Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-four

What a low blow from Detective Park, bringing up the second stupidest thing I’d done in my life. It hadn’t gone down the way it seemed, though. I’d seen the police records and they left out some crucial parts of the story.

What had happened was, I’d been helping my then-fiancé, Sam, set up his restaurant. He’d been getting supplies at amazing prices, and when I asked him about it, all he’d say was, “I know a guy.”

It was Chicago—I just kind of assumed everybody knew a guy.

Turned out Sam’s guy wasn’t on the up-and-up and had acquired these supplies in less-than-legal ways. Because I was the one who had signed for the supplies, it was my name on all the documents, and so it was my name that went into the Chicago PD database when the guy finally got caught. The police thought I was involved in some weird restaurant-supply smuggling ring. The only thing that saved me was Sam paying off his connection so that he’d claim I had no idea the goods were illegal—which was true. But Sam was a little rich boy and didn’t want his name to get dragged into the case, so it was easier for him to make me the sacrificial lamb.

The number one stupidest thing I’d ever done in my life? I’d stayed with him after that whole mess. It had taken his cheating for me to finally realize how terrible he was and cut him loose.

Whatever. Forget him and forget Derek and forget Detective Park. He was trying to shake me off the case and I wasn’t going to let him.

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•   •   •I stopped by Janet’s room to check on her, but the cop guarding her room informed me that only family was allowed inside. No exceptions.

I texted Terrence, asking him to get in touch whenever he had a chance. I hoped the hospital had already contacted him because I didn’t want to be the one to break the news about Janet, and we really needed to talk. When he didn’t get back to me right away, I decided to swing by Java Jo’s, hoping to catch Adeena at the end of her shift. The coffee shop was packed and both she and Kevin were in panic mode trying to accommodate the crowd.

“Whoa, what’s going on?” I asked, once I finally got to the front. I’d been waiting in line for almost twenty minutes—most days there wasn’t even a line.

“Remember how Kevin gave me full control of the Sunday menu? Well, I guess our customers really like what I came up with, because it’s been like this all day.” Adeena raised her voice. “Guess he should’ve listened to me when I first asked him about the Sunday specials. Looks like I do know what I’m doing, even without fancy barista training.”

Kevin called out, “Yeah, yeah, we get it. You’re good at this. Now get back to work!”

She laughed, and I stepped aside so she could help the next customer. As she prepared their order, she said over her shoulder, “By the way, your baked goods absolutely flew off the shelves! Luckily, we had some cookie dough and scones in the freezer from last week, but those are almost gone, too. You wouldn’t happen to have more treats you could bring us, would you?”

I laughed, too. Despite all that had just transpired, Adeena’s happiness and excitement were contagious. About time Kevin realized what a treasure she was. Besides, after the stress from everything that had happened earlier, I really wanted to lose myself in some baking.

“I have the dough for ube crinkles and the coconut shortbread crust in my freezer. Can I bake them here? The restaurant kitchen is off-limits and it’s definitely some kind of health code violation if I baked them at home because of Nisa.”

She handed the customer their latte, told them to have a nice day, and immediately began ringing up the next customer. “Yeah, of course. You have full control of our ovens. Not like Kevin ever puts them to good use anyway. Besides, the smell of fresh-baked cookies is sure to draw in more customers.”

I rubbed my hands together. I’d been wanting to play with Kevin’s industrial ovens forever, but he mostly used them to reheat junk he’d bought from the wholesale store. This was going to be fun.

Noticing the look on my face, Adeena giggled and said, “Hey, Kevin! Thank Lila for saving our butts.”

He stuck his tongue out. “I’ll thank her when those cookies are ready and not a moment before. Now let’s switch out. You can make your fancy drinks and I’ll man the register since you can’t seem to stop chatting with our customers.”

Adeena rolled her eyes, but did what he said. I turned to leave, but he stopped me and handed over a coconut milk latte, my lactose intolerant drink of choice and usual order, in a to-go cup. I hadn’t actually ordered anything since, as he’d pointed out, Adeena and I had been too busy chatting, but he said, “It’s on the house. And seriously, thank you. I really appreciate it.”

Kevin may not have been the best businessman—not to mention a pretty horrendous baker—but he was a good guy overall, and he put up with a lot from Adeena and me. Maybe we should cut him some slack.

Once he gave Adeena a huge raise, that is. Then we’d talk.

With the thought of Kevin and his shoddy baked goods still on my mind, I remembered I never got back the signed paperwork for the dentist. Kevin retrieved it from the backroom and I headed over to Dr. Jae’s Dental Clinic.

Not going to lie, I hoped to catch a peek of Jae before I had to run off. I might not have been looking for romance, but I appreciated eye candy as much as the next person. And OK, I’d gotten some interested vibes from him at dinner the other night, but maybe I was reading too much into it? I hadn’t exactly been the best judge of character lately. We were supposed to have dinner again tonight, which would be a great chance to get to know him better. Just a nice, friendly, investigative outing. Right?

As I stood in front of the clinic, overthinking everything as usual, I heard someone clear their throat behind me.

“Lila? Are you waiting for someone?”

I whirled around and looked into Jae’s quizzical (and beautiful) face.

“Oh! Hi, I was just, uh, bringing back the signed paperwork. I was just at the cafe and just remembered I hadn’t returned the paperwork, so I thought I’d just stop by real quick.”

Oh my gulay, Lila, stop saying “just!”I could practically hear Lola Flor admonishing me. “All that time and money for your fancy education, you’d think your vocabulary would’ve improved by now. English isn’t even my first language and I’m practically Shakespeare compared to you.”

OK, that’s not how my grandmother really talks, but I couldn’t help it. In my mind, the voice of criticism always came to me in the voice of Lola Flor. Make of that what you will.

Either he didn’t notice or kindly chose to overlook it. “That’s great. Would you like to come in for a minute? It’s freezing out here.”

It was, in fact, freezing outside. But my face was burning so hot I didn’t notice, and even though all I had wanted earlier was a chance to chat with him, I realized if I stayed around him any longer, I’d probably end up humiliating myself beyond repair.

I thrust the signed paperwork at him. “Actually, I’m in a bit of a hurry. I need to run home and grab my cookie dough since the cafe ran out.”

He laughed. “Another pastry emergency at Java Jo’s? Well, considering their usual offerings, I thank you on behalf of all their customers. I’ll try to stop by in an hour or so. I could use a pick-me-up after my next patient.”

“Cool, see you there!” I scurried over to my car before I could do any more damage, but I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

Maybe this town wasn’t so bad after all.

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•   •   •Over four dozen cookies and several jars of calamansi curd later, the weight of the last few days had lightened considerably, and Adeena and I were ready to call it a day. The cookies had sold out within the first hour, as had the hot chocolate I’d sampled earlier in the week. The chai-spiced coffee had also proved surprisingly popular, despite not being one of Adeena’s more creative offerings. It sure was tasty though. The floral monstrosity, thank goodness, hadn’t made the cut.

We closed up shop a little after six, way later than their usual Sunday hours. Kevin took off his apron. “Great job, you two. We sold out of everything we made, so yes, Adeena, I’m glad you’re in charge of the Sunday menu. Lila, from now on, your drinks are on the house and you have a standing order to bake for us every Sunday. Whatever you want, as much as you want. That cool?”

“Heck yeah, that’s cool. Thanks, Kevin!”

“No man, thank you. Can you two clean up the tables while I take a quick break? I’ll finish closing up once you’re done.”

We nodded as he grabbed his vape pen and headed to the break room.

“I can’t believe we sold out! And so quickly, too. We make a great team, yeah? Together we could give Java Jo’s some real competition.” Adeena freed her waves from the Java Jo’s hat she wore while working (I think one of the reasons we’re so tight is our connection to unflattering baseball caps) and shook it out.

I removed mine as well and loosened my hair from its ponytail. I wasn’t sure how to answer the question Adeena was really asking, so I just said, “Your drinks were fantastic. I’m telling you, that hot chocolate is gold. And even though the spiced latte is a bit basic in concept, it’s like the Desi answer to pumpkin spice lattes. Very cool, very tasty.”

She ran her hand over the shaved side of her head as she mulled that over. “The Desi answer to PSLs . . . I like it! And you’re right, it felt like something was missing, but I think I know what to do. Wish we weren’t all out so I could see if it worked now.”

Jae’s voice rumbled behind me, a not unpleasant tingling spreading throughout my body at the sound. “Oh no, you’re already sold out? I was with a patient and couldn’t break away until now.”

“Jae! I didn’t know you were open on Sundays.” Adeena reached under the counter for a small to-go cup of coffee she’d stashed earlier. “I was saving this for myself but you look like you need it more.”

He grasped the cup, chugging down at least half of it in one swallow. “Oh man, I really did need that.” He grabbed a napkin from the dispenser to wipe his mouth. “And I’m usually not open on Sundays, but my mom convinced me to make an exception for a family friend. And then another family friend called and another . . . and here we are.”

I pulled a baggie of cookies, two of each kind, from my purse and handed them over as well. “I was going to give these to you at dinner, but that’s not for another couple of hours and these are best when fresh. Eat up.”

Jae obediently pulled out an ube crinkle and took a large bite. “Whoa, what is this? It’s delicious!”

“It’s made with ube, a purple yam that we use in tons of desserts in the Philippines. Sorta similar to taro, if you’ve ever had taro boba tea, though not exactly the same,” I explained.

He snapped his fingers. “That’s what it reminded me of! Taro is my favorite flavor of boba tea.” He scarfed down the second ube crinkle. “God, these are good. Do you take personal orders? I think my mom would like them, too.”

Lord, was this guy for real? I thought Amir was the perfect guy (even the fact that he was off-limits made him extra desirable), but he was facing some stiff competition in Dr. Jae Park.

As if sensing my thoughts, my phone rang, and who should it be but Amir?

“Hey, what’s up?” I answered.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Janet?” he demanded.

“Oh shoot. Sorry, I meant to text you, but I got caught up helping your sister at the cafe. How did you hear about it?”

“Never mind that, you need to get home. Now.”

I glanced over at Adeena and Jae, who were clearly listening in. “Why?”

“Marcus called to warn us that Detective Park wants to charge you with Janet’s assault.”

“What?!”

“I know, but he’s wary of all these coincidences happening around you. We need to move fast, Lila. Get over here now.”

Then he hung up on me, leaving me with a half-formed response on my lips and a million questions running through my mind.