy was, and what he was doing hanging around teenaged girls. Then I needed to find out what Alani’s role was in all of it. Once I had the facts, I could tell Cade what was up, and he could decide whether or not to involve his parents.

But for now, I was ready to eat my fill of some barbecue, which, by the way, smelled out of this world.

???And then, a whole bunch of dolphins starting swimming next to our boat, following us across the ocean. It was the coolest thing ever!” Elin exclaimed. He was so excited as he told me all about their day, he was practically vibrating.

“Yeah, and the boat had a little place inside where you could sit and get snacks, if you were tired of being on deck. I had a bag of chips and a Coke,” Elena added.