19. Lottie
LOTTIE
S helly Everly pulls her wool coat, the color of oxblood, tight around her waist here inside the Parisian Kiss Patisserie booth as the Love-is-in-the-Air Valentine’s Festival rages around us.
The booth is elegant, bathed in pink with a sea of twinkle lights overhead, and there are enough sweet treats to outfit all of France.
“You know, I was close to Romeo once,” Shelly confesses. “I only knew Juliette through him. But they seemed so very happy together.” She frowns at the thought.
“I sensed that, too,” I say with a nod. “They made it very obvious that night.”
Sweetheart grunts, “Never mind those lovesick fools. Get on with it, Lottie.”
I lean toward Shelly. “You know, I think Venus mentioned something about you working for him—something about fixing all of his problems?”
She laughs. “Something like that. Romeo and I worked together for the first three years of the company. And I certainly did more than put out a few fires. I had a hand in everything. That’s before Juliette stepped onto the scene.”
“Three years?” I inch back. “I don’t know why I thought Juliette was there from its inception.”
“That would have been me.” She offers a bleak smile. “And did Venus perhaps detail any of her own involvement with the infamous duo?”
I take a step back as I rack my brain. “No, actually.”
“She wouldn’t.” Shelly stabs at her toffee pudding as if making a point. “Romeo and Juliette had just gotten the ball rolling in a lawsuit against Venus.”
“A lawsuit?” I give a few rapid blinks, trying to absorb this gigantic fact that Venus seems to have left out of the conversation. “Wait a minute. Did Venus know about this?”
Shelly nods. “She was telling me all about the cease and desist letter she received a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, she was going to fight it.”
“Cease and desist at what?” Carlotta asks. “Don’t tell me they were going to try to stop her from making all of those magical cakes.” She turns my way. “I had a chance to sample them all.”
I gasp at the thought. Note to self: figure out how to moonlight as a food critic—or more to the point, a foodie freeloader.
“What was this lawsuit about?” I practically demand as I shovel a bite of sticky toffee pudding into my mouth and nearly melt into a puddle of toffee ooey-gooey goodness.
Shelly’s lips twist for a moment. “They called her a cheater brand—you know, someone trying to ride on the coattails of a bigger name. And beyond that, they were claiming she was stealing some of their recipes, too. It was getting nasty.”
“A cheater brand?” Carlotta jumps in, barely containing her glee. “Sort of like when that ‘Royal Flush’ plumbing company popped up right after ‘King’s Throne Plumbers’? Or, my personal favorite, when ‘Squirts & Spouts Master’ tried to outdo ‘Flush Masters’?” She laughs, clearly tickled with herself.
“Real subtle, Carlotta,” I mutter to myself.
“That’s exactly it.” Shelly points with her fork. “Romeo and Juliette’s company was called Cupid’s Confections and they had an entire menu devoted to couples. And well, Venus’ establishment is called Cupid’s Sweet Concoctions, and she, too, has an entire menu for couples. It’s called the Lovebirds Specials.”
Drats, I must have missed that. I would so love to see what Venus has lined up for couples.
And why haven’t I thought of this? A cake mix kit that couples can put together themselves? I bet Everett would love to bake a cake with me. Noah, too, come to think of it. And in both scenarios, I can picture those boys getting very, very naughty while doing so. I could make a mountain of money—and perhaps inadvertently create a baby boom in Vermont.
I’m suddenly hungry for cake. And Everett. And maybe a side of Noah.
Darn hormones.
“Interesting,” I say to Shelly. “Do you know anything about Caudwell Belding and his business dealings with Romeo? Venus mentioned they might have had some sort of arrangement.”
“Boy, wasn’t Venus the songbird today?” she muses as her smile turns into a full-blown wicked grin. “So you know about the gambling, too, huh?” She leans in a little closer. “Caudwell has a serious addiction to anything that requires a bet. He was in deep with Romeo—real deep with the money he borrowed. Romeo had him by the throat. Word is, Caudwell is desperate. He might’ve been willing to do just about anything to get out from under Romeo’s thumb.”
“Anything?” Sweetheart says with a ghostly growl.
“Including murder?” Carlotta bleats. “Some people would do anything to avoid getting stuck in a financial chokehold like that. But then, everyone has their secrets. I bet you’ve got a few yourself, Shady Shelly.”
Again, so subtle.
“Well, that’s certainly enlightening,” I say, while choosing to ignore this biohazard of a bio mother by my side. “Thank you, Shelly. Would you mind if I passed those things along to Detective Noah Fox? He’s my?—”
“He’s one of Lot Lot’s baby daddies,” Carlotta finishes for me. “We’ll know which twin belongs to him when it crawls out clutching a magnifying glass.”
“ Carlotta .” I wrinkle my nose at the woman. “Nobody is crawling out of me.” Then a thought hits me. “Oh, Shelly, you should come to my mother’s B&B on Valentine’s Day at seven. I’m going to have the best of the best my bakery has to offer, and I would love for you to do a write-up if you’re willing. Not only will the B&B play host to that double wedding I was telling you about, but it’s the very place where my first child crawled out of me.” I gasp at my own faux pas and I shoot Carlotta a dirty look for even putting the idea in my very pregnant brain to begin with.
Both women—and one past-her-prime pooch—cackle at the thought.
“You two are a hoot,” Shelly says while slapping her leg. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. In fact, I’ll be there with bells on.”
We part ways and Carlotta and I make quick work of our sticky pudding.
No sooner do we put our forks down than an egregiously loud horn goes off outside, and we rush out to see what the heck is going on.