Baby Bundt Cake Confusion (Murder in the Mix Book 31) Unknown (good beach reads .txt) 📖

the week. Since the weather will be warm, we’ve decided to sleep in tents on the beach. It’s going to be a real adventure. And before you ask, we already have a chaperone. Carlotta has volunteered to come along and keep us all in line. All of the other parents already gave their okay. So if you guys say no, I’ll be the only one not going. You don’t want me to be an outcast, do you? I’ve worked hard all year to make new friends at a brand new school. And if I don’t go, I’ll be shunned for life by the simple fact I won’t understand any of their inside jokes. For all I know, I’ll be the butt of their jokes. Could you live with yourself if that happened to me?”

“Yes,” Everett doesn’t miss a parental beat.

“Dad said yes!” Evie jumps up and snatches both Pancake and Waffles off the ground and proceeds to hop from leg to leg while shouting the words I’m going to Cabo, baby over and over again.

“Evie?” Everett growls. “I didn’t say yes to Cabo.”

“Yes, you did!” Evie’s demeanor shifts on a dime. “You said yes. Everyone in this room heard you say that word.” She pauses to assess us, looking for the weak link no doubt. And oddly, she’s not even considering Carlotta. Most likely because she’s already infiltrated her weak will. “Uncle Noah, didn’t Dad just say yes?”

Noah winces. “Technically, he did, but—”

“But nothing.” Evie glares over at both Everett and me. “I have your word, Judge Baxter, and that’s as good as a legally binding agreement.”

Everett’s lips twitch, and I can tell he’s wrestling with a smile. It pleases him when Evie tries to toss around a little legal prowess even if it is on the edge of the law.

“Evie”—he starts—“I appreciate the fact you’re seeing this from a legal perspective; therefore, I expect you to appreciate that you are my ward until you are eighteen and what I say goes. Your mother is having a baby. Not only do I want you here to experience that with us, but I don’t want to have to worry about you while you’re on a beach with a bunch of teenagers.”

“Didn’t you hear her?” Carlotta harps. “I’ll be right there with her, Sexy.”

“Yeah!” Evie’s tone picks up in both volume and aggression. “And what am I supposed to do here, anyway? Pull that kid out of Mom’s hind end? All I’m going to do is stare at the baby. And I can do plenty of that when I get back. Unless you’re planning on utilizing me as your chief diaper changer, bottle feeder, and puke picker-upper. And if that’s the case, you’ve got another thing coming. I’m not the one having the baby. Please don’t stand in the way of me and some warm water and sand!”

“Same for me, Sexy.” Carlotta gets that ornery look in her eyes that ironically I’ve seen in my own eyes on occasion just before I’m about to blow a defiant fuse. “Please don’t stand in the way of me and some warm water and sand. Think of all the perks for yourself in this equation. With Evie and me out of the house, the three of you can bond with your new little one. How about this? The three of you can prance around naked and there won’t be anyone here to judge you. But if you decide to go that route, set up that fancy nanny cam you got at the baby shower and save the tapes for me to review later.”

“Eww.” Evie tucks the cats’ faces into her sweater in an effort to shelter them from Carlotta in general.

“That’s not happening,” I say to Carlotta first. “And Evie, nobody is going to make you do anything with the baby, I promise. The truth is, even though we trust you completely, we don’t want you to go live on some beach with wild boys, and endless booze, and who knows what.”

Evie’s mouth opens and a croaking sound comes out. “Does that mean you’re saying no to next year, too?”

My own mouth opens and closes. “Probably?”

Lil’ Mama barks up a storm as she floats my way. “No, no, Lottie. That’s not how it’s done. Mrs. Albright always met Jasmine’s demands. It was yes to everything. That was her way. And look how Jasmine turned out?”

“My point exactly,” I mutter to myself.

A high-pitched wail comes from Evie. “Uncle Noah, you’re not going to sit there and let them shut me down like that, are you? You’re the fun one. You don’t want me missing out on the good time that everyone else is going to have. Surely you have some great memories from your own Spring Break, right?”

A loose grin breaks out on Noah’s face before he can get control over it.

“Look, Evie.” He sighs. “I’m not your parent. It doesn’t matter what I think.”

“It will when I petition to have you as my legal guardian,” she shoots back. “There’s still time. I have three more days to purchase my ticket with the group discount! Let’s go to court tomorrow.”

“Hear that, Foxy?” Carlotta lifts her chin his way. “You’ve got three days to save Lot Lot some serious cash. Who do you think is paying for my ticket? And before you say a word, Lot, it’s not my fault you’ve got the fancy credit card that lets you rack up the air miles. It only makes sense for me to spend money on it. You can think of it as my contribution to the household. You’re welcome.”

“Carlotta, I have enough air miles to fly to the moon. Your contribution in that arena is no longer necessary.” Note to self: remove Carlotta from my credit card. And maybe investigate how she got on it in the first place.

“Evie”—Everett blows out a breath—“I’m sorry. We’re not trying to be tyrants, but you’re not going to Cabo and that’s final.”

“Uncle Noah?” Evie looks his way and she’s pleading with