"You should have called me," Joyce said. "I'd have come over to help."

Mel leaned back, cradling her cup of coffee. "I had help. Joe was here."

Joyce clasped her hands together and bit her lip but said nothing. Mel knew it was because she was afraid of getting her hopes up.

"He didn't spend the night," Mel said.

"Oh," Joyce said. She unclasped her hands and went back to petting Captain Jack.

"I've been afraid," Mel said.

Joyce didn't look up and meet Mel's gaze; instead she kept petting Captain Jack. Mel thought she heard her mother make a suspicious sniffing sound.

"When your father died, I wasn't sure I could go on," Joyce said. She paused and blew out a breath. "You and your brother were grown, and I didn't think you needed me anymore."

"I'll always need you, Mom," Mel said. Her throat felt tight and her voice came out high and squeaky.

Joyce glanced up and smiled at her. She reached over and smoothed back Mel's hair.

"Thank you," she said. "That's not true, but thank you. I know the loss you felt when your dad died. I felt it, too. At first, I couldn't imagine that I would ever laugh again, or be filled with joy, or look forward to what the next day might bring."

Mel nodded. She had felt the same.

"But then, my grandsons came along, and I could see your dad in them," she said.

Mel laughed. "Yeah, especially when they were bald, chunky babies."

"The similarity was alarming." Joyce laughed, too. "Was it tragic when your father died? Yes. But would my life have been a much bigger tragedy had I not had him in it, even if it wasn't for as long as I wanted? Yes."

Mel met her mother's gaze. Joyce's blue-green hazel eyes, so like her own, were full of warmth and love. Mel reached out and squeezed her mother's hand.

"Thanks, Mom," she said.

"You're welcome," she said. Joyce squeezed her fingers in return. "You and Joe will figure it out. I know you will."

Joyce let go of Mel's hand, then lifted Captain Jack off of her lap and said, "Now get changed and get downstairs. We have cupcakes to decorate and this is Lupe's big day, and I'm trying really hard not to freak out."

"Hey, Mom," Mel called to her mother before she turned away. "Were you disappointed?"

"About you and Joe?" she asked. "Devastated would be more accurate."

"No." Mel shook her head and plucked at the covers in her lap. "About me when I was Lupe's age?"

Joyce frowned and crouched beside the futon. "What are you talking about?"

"I just wondered if maybe you were disappointed that I wasn't, well, thin, pretty, talented, outgoing, you know, basically all of the things mothers are supposed to want in their daughters."

"Oh, heavens, no," Joyce said. Her gaze was so surprised that Mel knew she meant it.

Joyce reached out and took Mel's hand. "The day you were born I fell in love with you. It was such a surprise. I mean I knew I'd love you and your brother, but I didn't know I'd fall in love with you. And that has never changed, ever. I've always thought that my children were the most beautiful, most talented, most amusing people to ever grace the planet, and I felt so lucky every day that I got to be your mom. Except for when you dumped Joe, then I thought you were an idiot."

"Mom," Mel turned it into a three-syllable whine and they both laughed.

Joyce leaned over and kissed Mel's head. "I wouldn't change a thing, not one thing, about you. Not then, not now, and not ever. I love you."

"I love you, too, Mom."

Mel smiled as she watched her mother leave and then rolled to her feet. At least the pageant was over today. Mel was ready to stick a fork in it, she was so over the Sweet Tiara Beauty Pageant. That being said, she really hoped Lupe won. The girl had too much to offer the world not to get a full ride to the university of her choice.

Angie, Mel, and Joyce did the best they could with the cupcake recipes they had been given. As Oz and Tate loaded up the van to take them to the pageant, Mel fretted that she had tried to make the presentation portion of the cupcakes as equal as possible. She didn't want to give anyone an advantage given that there was really nothing to be done about the taste portion. Some of those cupcakes were just going to be toxic no matter how hard she had tried to make them palatable.

"Are we ready?" Angie asked.

"As we'll ever be," Mel said.

They left Marty in charge of the bakery since Oz de-manded to be at the pageant. Tate would do drop-off and then circle back to help Marty, since the window-repair workmen were supposed to be there in the afternoon to fix the front window. Needless to say, one of the DeLaura brothers "knew a guy" and so the repair was progressing much faster than Mel had anticipated.

Joyce had left early to help Lupe get waxed and polished for the evening gown competition later in the day. Ginny had offered up her own personal stylist and Joyce had taken her up on it. Mel did not envy Lupe the morning of primping she was about to endure.

When Mel and Angie arrived at the resort, it was abuzz with contestants and stage mothers. Olivia had arrived before them and the cupcakes she had baked for the contestants were already front and center in the lobby cupcake tower. Mel and Angie set to work unpacking the ones they had baked and arranging them in the spaces Olivia had left open for them.

"Really, Cooper?" Olivia snickered as she stood nearby in her blue chef's coat with her gray corkscrew curls twisted up on her head in a bun. "Is that the best you could do?"

Mel slowly turned to face her. "Are you seriously trash-talking me?"

Olivia nodded and grinned. "I can't help it. It's like old times."

"Intervention," Angie muttered. "I'm just saying."

Mel glanced at the tower and took in the sight of some of Olivia's cupcakes.

"Red Hots?" she asked. "And I thought Pixy Stix were bad."

"Yeah, I had to taste test some of these on my dog," Olivia said in an undertone. "Everyone else refused and even the dog turned his nose up at that one."

Angie opened her mouth to say something that Mel was quite certain should not be said, so she stepped on her foot.

"Ouch!" Angie yelped.

"Oh, so sorry," Mel said. She turned to Olivia, who was watching them with one eyebrow raised. "I'm such a klutz."

"That's okay." Olivia clapped her on the back with enough force that Mel almost went headfirst into the cupcake tower, only the edge of the table stopping her. "Not all of us are talented enough to make something yummy out of something yucky, so no hard feelings when my cupcakes kick your cupcakes right out of the competition."

Mel stepped in front of Angie, whose hands had come together in a strangling motion.

"Agreed, no hard feelings," Mel said. She would maintain the truce they had worked out even if it cost her a bout of indigestion. "You sound pretty sure of yourself."

"I should," Olivia said. "I have a lot riding on this."

"What do you mean?" Mel asked. "We get paid no matter who wins."

Mel watched as Olivia reached up and fiddled with a gray curl that had escaped her topknot.

"Well, since I have Destiny's cupcakes in my portion of the competition, her father has offered me a free eye tuck if they win," she said.

"What?" Mel asked.

"I know, so I really pulled out all the stops on my cupcakes," Olivia said. "Sadly, I don't know which ones are hers, but I glammed the heck out of all of them, so as long as they taste okay, I have a shot at some free nip and tuck."

"He's bribing you with plastic surgery?" Mel asked. "That has to be against the rules."

"Are you going to tell on me?" Olivia asked.

"I should," Mel said.

"No, you shouldn't. Technically, it's not a bribe," Olivia argued. She plunked her hands on her hips and looked Mel up and down. "It's a bonus if my cupcakes win. You're just sore that you didn't get the offer."

"I am not," Mel argued.

"Yes, you-" Olivia began to argue but Mel interrupted.

"Hey, there's a photographer from the Arizona Republic. Probably, they'll want your picture with the cupcakes."

Olivia's face lit up. Mel didn't move until Olivia walked away to greet the media. Then she spun around and saw Angie, holding her hands out, looking like she wanted to choke Olivia.

"Are you crazy? That's Marty's-well, I was going to say 'squeeze,' but that seems bad form. She's his something or other-you can't strangle her."

"But it would feel so good," Angie protested. She grabbed Mel's upper arms and shook her. Her voice took on a pleading tone. "Just one tight squeeze until her head turns bright red and she panics a little and then I swear I'll let go."

"Angie, get a grip. Okay, let me rephrase that," Mel said. "No, absolutely no strangling."

"Do you plan these menace-filled sentences just for my arrival?" a voice asked.

Mel turned to find Manny standing behind her with his arms crossed over his chest. He did not look happy.

Thirty.

"Awkward," Angie said from behind Mel.

"And by strangling, I was referring to a frosting technique where we strangle the pastry bag," Mel said. She mimed piping frosting with an invisible bag and elbowed Angie to do the same.

"See? All perfectly reasonable."

Manny blew out a breath. He looked dubious at best, but he didn't push it.

He looked her over and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Never better," she said. "Well, aside from the exhaustion and throbbing leg."

"Still no idea why anyone would lob a brick through your window?" he asked.

"Nope," she said. "I mean it could be someone's way of complaining about our cake-to-frosting ratio, but I take that very seriously and I really don't think my ratio is brick-throwing worthy."

A small smile played on Manny's lips. "If you think of anything-"

"I'll let you know," she promised.

"Hey." He cupped her chin in his hand and his eyes were serious when they met hers. "Be careful. Stan and I discovered that the sash used to kill Mariel had Lupe's prints on it because she wore that one to a group photo shoot. The sashes were kept in the green room, so anyone had access to them. Whoever strangled Mariel is still at large and we have no idea what their agenda is."

"Noted," she said.

Mel watched him leave and turned back to help Angie unload the last of the cupcakes.

"So, that was nice," Angie said. She gave Mel a sidelong glance and Mel knew she was trying to determine what the status of Mel and Manny's relationship might be without actually asking.

"Yeah, he's a good guy," Mel said. "He'll make someone a fine husband someday." Angie's eyebrows rose up and Mel grinned. "And by 'someone' I do not mean me."

Angie opened her mouth to fire questions at Mel, but Mel held up her hand.

"I need to go talk to Ji, the cosmetic consultant," Mel said. "Olivia gave me an idea and I think Ji might have the answer. I promise I'll be right back."

She left before Angie could respond, but she heard Angie shout, "Fine!" Which, of course, meant it wasn't.

Mel searched the first floor of the resort, looking for the petite Asian woman. There was no sign of her. She was making her third lap when Lydia the hotel manager stopped her.

"Can I help you find something?" she asked.

Mel paused. "I'm looking for Ji Lily."

"The pageant's beauty consultant," Lydia said with a nod. "I just saw her going over someone's foundation."

"Remember where?" Mel asked.

"Follow me," Lydia said. "I think they were in one of the break rooms."

Mel fell into step beside the dark-haired beauty. She wondered how much Lydia knew about the investigation into Mariel's murder.

"Pretty stressful event, huh?" Mel said.

Lydia shrugged. "You wouldn't believe some of the stuff that goes on in hotels. I thought the two o'clock in the morning drunken skinny-dippers were bad, but I'd take them over a murder any day."