Page 5 of Melody’s Little Secret

Melody

“Do you think you could make something, um, sort of colorful like unicorn cupcakes?” The sheepishly asked question came from the sweet woman peeking through the glass display case. Her long brown hair was pulled into a side-ponytail and her friend had braids wrapped around her head like a crown. Their outfits were regular everyday clothing, but their hairstyles made them look like princesses and I was kind of jealous. They looked so happy, and I missed my bestie.

“For a kid, or what?” My question came out snappy due to my current mood, which was less than pleasant. I’d sucked at self-care the night before. Killing a bottle and a half of wine, I’d stayed awake way past a reasonable hour. The woman blinked as if she were trying to hold back tears and her face fell. Instantly regretting my tone, I forced myself to pause and take a deep breath as I pinched the web of my left hand hard and focused. It wasn’t their fault I was overtired, lonely, and a little hung over.When’s the last time I ate?

“No, for like us.” Her friend beamed at me, ignoring my attitude.

“I can make unicorns.” I returned the smile. “What colors do you like?”

The first woman straightened to her full height and shook her head. “This was a silly idea.”

“I’m really sorry. I had a rough night, but I shouldn’t have snapped at you,” I confessed. “How about if I make a sample unicorn? If it’s everything you hoped for in a cupcake, then please order as many as you would like, otherwise you can, um, throw it in my face,” I shrugged, blurting out the first thing that came to my mind.

Her eyes grew wide. “You-you want me to throw a cupcake at you?”

“I don’t think you’ll want to, because I make the best cupcakes ever.” All three of us giggled, and I hoped they would forgive me. Rounding the counter, I held out my hand to the brunette and she shook it.

“I’m Melody,” I introduced myself.

“I’m Kelsey, and this is my best friend, Amanda.”

Amanda nodded at me as she was holding a pizza box. “Bosco told us to stop by the next time we came to the restaurant, so we did, and now I want one of everything, but not sure that would fly with Daddy.”

“You know Bosco?” My voice went up by two octaves on his name. I cleared my throat. The memory of meeting him had played on repeat in my head the last couple of days. I still hadn’t figured out what to put on the sample platter he’d ordered. I really needed to sit down and sort that out.

“Uh-huh. Topping Masters is our favorite pizza place!” Amanda gushed. “Bosco gives us extra garlic knots for free.”

“He only gives us extra because Seth takes care of his puppy,” Kelsey stated matter-of-factly.

“My husband, Seth, is the local vet with his brother, Nathan, whom Kels has a crush on,” Amanda said.

“Hey!” Kelsey elbowed her.

“What, it’s true, you do!” Amanda seemed unfazed by the scowl she was getting from her friend and my heart clenched. I really needed my bestie here. “Anyway, are you okay? You sort of look like you could use somebody to talk to.”

“My best friend, Laney, called me last night.” I almost opened up about all the crap she was going through but it wasn’t my story to share, especially with girls I just met even though they seemed like people Laney and I could totally hang out with. “Some really awful things happened to her, so I told her to come live with me cuz of all the bad stuff in her life plus I miss her like crazy. She’s on the West Coast, so I stayed up way later than I should have, but like I said, I miss her.”

“Hopevale is the best place ever to start over! I moved here three years ago. People are really accepting here, of um, all kinds of people.” Kelsey shifted slightly, tugging on the small flower charm dangling from her necklace.

I regarded the two of them as Kelsey spoke. Had Amanda mentioned a Daddy or was my overactive imagination playing tricks on me? What did Kelsey mean by people being accepting? “I’ve been sorta hiding out. I’m super busy so it’s almost impossible to get out and I don’t make friends easily.” My gaze darted back and forth between the two of them. For the first time, I noticed that Kelsey was wearing glitter on her eyelids. The rest of her make-up was natural which accentuated the choice. “I like the glitter on your eyes. It looks very pretty.”

“Thanks very much. I, um, like sparkly makeup.”

“We like lots of sparkly things,” Amanda added.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t my imagination. My spidey senses were in overdrive. They were totally acting a lot like how me and Laney acted when we were Littleing out together at home.

“Do you have a form or something you want us to fill out?” Amanda smiled brightly. “We’d love to have a bunch of unicorn cupcakes, but we don’t want them delivered. We’ll just pick them up.”

“Seth would confiscate them if they came to the house,” Kelsey said, with a pout. “We also can’t have them at the clinic or Nathan will keep them away from us.”

“Big sticks in the mud. One cupcake each day for like four days isn’t a lot,” Amanda insisted with an eyeroll.

“What’s so wrong about a couple of cupcakes? It’s not like you’ll get a spanking if you eat too many treats!” I laughed off my comment, but my hypothesis was confirmed when both women exchanged glances and then gulped.

We all took turns staring at each other for a moment. I wanted to ask questions and tell them I understood, but I was scared that my assumption was way off, and I was going to out myself to strangers who wouldn’t get it. Even though I really, really thought they’d get it.

“Seth is sort of strict about sweets.” Kelsey’s eyes darted to her friend. “But if he doesn’t know–”

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