Mel looked at Joe. "Earmuffs, Joe."

"What?" he asked.

Mel demonstrated putting her hands over her ears.

"Seriously?" he asked.

Mel nodded and Oz seconded the motion. "You're the assistant district attorney. It's just for a sec."

"Fine," Joe said. He clapped his hands over his ears and started to hum.

Mel leaned closer to Oz. "What is it?"

"I was just wondering how things will go for Lupe with this investigation if she has a record."

Seventeen.

Mel stared at him with her mouth hanging open as she tried to process his words. She shook her head. She must have heard him wrong.

"What are you saying, Oz?" she asked.

"I'm just wondering, that's all," he said.

"Does she have a record? A criminal record?" Mel asked. "Isn't that against the pageant rules and regs?"

"She was only eleven," Oz said. "She got caught shoplifting a Snickers."

"Did she go to court?" Joe asked.

Mel glanced at him and he lowered his hands with a shrug. "Hands are not soundproof earmuffs."

"No, no court date." Oz shook his head. "But the cops came to her house and I think they filled out a report. They said they were going to put it in her file."

"You mean like her 'permanent record'?" Mel asked. "That's the oldest scare tactic in the world."

"Yeah, well, she's freaked out that if Stan and Manny dig into her background, they'll see that she got picked up for shoplifting and they'll be convinced she murdered Mariel Mars," Oz said.

Tate and Angie returned to the table bearing a tray full of cupcakes. Mel wondered how many she could shove into her mouth at once. She was beginning to think there was not enough buttercream in the world to make her feel better about this day.

"It's a pretty big leap from shoplifting a Snickers to homicide," Joe said. "I think Mel is right and the cops who picked her up when she was a kid were just trying to scare her by telling her it was going on her record."

"She returned the candy bar and apologized," Oz said.

"Who are we talking about?" Angie asked.

"Lupe," Mel said.

As Oz explained his concerns to Tate and Angie, Joe leaned close to Mel and said, "So Stan and Martinez are on the homicide investigation?"

She noted that he did not call Manny by his first name. "Yes, they are," she said.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it," Tate said. "From what Angie told me, that Steve Wolfmeier guy seems like he knows what he's doing."

Mel felt Joe stiffen beside her. "Wolfmeier?"

She blew out a breath. "He just happened to be at the resort when the body was found and Mom saw him and asked him to represent Lupe should the need arise."

"I thought your mother liked me?" Joe asked.

"She does, she adores you," Mel assured him. "She doesn't know that you and Steve have a history."

"You do?" Oz asked.

The look Joe gave him made Oz halt his line of questioning and shove a Cherry Bomb Cupcake into his mouth.

"It's no big deal," Joe said. "We went to law school together."

"No big deal?" Angie asked. "You hate him! You called him a plea-peddling, ambulance-chasing, justice-joyriding judgment jockey."

Joe ignored his sister and examined the cupcakes on the tray as if looking for the perfect one.

"Wow, I don't think I can even wrap my tongue around that many syllables," Tate said.

"Yup, that's hatin' words," Oz said.

"We've had some issues," Joe said. He chose a Carrot Cupcake with cream cheese frosting. "So, is he going to be around, too?"

"I doubt it," Mel said. "Unless Lupe gets arrested for the murder of Mariel Mars."

"She's not!" Oz protested. "She didn't!"

"Easy, big guy, no one is accusing your girlfriend of murder," Tate said.

"She's not my girlfriend," Oz protested. "We're just friends."

"That can change," Tate said. He and Angie exchanged a look that was so steamy it made everyone else look away.

Angie glanced at the clock on the wall and then yawned. A yawn that looked suspiciously forced to Mel.

"Look at the time. I'd better go," Angie said.

"Uh, yeah, me, too," Tate agreed. He crammed the last of his cupcake into his mouth and followed Angie out the back door.

"Something I said?" Oz asked. He scratched his head while he stared at the door.

Mel and Joe shared a grin.

"No, I think it's safe to say it had nothing to do with you," Mel said.

Oz turned back around and faced Mel. "Are you still going to be doing a cupcake tower at the pageant tomorrow?"

"Apparently," she said. "Cici called earlier and confirmed what Ginny said about the pageant going forward."

"I want to work it," Oz said.

Mel considered him. She was trying to picture how the hulking goth figure of Oz would fit into the beauty pageant.

"Hair has to be out of the eyes," Mel said. "I don't care if you use a sparkly flower hair clip, people will need to see your peepers."

"Okay," Oz said. He tossed his hair as if reassuring himself that it would be okay to pull it back.

"And no spiked leather jewelry," Mel said.

Oz heaved a put-upon sigh.

"What about the nose stud and the lip rings?" Joe asked. His eyes twinkled and Mel knew he was teasing, but he made a good point. "Probably, he should lose those, too."

"Ah! Why don't you just make me go naked?" Oz asked.

Mel and Joe burst out laughing and Oz pushed aside his black bangs to glare at them.

"Really funny," he said. "Hilarious, in fact."

"Sorry, Oz, I couldn't resist," Joe said. He clapped Oz on the shoulder and the teen looked somewhat mollified.

"You can come with me to the pageant," Mel said. "Angie can stay here and listen to Tate's plans for franchising the business."

Mel tried to keep the disdain out of her voice, but judging by the raised-eyebrow looks she got from both Joe and Oz, her delivery needed some work.

"Cool," Oz said. "I'm going to bounce, then."

He and Joe banged knuckles. He was about to do the same with Mel, but she pushed his hand away and gave him a solid hug instead. She figured he needed one.

"Don't worry about Lupe," she said. She kept her hands on his shoulders and stepped back to glance through his fringe and meet his gaze. "She's one of ours and we'll make sure she's protected."

"Thanks, Mel," Oz said.

She felt the tension in his shoulders release and she knew she'd been right to hug him. She handed him another cupcake and shooed him out the door.

As the door shut behind him, Joe turned to Mel and asked, "Why did you lie to him?"

Eighteen.

"I didn't lie," Mel protested.

"Oh, please," Joe said. "I've watched you tell your mother that you've taken your vitamins, when I know for a fact you don't even own any, and you always get that little crinkle at the top of your nose. It's a tell."

Mel rubbed the skin at the top of her nose between her eyes. She had a tell? She'd had no idea.

"That's not lying, that's fibbing to give her reassurance, so at best I was fibbing to Oz," she said.

"Fine, so why were you fibbing?" he asked.

"I wasn't," she said. "Not completely. I do think of Lupe as one of ours and we will protect her."

Mel rose from her seat and started putting away the cupcakes and fondant, while Joe began shutting down the bakery. She was dead-dog tired and even though she wasn't a morning person, she'd just have to get up early to finish the butterflies.

"What if she did it?" Joe asked.

"She didn't do it," Mel said.

"How do you know?" he asked. He was clearing up the mess left behind by the others, and Mel remembered that back when they were engaged it had always been like this. Joe's off-the-chart sweet tooth usually found him in the bakery at the end of the day helping her close. She realized she liked having him here and had really missed this.

"What?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"You're staring at me," he said. He put the dishes in the sink. "What are you thinking?"

Mel felt her face get warm. She really didn't want to tell him that she'd been missing them. It would give him an opening to zing her about calling off their engagement. Then again, she had never lied to him and she didn't want to start now, even to save face.

"I miss us," she said.

Joe hit her with his bone-wilter of a grin. It was charming and seductive and she felt its impact all the way down to her toes.

"Then marry me," he said.

She shook her head.

"I'm just going to keep asking," he said.

"I know," she said. "I'm sorry I can't give you the answer you want."