“Amelia, what were you thinking?” Lila scolded. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?”
“I do now,” she said while mixing light-purple frosting for the lemon-and-lavender cupcakes that were on today’s menu. “Dan is probably going to give me a serious talking to.” Amelia smiled a little. “He worries, and yet he tells me all the gory details of his cases.”
“You are a match made in heaven.” Lila looked at the receipts she was doing at the order window when she stopped. “Uh-oh. Amelia?”
“What is it?”
“John. And he’s not alone. He’s got a pregnant woman with him. I’m assuming it’s Jennifer, but…” Lila pulled her lips down in a frown and shrugged.
“Ah-ha!” Beatrice quipped. “‘Welcome to my parlor,’ said the spider to the fly.”
“Beatrice, would you calm yourself,” Lila whispered.
Amelia relaxed her face and approached the counter as Lila eased back. The red-head was still within hearing distance but completely out of sight. Amelia folded her arms in front of her and leaned a little through the window.
“Hi, Jennifer. John,” Amelia said pleasantly. “You know, Beatrice, my new assistant, said you’d be back for more of her cupcakes. She called it.”
“I’m not here to talk to you about cupcakes, Amelia,” Jennifer said. “Can you come down here so I don’t have to shout?”
“Sure, honey. Just a second.”
Amid Lila’s whispered instructions and Beatrice whispering her plot of revenge, Amelia could only roll her eyes before going out to meet her ex-husband and his pregnant wife in front of the truck. She wiped her hands on her apron just to give them something to do.
“What’s this about?” Amelia looked at John. He stared back smugly.
“Amelia, I heard you had an opinion on John being out with one of his coworkers after work,” Jennifer said, flipping her long hair behind her with an immaculately manicured hand.
Amelia had secretly been hoping Jennifer was one of those women who gained several hundred pounds eating for two and suffered twenty-four-hour morning sickness like Amelia had. But no such luck. Jennifer looked beautiful.
“You heard I had an opinion?” Amelia didn’t want to be mean to the girl. Because that was all she was…a girl married to a man who was as selfish as any two-year-old.
“Yes. John said that he saw you the other night and that you might say something to me about it.”
“So he told you what I saw?”
“Him, out with his coworker. Yes.”
Amelia licked her lips and looked at John. He was puffed out like a prize-winning rooster. She looked at Jennifer and wanted to shake her. Had the poor thing not been so desperate to believe her husband was faithful, Amelia might have just burst out laughing in her face. But this wasn’t funny. John had circled the wagons, and Jennifer was going to stand by him as the arrows flew.
“So?” Amelia asked.
“So, I want to make sure that you don’t go around talking bad about my husband. What he does is none of your business anymore,” Jennifer scolded. “Quite frankly, I think you need to move on, Amelia.” She rubbed her big tummy to drive her point home. “We are very happy and have enough to worry about without the added stress of a gossipy ex-wife.”
There it was. The proof that Jennifer was as young and gullible as Amelia knew she had to be. Sure, Amelia could have reduced the girl to tears by telling her about John and perhaps taken a few jabs at her appearance or IQ level. But what good would that do? Amelia was pretty sure it wouldn’t even make her feel better. It would just make her look like a gossipy ex-wife.
“I haven’t said anything to anyone, Jennifer,” Amelia lied. She had told Lila, Beatrice, and Dan. She hadn’t told the kids, so there was that. “But I’m glad you stopped by to set the record straight.”
She smiled, but Jennifer only glared at her. There was something in that stare that told Amelia Jennifer wasn’t sure she believed the words that came out of her own mouth. It was almost as if she were screaming on the inside for Amelia to confirm her statement and say John obviously hadn’t done anything.
But Amelia couldn’t do that. Not after she’d gone through the same thing. Jennifer needed to know, even if it was just by a look, that her husband had issues with being faithful.
“Since you made the trip all the way out here, why don’t you take some cupcakes home? Today’s special is lemon lavender. They are wonderful. How about it? Half a dozen for you and baby?” Amelia smiled sincerely.
“I don’t want anything from you.” Jennifer scowled. She turned to John, who put his arm around her.
“Argh!” came from deep inside the truck.
Amelia shook her head and watched as John, who hadn’t said a single word during the women’s exchange, walked off whispering to his wife, who nodded, agreeing with whatever it was he said.
Back inside the truck, Amelia asked who had screamed.
“She did.” Lila jerked her thumb at Beatrice.
“It’s okay.” Beatrice inhaled through her nose and exhaled out her mouth. “That one will be back. She’ll be back. They always say no at first, but when a craving for my cupcakes hits her at three in the morning, oh yes, she’ll be back. Even if she has to pay some transient to come buy them for her. Yes. Yes. She’ll be back. They always come back. Always.”
“You scare me, Beatrice. Really, you do,” Lila said.
For the rest of the day, Amelia couldn’t focus on anything but John and Jennifer.
She mumbled to herself as she scrubbed the cupcake tins. She muttered and shook her head as she cleaned the ovens. Long after Beatrice had left, spouting a string of ancient baking curses at anyone who dared defy her cupcakes, Lila and Amelia were still there.
“Would you like me to stay with you?” Lila asked. “I can always find something to do.”
“No. You’ve been great, Lila.” Amelia looked at the receipts and smiled. “If you are cooking the books, they look delicious.”
“Nope. Not even a slight smudging. Those numbers couldn’t be more honest. I wish the IRS would demand to take a look. It would be like a numerical slap in their collective faces.” Lila polished her nails on her shirt.
“I should be more happy, Lila. I should be bouncing off the walls with these numbers, and I can’t. I can’t get John and Jennifer…no, John out of my head. Can you believe what he’s got her saying?”
“Jennifer is a grown woman, barely, but she technically is one. You know as well as I do that there isn’t a soul on this earth that is going to change her mind.”
“I know. But it doesn’t have to be like this. That poor baby.”
“Hey, before you get all weepy, just remember that Jennifer wasn’t stupid when she got involved with a married man. She had her eyes wide open and has found herself a steady stream of income no matter what happens.” Lila grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder. “She’s going to be just fine.”
“You’re probably right. And, like she said, it’s none of my business.”
“No. This is your business.” Lila pointed around the interior of the food truck. “And look at how beautiful it is.”
“Good night, Lila.” Amelia smiled wide.
Lila waved and walked out the back of the bus, leaving Amelia alone.