"Shhh," I said to Broadrick, flopping back to my pillow. "Lainey is about to throw her life away."

LAINEY: I think I might like Detective Anderson. Is that bad?

The entire bakery saw she was falling head over heels for the stickler cop. She'd finally jumped on the wagon.

I typed my response quickly and continued to laugh to myself. Mostly.

VONNIE: Super bad.

What was she thinking? We had enough bakery girls hooked up with Ridge's SEALs. We couldn't bring the cops into this, too.

Broadrick pulled me back to him and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I snuggled in because in this town you couldn't waste the chance when you had it.

LAINEY: I don't know what to do.

The answer was simple. She needed an intervention and chocolate.

VONNIE: I'll be right over.

I'd been ready to rip the covers off and jump out of bed when her next text stopped me.

LAINEY: I have a free period at nine. Let's meet in the parking lot.

I dropped the phone to my chest after sending a quick agreement. I forgot about those people who had normal nine-to-five jobs. Or in Lainey's case seven-to-three.

"I have to go," I said into Broadrick's shoulder as I rolled over and curled into it.

He sighed. "I figured."

"You want me to make some breakfast?" I offered him food, but if he said yes, I'd have to get creative on what I made him.

Thankfully, he shook his head. "We finished up late and I drove most of the night to get back. I'm sleeping for another two hours, but I left you something on the table."

He'd already closed his eyes again by the time I gave him a quick peck on the end of his nose. I scooped NB off the end of the bed as I left the room so Broadrick wouldn't have to do it later and put him outside for his morning potty break. Broadrick was all about giving him a morning walk, but I didn't have time. Plus, it was cold out there.

Some of us didn't train in the Artic to learn how to survive winter conditions.

As soon as I had the door open, NB leapt over the threshold and down the short steps to the backyard. He hit the ground at a full run and dashed through the small bits of snow left in the yard. Soon it would be a mud pit back there and one of us would have to learn how to give a dog a bath.

"Not it," I said to myself and stuck my finger on my nose. Broadrick was in the house, so it counted.

On my way back to the bedroom to get dressed, my gaze scanned the kitchen table. In the middle sat a big paper bag from one of my favorite stores. I squealed and did a small jump since no one but me saw it.

He went to the Sea Bags store? How dare he shop there without me? At least he brought me something back... I suppose.

I hesitated by the bag, pulling it close to me. It had some weight on it. My heart rate kicked up in anticipation. A good person would wait until Broadrick woke up to open the bag. A bad person would wake him up to open his gift right now.

So, what did I do?

Since I fell somewhere in the middle, I decided to open the gift now without waking him up.

NB scratched at the door and I hurried to let him in before returning to the table and peeking inside the bag. Not everyone understood our town's obsession with the Maine-made beach bags created from recycled sails. They were everyone's favorite, and with summer just around the corner, there'd be a parade of them lining the rocky beach coast of Pelican Bay in the warm weather.

I gasped and pulled back. "He got the big one."

NB checked out his food dish and then came to sit beside me. Probably to tell me the bowl was empty. He whined as I stuck my hand in the bag and pulled out a white tote bag with a big black dog print on the bottom corner.

"Look how cute it is," I said to NB as I showed him the bag.

He tipped his head but otherwise didn't care. No appreciation for the good stuff.

I jiggled the bag. "Fine, you'll like these more."

His face lit up-yes, dog's faces can light up-as I pulled out the bag of gourmet treats. Broadrick really had some free time in Portland. I tossed NB two and filled up his food bowl before getting dressed quickly in a pair of jeans and a dark purple sweater.

I stopped to smile at Broadrick as he slept on the bed with his head smothered in the pillow. His breaths were deep, so I decided not to disturb him and give him a proper thank you for the gift later.

I had just enough time to make a quick stop at the bakery for added incentive to use with Lainey.

Rule 7: Always bring treats when discussing men. It wasn't a PI rule, but a living in Pelican Bay general guideline.

Food worked as a pleasant distraction.

Tabitha had her brown hair tied up in a top bun as she took orders at the counter. The line at the bakery stretched out until almost the street with people huddled on the inside of the pink-walled business to stay warm.

"You're swamped," I said, stating the obvious as I walked in through the kitchen entrance. "Want some help?"

"Please," Tabitha begged from the register, not even turning around to say hello. That's how you knew it was crazy. "I need three black coffees and a hot chocolate."

I didn't bother putting on one of the bakery's signature pink aprons and got to work pouring the drinks. The hot chocolate bubbled over as I stirred in the packet and splashed on the edge of my sweater.

"Dang it." I wrung out the end of my sleeve the best I could and passed the drink over to the person waiting for it on the other side of the register.

"Thanks."

"Have a great day," I said, staring at my sweater rather than them. I didn't have time to return home and change, so I hoped it didn't leave a weird colored spot when it dried.

"Can you grab me a chocolate muffin, too, please," Tabitha asked as she punched in numbers for the last person in line. With both of us working, we'd gone through the people quickly, but my time to help her was running thin.

"Right," I jogged over to the display case in two seconds since they weren't far apart and bagged up a chocolate muffin.

Not many were left, and I didn't want Tabitha to run out of stock before the morning run ended. But I still needed something chocolate to use when I met Lainey. A regular muffin would not do in this dire situation.

I bagged two chocolate cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting as the first whiffs of fresh-baked cookies came from the kitchen. Anessa was prepping for the afternoon rush already. I had to get out before more people showed up.

I tossed a five at Tabitha and waved my bag at her as I walked through the kitchen, barely stopping to give Anessa a hello and goodbye. My meeting with Lainey was only five minutes away. Thankfully, the school parking lot was only a three-minute drive down Main Street.

My day was already stacking up with things to do. I had to meet Lainey and sort out this Anderson nonsense. Then I had to figure out a way to track down Trish away from the diner and assault her-in a nice way-with my questions about the shooting. I'd let her go for too long and now needed to figure out how she fit into this equation because on paper her numbers did not zero out. Trish was hiding something. I still didn't think she was my shooter, but if she had a dark side, I'd find it.

Lainey was leaning against her car at the front of the parking lot, and I stopped two spaces away from her. She walked over to Rachel, holding a blue notebook in one hand and clutching her coat closed with the other.

I turned up the heat for her. "Sorry, I'm a little late," I said, even though the car clock said 9:01, and that was practically early in my book.

"It's fine." She shut her door and tossed the notebook on my dash. "I came out early to grab my book for fifth period."

I shivered at the memories of my fifth periods spent in the building. A lot of traumas were still wrapped up in the parking lot.

To move past the memories, I opened the bakery bag and passed Lainey a cupcake. "Here, eat this to feel better."

"I feel fine," Lainey said but accepted the dessert.

I nodded, unwrapping mine. "Eat it for me so I feel better."

She looked at the item, turning it in her hand. "I feel guilty if I eat this before lunch."

Lainey had a lot to learn about living in Pelican Bay. "Don't. It's basically a muffin."

Her nose crinkled as she sniffed it. "It doesn't smell like a muffin."

"Seriously, look at the ingredient list. It's an afternoon muffin." I bit into the delicious cake and moaned. Anessa had to be putting drugs into her chocolate recipe.

"It has frosting," Lainey said, lifting an eyebrow.

"Enhanced toppings." If she argued too much more, I'd have to eat the afternoon muffin for her. We couldn't let it go to waste.

"Okay, I'll eat it while you tell me what's wrong with Detective Anderson. Is he really that bad?" She unwrapped one side and used the bottom of the cupcake to wipe some of the top frosting off before plopping it into her mouth. Her eyes closed in pleasure.

I polished mine off, wishing I'd grabbed four. "I'm going to be real with you."

She nodded in acceptance and trust. I hated to do it. The words went against everything I'd said about Anderson for years. Telling the truth to Lainey would be like ripping my brain out and spitting on it. But I owed it to her. Everyone deserved their chance at a happily ever after.

"Anderson is uptight. Like real uptight. A huge rule follower."

Lainey swallowed her second bite. "He's a cop."

"Exactly," I said. Maybe she understood it a little. "But all the uptight rule following cop-ness aside, he's a decent guy. You could do worse."

I couldn't think of anyone worse off the top of my head, but I'm sure they were out there. The prisons were full of criminals who probably sucked at relationships.

"Really?" she asked with a smile.