Page 39 of Bear in a Bakery
Chapter Thirteen
“I’m putting an endto this right now.”
Ben waved a spatula at Allie, his jaw set hard. She’d never seen her dad look so stern. Since she’d filled him in on Marybeth’s ridiculous threat, he’d gone from a passive, easy-going retired schoolteacher to an alpha dad who was about to go ballistic for the first time in life.
“I should have put my foot down with that woman two years ago. This is partly my fault.”
Allie blew a piece of hair from her eyes and grabbed another tray of cupcakes from the oven. She and Becks had been working on MB’s cupcakes. There were so many that every available countertop space was covered with them. Next, they’d fill and frost them all by hand, box them up and pop them into the cooler.
Tomorrow, Allie would spend most of the day preparing Dax’s order and then she’d be done with this madness.
“MB’s raging psychosis is not your fault in any way, dad.”
Becks interjected with mock surprise. “She’s also not a loyal customer. She looked pretty cozy sitting in front of the fireplace in Bella Blu’s yesterday.”
“Oh really? And just what wereyoudoing in Bella Blu’s yesterday?”
Becks licked frosting off her finger. “Getting a cup of coffee. Their dark roast is so much better than ours.” She snagged a finished cupcake and set it by itself on the edge of the counter. “That’s mine. No touchy.”
Allie couldn’t help but laugh. “Noted.”
Becks looked up, her entire body going still. “What’s... that noise?”
Allie and her father stopped what they were doing to listen. At first, all Allie heard was the soft rush of the fans above the ovens. Then a faint scratching sound came through.
“What is that?” She looked at her dad who held up his pink oven-mitted hands and shrugged. The sound became louder.
Becks moved around her workstation and put an ear to the wall. “It’s coming from inside.”
She tapped on the wall with her fist and the sound scattered in different directions. Something squeaked. Becks drew back and whipped Allie a look.
“You have mice.”
Allie threw down the empty pan she was holding and rushed over to the wall. The sound came together again, going up... up... up. They looked to the ceiling. A gaping hole looked back at them from the still-missing tiles.
Three little heads peeked over the edge, beady eyes staring down at them.
Allie screamed. Becks almost plowed her over as she skittered away, doing the eeby-jeeby dance.
“Dad, I have mice!”
