We’re havin’ fun here, we like it here. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You’ll see me now and I’ll talk to your father later about who he allows to spend time with his children,” Olivia retorted.

Joel stared at her and I saw him battling, my heart went out to him but I was completely at a loss of what to do. He needed his father but his father was working, my phone was in the back and I didn’t want to leave the boys with Olivia to go get it and call him. And if I did and he knew this was happening, he’d lose his mind.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Laura’s phone was in her purse and she started digging into it.

Joel spoke again, quiet, soft, scared but determined. “We don’t wanna see you now.”


Oh man.

“Well I don’t care, I’m your mother and you mind me,” Olivia shot back.

“We’re havin’ fun,” Joel told her.

“I don’t care about that either,” Olivia returned.

“I know,” Joel whispered, my heart clenched and I’d had enough.

But even so, I couldn’t do what I wanted to do which was, I was ashamed to admit, get in a bitch-slapping fight with her. I didn’t think that would be good although it would feel good.

So instead, I had to try and play it cool, for Joey, for Rex and for Brock.

“Please,” I said softly, “can we talk about this in the back?”

Joel ignored me and told his mother, “You need to go.”

She blinked, her shock apparent, then she asked, “What?”

He didn’t answer his mother. He turned to his brother and ordered, “Go to the back with Kalie and Kellie.”

I noticed then that Rex was watching this with wide eyes and he wasn’t about to move but he wasn’t given a choice. Kalie rushed forward, bent to grab his hand and gently pulled him through the swinging doors, Kellie following them.

Okay, one down, one to go.

“Joel, honey, why don’t you go with them?” I suggested.

Joel turned to me, shook his head then his eyes went back to his tight-lipped mother and he repeated, “You need to go.”

“I’ll say it one more time, Joel, go get your brother, get your coats and come with me.”

“No,” Joel replied instantly.

“Slim?” Laura said and all eyes moved to her. “I’m sorry, I know you’re busy but I have to tell you that Olivia is at Tess’s bakery, she’s making a scene and she put her hands on Joey.”

Oh no.

That was the wrong thing to say. Not that it wasn’t true or that there were any right things to say but that was the wrong thing to say.

Laura kept talking. “He rightly refuses to go, they’re in a showdown and all five hundred of Tess’s customers are bystanders. She won’t leave even though Joey has asked her to and she won’t go to the back to discuss the situation even though Tess has asked her to repeatedly. I’m sorry, Slim, but I think you’re gonna have to deal with this.”

To my shock, Olivia haughtily held out her hand to Laura and demanded, “Let me talk to him.”

But Laura snapped shut her phone and informed Olivia, “Too late, he’s angry, he’s hung up and I’m guessing he’s on his way.”

Oh no!

Time for emergency maneuvering. I didn’t need Brock to show being pissed off and filling my magical, happy bakery with his pissed off vibes or him entering the showdown with Olivia considering he didn’t shy away from the f-word either, or the c-word, m-word, b-word, a-word and a variety of other words. Things were crazy busy but I didn’t need my customers avoiding Tessa’s Cakes for fear of witnessing a tense, combative, foul-mouthed domestic scene. Or, as the case was, a worse one.

“I think,” I said quietly, “it might be a good idea if you aren’t here when Brock shows.”

“And I think it might be a good idea for you not to tell me what to do,” Olivia retorted.

I studied her, my heart beating hard.

Then I realized she was going to have her scene no matter what, she wanted it and she was going to have it especially considering now that scene earned her Brock’s attention which was what she wanted most of all.

So I shrugged.


My customers were just going to have to deal and I’d barricade myself, the boys, Ellie and her little mermaids and my staff in my office if it was going to be a blowout.

Then I said, “Suit yourself.”

Then I turned to Joel and ordered gently, “Sort out Ellie and her friends, yeah? Then go in the back with your brother and wait for your Dad. You cool with that?”

He looked up at me, nodded, his eyes moved through his mother then he dashed into the back to get the orders from Rex.

I looked to Laura, ignoring Olivia who had dropped her bags at her feet, crossed her arms on her chest, hitched her hip with a foot out and had a face like thunder.

I was right. She was in for the long haul.

Whatever. Her funeral.

So I told Laura, “I’ll get you a coffee. How do you take it and do you want a cake?”

Laura fell into the ignoring Olivia tactic, placed her order then went to her daughter and her girlfriends.

I made her coffee and got her a humongous chocolate cookie with peanut butter chips. Joel took care of the girls and disappeared in the back. Through all this, Olivia stood in her bitch stance, glowering at us.

I was delivering Laura’s stuff at her table when two uniformed officers walked in.

Olivia tensed. Laura grinned. I stared.

“We’ve had a report of a disturbance?” one of the officers asked the room at large then his eyes honed in on Olivia. “A blonde woman. Late forties?”

“Late forties, hysterical,” Laura mumbled gleefully.

“Her,” a random customer pointed at Olivia before I could say a word. “She came in being loud and nasty, used foul language and wouldn’t leave when she was asked, like seven thousand times.”

“Yeah, it was her,” another random customer unnecessarily confirmed. “And she did all this in front of little kids.” Then she added further unnecessary detail, “Kids in mermaid outfits.”

“And she put her hand on one and not in a nice way,” another random customer added.

“From what I could tell, he was her son but still. That ain’t right.” Then he went on to mutter,

“Though, he wasn’t in a mermaid outfit.”

“You come into a bakery thinkin’ to get a good cookie or a purple cupcake with sprinkles,” another random customer piped up. “Then, all of a sudden, some uppity chick storms in droppin’ the f-bomb and the b-bomb. I mean, what is up with that? ”

Clearly this was enough evidence for them for, after receiving these reports, one of the officers opened the front door and, eyes on Olivia, he requested, “Ma’am can you come with me?”

Her jaw set, her chin lifted and her eyes narrowed but otherwise she didn’t move. This was surprising evidence that she was stubborn and stupid as well as manipulative and a screaming bitch.

I had not been in trouble with the law, as in ever, except, of course, when Damian dragged me into his business but I was an innocent swept up in that, so I didn’t really have any experience with dealing with police officers. But still, I was smart enough to know when a cop asked you to do something, he did it politely or even if he didn’t, you should probably do it.

I found in short order I was not in error and I knew this when the officer explained things further. “If you’re waitin’ for Detective Lucas, he’s tied up and we can’t have you disturbin’

this establishment so you got two choices. You can come outside and talk to us or we can take you to our squad car, take you to the Station and you can explain things there. But you should know, the second option, you’ll be cuffed mostly because you’ll be arrested. Which way we gonna go?”

Olivia sucked in an audible breath.

Then she bent, snatched up her abundance of glossy Cherry Creek North shopping bags, stomped to and through the door.

The minute her feet moved over the threshold, the entire bakery erupted into loud cheers.

I bit my lip to bite back my smile and looked at a smiling like a madwoman Laura. Then her phone rang as one of the officers followed Olivia and the other one came to me.

“I’m Officer Petri,” he told me.

“Tess O’Hara,” I told him. “I, um…” I swung an arm toward the big sign confirming my next statement, “own this place.”

He nodded, his lips twitching then he said, “I know. I know Slim so I know who you are.

What I gotta know now is what you want us to do here, Ms. O’Hara.”

I opened my mouth to tell him I just wanted Olivia gone but suddenly Laura was there, arm extended, phone in hand.

I looked to her and she said, “Slim.”

Great.

I nodded, smiled a “give me a minute” smile at the officer, took the phone, pulled in a calming breath, put it to my ear and greeted with a soft, “Hey.”

“Make a complaint,” he growled at the same time he managed a new feat and that was filling the atmosphere with abrasive anger and he wasn’t even there.

“Honey,” I said quietly.

“Make a complaint, Tess. I want this shit on record.”

Oh. Right. That would probably be good for the cause.

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Too pissed right now to discuss this, we’ll talk about it later.”

Goodie. Something not to look forward to.

“Okay,” I repeated.

“Later, babe,” then he was gone which meant he was pissed, very pissed but I didn’t need that confirmed. I was pretty sure a layer of skin had been sanded off my ear from just having a twenty second conversation with him on the phone.

I snapped the phone shut, handed it to Laura and said to Officer Petri. “I’d like to make a complaint.”

“Dig it,” Laura muttered happily under her breath.

“It okay I talk to some of your customers?” Officer Petri asked and it wasn’t, I didn’t like that at all but they’d witnessed Olivia being Olivia, they showed they didn’t mind speaking up and their statements might help Brock get his sons with him and safe from anymore of these nightmares.

Therefore I said, “Yes.”

He nodded then told me, “I’ll come to you last, gotta get to ‘em before I lose ‘em.”

I nodded.

He moved.

I looked to Laura.

“Happy days,” she whispered gleefully. “That bitch is finally gonna get what’s coming to her.”

Indeed.

“I need to go see Joey and Rex,” I told her and her eyes slid to the swinging doors and they weren’t dancing anymore when they slid back to me.

“Yeah,” she replied. “Send Kalie or Kellie out to look after the girls and I’ll help.”

I nodded, whispered, “Thanks,” then moved.


I hit the back room and found with the boys that there were no tears but there was fear.

Luckily, we were in a bakery and surrounded by baked goods.

And baked goods soothed a lot of ragged emotions.

It was a Band-Aid.

But it worked in a pinch.

* * * * *

The cops were gone, Laura and the girls were gone and the boys were back to KP duties, albeit doing it with far less enthusiasm and this was because their minds were filled with their mother’s antics but also because wiping down tables and cleaning dishes had lost its luster (as it had a tendency to do, no matter what age you were) and I was in the back, icing sugar cookies when my phone on the stainless steel table rang.

The display said “Slim Calling”.

I pulled in breath, my eyes moving to the swinging doors to see if I could spot Joel or Rex and do a visual check on their state of mind as I reached for the phone. I took the call and didn’t see either before I put it to my ear.

“Hey,” I answered.

“Boys okay?” he asked as greeting.

“The bloom has gone off the rose of KP duty.”

“Right,” he muttered and I knew he got what I was saying. Then he told me, “Levi was at the gym when I called earlier. I finally got him and he and Lenore are gonna be around in the next half an hour. They’re gonna take them to a movie and then to get somethin’ to eat. I should be done by then so I can get ‘em and then they’ll be good.”

There it was. Lenore again. Hmm.

“Lenore?” I asked curiously.

“Babe,” Brock answered, not going to go there.

“All right,” I murmured, giving up.

“Laura called me and filled me in,” he informed me, I held my breath and he went on. “I called my lawyer at home and filled him in. She put her hand on Joel. He’s gonna go with that and see if he can find a judge who’ll hurry this shit along. She fucked up today. She fucked up two weeks ago when she cried wolf about intruders and the cops got involved. This is not the behavior of a stable woman who can look out for two boys.”