“No, you’re not,” Todd said. He grabbed his young wife’s arm and marched her towards the door.
Elise raised her hand in a wave and cried, “That’s right, it’s a school night. You really should be tucking her into bed. Toodles.”
“This isn’t over, Elise!” Todd yelled. “I will sue you for slander, libel, malicious intent—”
“Blah, blah, blah,” Elise said. “If you don’t mind, I have an event here.” She waved her hand in the direction of the exit.
Todd dragged his wife through the door, slamming it behind him so hard it rattled in its frame.
“Well, that was delicious!” Elise turned to the crowd with a big grin. She was still standing in the middle of the aisle and she walked the length of the room, shaking hands and accepting congratulations. At the end of the rows, she paused to glance at the cupcake towers and then at Angie and Mel.
“Those are spectacular,” she said. “Thank you for making them on such short notice.”
Mel blinked. After Elise’s attack on Mallory, she hadn’t expected her to notice them or their cupcakes, much less show appreciation for their hard work.
“Thank you,” she said.
Elise gave her a small nod and then glanced down at Mel’s left hand, where Joe’s ring sparkled. “You’re getting married?”
“Eventually,” Mel said. She gestured at Angie. “But her big day is in a week.”
Elise turned to look at Angie. She opened her mouth to say something then paused. She pressed her lips together, and then, as if she just couldn’t stop herself, she said, “You might want to run while you can. If you step back and look at it, marriage really isn’t in the best interest of the woman.”
Mel’s gaze darted to Angie. This could go very wrong very quickly. To her surprise, Angie smiled at Elise and it was genuine.
“No offense, but judging by what you married, I don’t think the problem is with marriage so much as groom selection,” she said. “Don’t you worry about me, I picked a perfectly ripe melon and I thumped a lot of them before I found him.”
Elise stared at her for a beat and then tipped her head back and laughed. Mel felt herself sag in relief.
“Angie!” Ray shouted. He looked horrified. “Don’t say that in front of me.”
Elise glanced between them and Angie explained, “Brother.”
“Ah,” Elise said. She moved over to stand beside Ray and said, “And he’s a nice defensive end, too.”
She patted Ray’s behind, and Mel almost choked on her own laughter when Ray went up on his toes and turned as red as a stalk of rhubarb. Elise winked at him. She glanced at the table again.
“I like you cupcake bakers,” she said. She turned to go back to her seat, but then turned back and looked at Angie and said, “Good luck on your marriage. Word of advice? Never let him forget how lucky he is to have you.”
“No worries there,” Angie promised.
A look of understanding passed between them, and Mel felt oddly left out. She was getting married, too, after all. Didn’t she warrant some special advice from the author? Clearly not. Huh. She shrugged it off as she settled in to listen to the rest of Elise’s talk.
The audience was on the edge of its seat, eager to listen to Elise dish the dirt on her former friends and neighbors, even though she was careful not to use real names and she repeatedly insisted that it was all fiction, made up when she found herself dumped, divorced, and desperate.
No one believed her. The question-and-answer portion was mostly pleas for Elise to name names, but she dodged the requests with a wink and a shrug. When Cassie announced it was time for Elise to sign books, the horde turned its attention on the waiting cupcake towers.
Mel and Angie handed out cupcakes while Ray stood behind them glowering. More than one woman took a look at him and changed course to get in line to have her book signed instead of risk being tackled by the big, brawny, leather-clad bruiser.
“Ray,” Mel hissed.
“What?” he asked.
“Take a walk,” she said.
“What?”
“You heard me,” she said. “You’re scaring the customers. Go scout the perimeter or something.”
“I’m not supposed to take my eyes off of Angie,” he said.
“So, keep your eyes on me from over there,” Angie said. “Seriously, you’re killing the cupcake-loving vibe.”
“Fine,” he agreed. “But I’m going to be right there.” He pointed one stubby finger at the side of the room. He scanned the crowd and his voice boomed when he added, “Still in tackling range.”
Angie rolled her eyes but the ladies looked collectively relieved to have Ray away from the table. Cupcake distribution swiftly picked up its pace after that.
A few cupcakes were left and Mel boxed them up for Cassie and Elise to enjoy after the event.
Cassie was standing beside Elise, opening the books to their title page for Elise to sign. The line was still pretty deep, but Mel wanted to say good-bye to Cassie before they left.
Ray was hauling the decorative towers they had used for their cupcakes to the van, refusing to let Mel or Angie set one foot outside of the resort without security.
“Cassie, we’re going to head out,” Mel said. “But I thought you’d like to keep the leftover cupcakes.”
Cassie glanced up from the pile of books she was managing. She gave Mel a big smile and gestured to a resort staff person who’d been helping with the line to take over opening the books for the customers.
“Thank you so much,” Cassie said, and she took the cupcakes. “Elise and I will enjoy these back at my townhouse with some champagne when we toast the success of this event.”
Mel glanced at the line that wound down the wall. There was no doubt, Elise was well on her way to being a bestselling author.
“Enjoy them,” Mel said. “And if you ever need us to fill in again—”
“Don’t you worry,” Cassie said. “After this you’re back to being
