"Me, too," Angie said. "We'll get it done."

"All right, it looks like all I need to do is clean out the kitchen, then," Mel said. "Thanks for everything. I'll see you all in the morning."

"Do you want me to spend the night?" Joyce offered.

"Thanks, Mom." Mel leaned forward and kissed her mom's cheek. "But I'm good."

"Come on, Joyce, we'll walk you to your car," Tate said.

Angie made a "call me if you need me" gesture by holding her hand with thumb and pinky extended up to her ear. Mel nodded to let her know she would. She shut the door behind them and made her way to the kitchen.

She could hear voices on the other side of the door, and she knew it was horribly wrong to eavesdrop, but she did it anyway. "Stupid is as stupid does," as Forrest Gump's mother would say. She wished Tate or Angie were there to appreciate her movie reference, although it was an uber-easy one.

She leaned in close to the door.

"I wonder if this is how the girls in the pageant feel," Steve said.

"What do you mean?" Manny asked.

"Well, look at the three of us, all competing for the same girl as if she's a crown we get to wear on our heads," Steve said.

There was a beat of silence and then Manny said, "She's worth it."

Aw. Mel smiled.

"No question there," Joe said. "A guy spends his whole life looking for a girl like Mel."

Mel felt her heart trip over that one. Maybe this eavesdropping thing was underrated.

"Well, then you should really be out of the running, you had your shot and you blew it," Steve said. "Besides, with the high-profile case you've got going on at the DA's office, are you really in a position to be dating anyone?"

"You're just jealous because she picked me," Joe said. "And don't you worry, I can take care of my cases."

"You two really do have a history, don't you?" Manny asked.

"A very boring one," Joe said.

Mel was pleased to hear that he didn't sound the least bit irritated by Steve. She knew they had been friends who had become bitter rivals for grades and girls in law school.

"I wouldn't say it was boring," Steve said. "Oh, yeah, that's because I always won."

"Seriously, number three, do you really think you stand a chance with Mel?" Joe asked. "She's too good for you."

"Agreed," Manny said. "I'll happily let Joe have her if it means she doesn't end up with you."

"What? Are you making an alliance like we're on some lame reality show?" Steve asked.

There was a pause and then both Joe and Manny said, "Yes."

"How is that fair?" Steve asked.

"All's fair in love and war," Manny said.

"If that's the case, then I'll just have to turn up my game," Steve said.

"Really? You don't know Mel at all if you think you can buy her with fancy dinners and sparkly jewelry," Manny said.

"No, but trips to Paris might sway her," Steve said. "Face it, I can give her more than you two can. I can give her a mountainside mansion, a Rolls-Royce, dinner in Paris, a beach house in Malibu, in short, the life she deserves."

Mel felt her jaw drop. She couldn't even imagine a life like that.

"What she deserves doesn't come with a price tag," Joe said. "It's a partner who loves her for exactly who she is, someone she can count on to be there, even when she's pushing him away."

Mel felt her heart constrict. Joe had just described them perfectly and she couldn't help but feel that she had been treating him terribly.

"Spoken like a true public servant," Steve scoffed. "It sounds like you just don't want to face reality, Joe. Mel's not pushing you away, she's simply done with you. And by the way, everyone has a price tag."

"Would it be police brutality if I punched him in the mouth?" Manny asked.

"Only if there's a witness," Joe said. "I could leave."

"Hey, now," Steve said.

Mel doubted that Joe would leave or that Manny would throw a punch. Still, she pushed through the door, interrupting whatever might have happened next.

"Mel!" All three of them rose from the steel table where they'd been sitting. She noted a pile of empty cupcake wrappers and she frowned.

"Out!" she demanded and pointed to the door.

"Are you all right?"

"Did you get stitches?"

"Are you in pain?"

They fired questions at her as she held the door open and gestured them through.

"Yes, four, and not much," she said as they shuffled past her into the bakery. She crossed the room and opened the front door. Again she held it open and gestured for them to leave.

"Good night," she said.

The three of them stood staring at her through the door as if they couldn't figure out what had just happened, while she shut and locked it.

Mel debated doing some baking, but her leg throbbed and she wanted to go snuggle her cat, Captain Jack, and go to sleep. She checked the bakery as she made her way through it. She hobbled up the back stairs to her apartment. When she opened the door, a ball of white fur with a black spot charged her and she realized that as far as she was concerned, Captain Jack was the only man she needed in her life at the moment. Period.

Mel played a fierce game of attack the paper bag with Captain Jack. It consisted of him climbing into a paper grocery sack while it lay on its side. She would then tickle the side of the bag with her fingers and he would go all kitty karate on the paper bag, trying to get to her fingers. So far the score was Mel ten and Jack zero.

While Jack attacked, retreated, and attacked again, Mel pondered her broken window, Lupe's chance of winning the pageant, and Mariel's murder. She refused to think about the three idiots in her kitchen.

When Jack had exhausted himself and climbed up onto the futon to knead his pillow into the perfect position for sleep, Mel switched off the lamp and tried to sleep. Like a movie reel loop, however, the events of the past few days kept repeating until she finally gave up. She kissed Jack on the head and he purred.

Slipping into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, Mel slipped out of her apartment to head down to the bakery. If she wasn't going to sleep, than she might as well work on tomorrow's cupcakes.

She got halfway down the steps when she noticed there was a person sitting at the bottom. They had their back to her and were using a cell phone. The glow from the display outlined their body, which was big and masculine. Uh-oh. Had the person who tossed the brick returned?

Twenty-nine.

Mel felt her heart clench hard like a fist in her chest. She had no weapon but her keys and she doubted she could get back into her apartment before the person caught her. She stood undecided for a second and then realized that the person hadn't heard her yet. Quite possibly, she could either hit them hard from behind and run away or slip back into her apartment and call the police.

She waffled. Fear had her immobilized, plus her leg really smarted and she wasn't sure if she could run on it. What if it went out from under her and she fell? Aside from being embarrassing, it could get her killed.

She decided to see if she could ease her way back up the stairs. She placed her foot on the step behind her and slowly moved backwards. One step, two steps, she started to move faster. Squeak!

Mel froze and held her breath. The person below her didn't move. How could they not have heard what had sounded as loud as a gunshot to her? She waited, poised with one foot on the step behind her. When the person below didn't move, she let out her breath in a tiny sigh.

At that, the man below whipped his head around and jumped to his feet. "Mel?"

Joe DeLaura looked up at her and Mel felt every bit of resistance inside of her shatter and fall away. She walked down the steps, never taking her gaze from his.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Joe gave her a lopsided smile. "I knew you wouldn't be able to sleep. And I didn't want you to be alone when you came down here to do your baking, not until we know who threw that brick and why."

Mel leaned into him and Joe wrapped her in a hug. It was the first time her world felt right all night, and she hugged him tight, grateful that she had this man who knew her better than any other in her life.

It was Joe, always Joe. He was the one she wanted to bake cupcakes with in the middle of the night and raise Captain Jack with and spend the rest of her life with. Why had she been so afraid of saying yes to him, to them?

She leaned back and studied his face in the faint overhead light that illuminated the back door to the bakery. She couldn't read the expression on his face and she wondered what he was thinking. She waited for him to ask her to marry him again, as he had every time they were alone over the past few months, but to her surprise, he planted a kiss on her head and stepped away.

"So, what are we baking tonight?" he asked.

"A variety of things," she said. She kept her tone light. "You will not believe some of these concoctions."

She led the way to the back door and unlocked it. As she pushed it open and turned on the lights, she tried to tell herself it was okay if Joe had given up on marrying her. She certainly hadn't given him any reason not to. Still, it was bittersweet to realize that she had finally succeeded in pushing him away. Then again, he was here.

He stood by the table, reading the recipes she had left laid out on the surface. A small smile lifted his lips as he read the ingredients while his dark brown hair flopped over his forehead. Mel moved to stand beside him. She leaned into his side and slipped her arm around his waist.

Automatically, Joe put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close while he read. His hand ran up and down her arm as if reassuring himself that she was here. It was the smallest of gestures, but like the beat of a butterfly's wings causing a tsunami across the globe, Mel felt its impact. The fear that she would never again hear Joe tell her that he loved her suddenly seemed much larger than the fear that he might one day leave her either by choice or by circumstance.

It hit Mel hard, the realization of how much she truly loved this man. If two people could be two halves of a whole, than Joe was her other half. And now, she just needed to be brave enough to commit to him, to them, to a life together full of all the stomach-dropping downs and heart-lifting highs. Surely she could do that, right?

"Oh, that is just disgusting!" Joe wrinkled his nose and puckered his lips.

"What?" Mel asked, worried that he'd somehow been in her head, reading her thoughts and was appalled.

"These girls may ruin cupcakes for me forever," he said.

Mel glanced at the recipe he pointed to, which used a highly caffeinated lemon-lime soda as its main ingredient.

"Oh, yeah," she sighed with relief. "You may want to steer clear of taste-testing these.

"Hey, are you all right?" he asked. He studied her face with a frown.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. She forced a smile to reas-sure him.

"All right then, let's get to work," he said.

He went over to the sink to scrub up and Mel sighed. The opportunity to tell him about her epiphany slipped through her fingers like melted butter and she didn't know how to snatch it back.

She crossed to the pantry and started to gather ingredients. Probably confessions of undying love were better saved for the morning. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass containers where she stored some of her dry ingredients. Good grief, she had a case of bed head going that made her look as if she had been electrocuted.

Yes, definitely, confessions of undying love could wait until she had combed her hair, and brushing her teeth might be advisable as well.

Mel and Joe spent the next two hours baking. They talked about nothing of substance but instead made each other laugh as they discussed their families, their friends, and the crazy people at the pageant. As if by mutual agreement, they didn't discuss Mariel's murder, Lupe's shot at winning the pageant, or who might have smashed in the bakery window.

When the only task left was frosting the cupcakes, they decided to call it a night. Joe walked her to her door and kissed her forehead. Mel thought about dragging him into her apartment by his shirtfront, but then she yawned. Big romance was just going to have to wait until she had a comb and a nap.

Joe was at the bottom of the stairs and headed for the narrow alley that would take him to his parked car when Mel leaned over the railing of her small balcony and shouted his name.

"Hey, Joe!" she cried.

He stopped and turned to look up at her. "What is it, Cupcake?"

Mel smiled at the nickname. "You know I love you, right?"

He returned her smile, but in the dim light, his smile looked a little sad. "Yeah, I know."

He waved and Mel watched him disappear around the corner of the building. This felt like one of the stomach-dropping lows she'd been so afraid of. She didn't like it. In fact, if this was what life was going to feel like without Joe in it, she was firmly opposed to it.

Mel climbed back into her futon. Captain Jack opened one eye, looked at her, and then turned his back on her. Probably he was miffed that Joe wasn't here, too.

"I'm working on it," she said. Jack ignored her and she supposed it was no more than she deserved.

A coffee cup being plunked down on the table beside Mel's head awoke her the next morning. Joyce was sitting in the chair beside her futon with Captain Jack in her lap. He was purring as loud as a V-8 engine while Joyce scratched under his chin.

"What time is it?" Mel asked as she wrestled her way out from under the covers to sit up.

"Well, I thought it was time to bake cupcakes," Joyce said. "But it looks as if someone had a busy night."

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," Mel said.