Page 310 of The Nanny and the Heartthrob

“I can’t believe I wrote that.”

“Landon told me you double-dog dared him to prove he could be the man you deserve,” Babs said and returned the letter to the box.

“I did, but I’m not sure simply making a trip to meet you accomplishes that.”

“What about something like this?” her grandmother said with a coy twist to her lips as she pointed out the window toward a large sign that readDouble-Dog Dare Music Festival.

“What is that?” she asked as the SUV passed the sign and the sun illuminated slices of red boulders jutting out majestically from the earth into the sky.

She knew the location.

She’d drawn and colored red boulders and taped them to her wall.

They sat silently and stared out the window as the SUV headed toward Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

“What’s going on here, Babs?”

“A music festival.”

“I know of every music festival in Colorado. There’s no Double-Dog Dare music festival,” she fired back.

“There is now,” Babs answered as the glimmer in her hazel eyes intensified.

The SUV sailed past packed parking lots surrounding the concert venue, and news vans lined the edges of the lots.

Whatever this Double-Dog Dare event was, it had garnered plenty of attention.

The SUV pulled up behind the stage. She’d never been to this part of the outdoor amphitheater.

It was reserved for performers.

“Here we are,” the driver announced in a thick New York accent.

She stared at the back of the man’s head. Why was his voice familiar?

Before she could get a word out, Babs opened the door. A catchy acoustic tune hung in the air as her grandmother, Schuman, and the driver exited the vehicle. She scrambled out behind them, when Bang Bang Barbie hurried toward them with a tray of bonbons in her hands. The woman had traded her tube top and heels for sneakers and a Cupid Bakery T-shirt.

“Mr. Sweet, we’re running low on sugar cookies, and the glitter bonbons are a huge hit,” the bubbly blonde gushed, then looked her way. “Hi, Harper, try one of my glitter treats.”

“What are you doing here, Barbie?”

“I traded the bang-bang for bake-bake.”

What?

“I hired Barbie,” Schuman explained. “She’s the new head baker at Cupid Bakery’s Baxter Park location.”

Had she fallen through a rip in the time-space continuum and landed in an alternate universe?

Schuman pointed to a white van. “Tanner’s back with more cookies.”

Mr. High AF jumped out of the vehicle. “Hey, Harper, have you tried one of Barbie’s glitter bonbons? They’re the bomb-bomb!”

“Tanner,” Barbie cooed. “Aren’t you the sweetest?”

Were the bonbons Mrs. Sweet had sent over laced with a psychedelic substance?

“I’m not one to turn down a bonbon, but isn’t this the third challenge? Shouldn’t you be with Vance?”

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