“Can I second that?” Joe asked. He put his arm around her shoulders as they walked back into the party that was slowly beginning to wind down. “Whoever killed Elise and the people associated with her is a very angry, very unbalanced person, and you do not want to make yourself their target.”
“I know,” Mel said. “But Cassie—”
“Has been let out on bail and has an excellent attorney,” Joe said. “You need to steer clear of this for me, for Captain Jack, and for Peanut. That poor dog has suffered enough.”
“Leveraging the pets?” she asked.
“Is it working?”
“Depends,” Mel said. “Do we get to keep her?”
Joe sighed. “Yes.”
“Yay!” Mel was not a bit surprised. Peanut had firmly wedged herself into their house and even Captain Jack was warming up to her. Sort of. “Speaking of the kids, are you ready to go home to our pack? I’m worried that they might have destroyed the place by now.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Let’s go home.”
The good-byes didn’t go as swiftly as Mel had hoped. They never did. But when they entered their house an hour later, there were no signs of bloodshed or tufts of fur to be found. In fact, the house was eerily quiet. Too quiet.
“I don’t see them, do you?” she asked.
“No.” Joe sounded as concerned as she felt.
They made their way through the house until Mel heard the distinct sound of snoring. She stopped and held up her hand for Joe to do the same. He tipped his head, listening, and then jerked his chin in the direction of their room.
Mel flicked on the light and there in the middle of the bedroom floor, curled up in her favorite dark blue chenille throw was Peanut, with Captain Jack snuggled up against her.
“That might be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Joe said. “I’m a grown man and it’s making my heart hurt.”
“If you had a uterus like me, you’d be having spasms,” Mel said.
He laughed and the sound startled the pets. Peanut jumped to her feet but it was too fast and her front legs collapsed, dropping her on her face. Captain Jack blinked at them and stretched as Peanut got back to her feet and charged at them. Captain Jack continued stretching. When he was done he leapt up onto the bed and curled up to go back to sleep. Peanut danced around their feet, demanding love.
“She’s so happy,” Joe said. He scratched Peanut’s back right where she liked it while Mel rubbed Captain Jack’s ears.
“He’s never going to admit that he likes the dog,” Mel said. “But he does.”
“Yeah, they’ve bonded. I guess in the end, everyone just wants to belong to somebody,” Joe said.
Mel studied her little family. It was true. They belonged to one another now and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
• • •
It was three days before Mel felt as if she’d recovered from the wedding. Looking at Marty and Oz in the kitchen of the bakery, she could tell they felt the same.
“So, Lupe had to go back to school?” she asked.
“Yep,” Oz answered. He was carefully boxing up some pink-and-black cupcakes he’d just finished for a birthday party that evening.
“Did you have a good time while she was here?”
“Yep.”
Mel looked at Marty. He raised his hands in innocence. “Don’t look at me. We’re dudes. We don’t talk about stuff like you girls do.”
“Are you living with Olivia again?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“Do your daughters know?”
“Yep.”
“That’s it? That’s all you’ll give me, really?” Mel asked.
Marty and Oz exchanged amused glances.
“If Angie were here she’d pull the information out of you or threaten to pull your intestines through your nose,” Mel said. “Huh, I may have to call her.”
“No!” they said together.
“Then talk.”
Oz cracked first. “Lupe and I are back together. She thought it was too much to ask me to wait for her since school is taking up so much of her time, but I told her I thought she was worth it, so we’re good.”
“Excellent,” Mel said. She patted him on the shoulder and caught his smile beneath his fringe of bangs.
“And Olivia and I made up,” Marty said. “I told my daughters to call off their dogs, that I was of sound mind and that Olivia was my gal, and if they didn’t like it they could learn to live without my money as I’d cut them both out of my will.”
“Good for you,” Mel said. “Were they mad?”
“Furious,” Marty said. “But they’ll get over it.”
“Now, was that so hard?” Mel asked.
“Yes!” they answered together.
“All right, I am packed up and ready to ride to the Westons’ house,” Oz said.
“The Westons?” Mel asked. “That’s the sweet sixteen party, right?”
“Yeah,” Oz said. He looked pained. “My plan is to set up, get paid, and get out of there before the girls arrive.”
“Good plan,” Marty said.
“The Westons. Don’t they live over in the Palms?” Mel asked. Both Marty and Oz swiveled their heads in her direction. “What?”
“Why do you ask?” Oz said.
“Just remembering the details of a client,” she said. “No biggie. But this is an awful large party, so I’ll go with you.”
“No!” Marty and Oz spoke together.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Angie and Tate made us promise to keep an eye on you and make sure you didn’t do anything that might put you in harm’s way,” Oz said.
“And we promised,” Marty said. “So you can’t go.”
“How is setting up for a sixteen-year-old’s birthday party going to put me in harm’s way?” Mel asked. “I just want to check out the neighborhood. It’s not like I’m going to go door to door looking for trouble.”
Marty and Oz exchanged a look. “Yeah, right.”
Mel plopped her hands on her hips. “Well, I’m the boss, so guess what? I’m going.”
Twenty-one
“Thank you so much,” Mrs. Weston said as she led them through her enormous mansion towards the backyard, which was covered in balloon arches of the same pink and
