Sugar and Iced (Cupcake Bakery Mystery) Read Online Free Page A

pattern.” Charlie paused to take a bite out of his cupcake. Mel waited while he looked momentarily blissed out and then swallowed.
    “Yeah, I’m in a stall, for sure,” she agreed.
    “Well, if you won’t give me any particulars, tell me this, are you happy?” Charlie asked.
    Mel picked up a Salted Caramel. She wondered if this was going to replace the chocolate with coconut as her current favorite cupcake. Then she thought if she combined them she might have the mother of all cupcakes: salted caramel icing with coconut filling and chocolate cake. Her vision went fuzzy while she tried to picture it and she had to shake her head to get her focus back.
    “I’m baking some of the best cupcakes of my life,” she said. “I’m inspired like never before.”
    “Yes, but you always do that when your love life is a mess. The question remains, are you happy?” Charlie persisted.
    Mel took a bite and chewed. Everything was better with the rush of cake and frosting, at least for the moment. Then she swallowed.
    “Happiness is overrated,” she said.
    Charlie gave her a concerned look.
    “All right, fine,” she said. “My personal life is in the toilet. Joe and I are, well, it’s complicated. And Manny? Ugh, he’s made it very clear that he’s interested, and I’m tempted but I don’t want to ruin what I have with Joe, but if Joe keeps insisting on marriage . . . see? It’s a mess. There. Feel better now?”
    “Not really, no,” Charlie said. “Well, you’ve got nothing but time.”
    “Not according to Mom,” Mel said. “Since she’s not speaking to me, I don’t have to hear it, but I know she’s convinced my biological clock is ticking like a time bomb.”
    “If she’s not speaking to you, how do you know that?” Charlie asked.
    “Because every time she sees me, she glances pointedly at her watch,” Mel said. “And she’s not trying to tell me I’m late for dinner.”
    “She does not,” Charlie said through a mouthful of cupcake.
    “She does,” Mel said. “Ask Angie she noticed it, too.”
    “She just wants what’s best for you,” Charlie said. Unfortunately, he didn’t sound as if he believed it, either.
    “Well, marriage is not it,” Mel said. “At least, not right now.”
    “Why not?” Charlie asked. “You’ve loved Joe since you were twelve years old. Why is getting married to him a bad thing?”
    “I don’t want to get married,” Mel said. “It requires a lot of paperwork and I think there’s even a blood test involved.”
    “Seriously?” Charlie asked. “That’s your objection? Paperwork and a blood test?”
    “I don’t like needles,” she said.
    “Lame!” Charlie roared. “Do you even listen to yourself when you speak? Why can’t you be like most girls and have the wedding of your dreams already completely planned out and all you have to do is insert the approved male?”
    “Because I was always the chubette,” Mel said. “Daydreaming about weddings when the only time boys ever noticed me was to mock and deride me was never as satisfying as eating an entire bag of potato chips.”
    “Your issues have issues, you know that, right?” he asked.
    “I know,” Mel said. She was quiet for a moment and then she sighed. “Here’s the thing, what if Joe and I do get married, how long until I start packing on the pounds and he leaves me for some skinny young thing?”
    “You won’t and he won’t and even if you did, he wouldn’t,” Charlie said.
    “Okay, so we’re happily married for fifty years,” Mel said. “We have kids and grandkids and great-grandkids and then he up and dies on me.”
    “Most people would feel lucky to have had all that,” Charlie said.
    “Losing Dad was so hard,” Mel said. She felt her throat get tight and her eyes were burning but she refused to cry.
    “Aw, I know.” Charlie held out one arm and Mel scooted under it and he hugged her close. “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss Dad.”
    “I just