Red Velvet Revenge Read Online Free

Tate Harper, the financial backer of their baking venture, sitting in one of the booths.
    He rose at the sight of them and took a step closer to Mel to hug her, but then stopped with a frown.
    “You’re all wet,” he said. “And the place was locked up and no one was here when I arrived. What happened?”
    “First, introductions,” Mel said. “Slim and Tammy Hazard, this is our business partner, Tate Harper.”
    They all shook, and Mel said, “Marty, why don’t you show Slim and Tammy the cupcakes on display and load them up with a six-pack of their choice.”
    “Oh, no, we couldn’t,” Tammy protested.
    Mel shook her head. “I insist. You saved us all from heatstroke. It’s the least we can do.”
    “You heard her, darlin’, she insists,” Slim said, and he winked at Mel. He looked delighted and rubbed his hands together as he took in the display case. Mel suspected Tammy had not undersold his love of sweets.
    “All right. Bye.” Angie ended her call.
    “Sal is going to collect the van?” Mel asked.
    “And he’s going to have a look at it,” she said.
    “What van?” Tate asked.
    “My van,” Oz said, and he slumped into one of the padded booths by the window.
    “You have a van?” Tate asked.
    “Had a van,” Mel said.
    “Yeah, until it went
boom
in a drag race against Olivia,” Angie added.
    “Boom?”
Tate asked faintly.
    “Eh, more like
bang
,” Mel said.
    “Did Olivia go
bang
?” Tate asked. He was turning pale and looked like he needed to sit.
    “No, she went—” Angie was about to replicate Olivia’s obscene hand gesture, but Mel smacked her hand down.
    “He gets the idea,” she said.
    Angie shrugged.
    “Is there anything else I should know about?” Tate asked. Mel had known Tate since they were twelve years old. He was tugging on his left ear, something he always did when he was feeling stressed.
    “Let go of your ear, Tate,” she said. “Everything is cool.”
    “Then it’s settled,” Slim said.
    Mel spun around to see Slim and Marty shaking hands. Marty still had the worshipful gaze of an adolescent boy in his eyes, and Mel realized he was in the throes of a full-on man crush.
    “Oh, this is wonderful,” Tammy said. “Selling cupcakes at our rodeo is just the kind of hip twist it needs.”
    “Uh…what was that?” Mel asked.
    “Isn’t it great?” Marty asked. He was so happy even his bald head was glowing. “We’re going to sell cupcakes at the Juniper Pass Rodeo.”

Three

    Mel, Angie, and Tate stared at Marty as if he’d suddenly overdosed on his blood pressure medication.
    “Marty, Juniper Pass is way up north,” Angie said. “We’re talking hours away. How are we supposed to sell cupcakes up there?”
    “The truck,” Marty said. He looked to Oz for backup. “It’ll be a great dry run for our bakery on wheels.”
    Oz perked up from where he’d been slouching. His eyes lit up and he looked at Angie.
    “When do you think you’ll hear from Sal?” he asked.
    “Probably in a couple of hours,” she said.
    Mel looked at Slim and Tammy, who were watching the exchange in bemusement. As the chief baker and the person who lived above the bakery, Mel was supposed to be in charge of the business. But as she looked at her crew, shecouldn’t help but note that it looked as if the lunatics were running the asylum.
    She knew it was time to get control of the situation or invest in a wholesale order of straitjackets.
    “Slim, the rodeo sounds like so much fun,” she said. “But other than deliveries, we’ve never taken cupcakes on the road before.”
    “Well, there’s no time like the present,” he said cheerfully. “Your business looks as dried up as a grape in the sun.”
    Marty was nodding like a bobblehead doll, and Mel glared at him.
    “And it would be good for us, too,” Tammy said. “The rodeo could use a contemporary punch, and what is more happening than cupcakes?”
    “Apparently, whoopie pies are the pastry of the future,” Tate