Chapter 29

Mila and Landon show up at Mrs. Van Buren's about a half hour after me and Lincoln, something else he arranged—to have Mila come make Mrs. Van Buren some cookies in her own kitchen so we could all be sure they were safe. Mrs. Van Buren is delighted by the impromptu party that Lincoln arranged, and I can't stop staring at him, smitten by the way he loves his people.

It took me by surprise at first, when he confessed not only that he felt the spark that I felt, but that he was in love with me. Head over heels, according to him. Willing to wait forever for me to be ready. But the more I started to realize all the things he's done for me over the last few months, the more it wasn't a surprise at all—and the more it felt like thinking it was possible he might like Astrid was dumb. Suddenly the difference between friendship for him and love was so clear.

Those moments also chased away any doubts I've had about dating someone again. I know Lincoln isn't perfect, but I also know he'll do his best to never hurt me. That's all I can ask.

I get more than a few looks from Mila over the course of the evening. The flirty looks Lincoln gives me back and the way we brush hands whenever possible doesn't help. But there's no time to talk to her with all the cookie making and visiting with Mrs. Van Buren. Mila can only eye me when we all leave, and I walk with Lincoln to his Bronco instead of getting a ride from Mila and Landon, who live much closer to my apartment.

Lincoln comes up to the apartment with me, making himself comfortable on my small sofa while I put Margot to bed, and then we stay up and … mostly talk until Lincoln has to be responsible and go home.

"Are you okay with this? Really okay?" he asks in a soft voice as we stand next to the door.

I press my hands against his chest and look up at him. "I knew there were good guys out there—like Landon and Eli. Even the guys on your team. I can tell they're good too. I just didn't see how it was possible for me to have someone like Landon. But I should have seen all along how different you were from Jack. How I didn't need to be scared of falling in love with you." I take one hand and press it against my heart. "I know here that you will always catch me. You've shown that over and over, even if I didn't always see it."

He leans down over me, and we're kissing again. Several minutes pass before he murmurs something again about how he should be responsible. Let me get some sleep since Margot will be up early no matter what.

"You need to go home too," I say softly. He has practice tomorrow, and we have a plan to execute that we all hatched with Mrs. Van Buren to catch Astrid in the act. Everything we've found so far makes me sure it's her. We just need to prove it.

"But I'll see you tomorrow, Detective Delaford?" he teases.

"Every day, right?" I tease back. As long as I work at the bakery truck, he'll be there ordering cookies he's not going to eat.

"Every day," he promises.

Margot might bea good distraction to have on hand, but I decide it's better to have her out of the way today, so my mom comes and picks her up to watch her. Mila and I both try to act natural as we prepare to open the truck, asking Astrid about the part she got on City Mates and getting her to spill stuff about what will be happening on this week's show. I know Mila never had the same passion for acting that I did, but she would have been good. Despite both of us only having watched a handful of episodes of City Mates, we keep Astrid at ease.

I want to get everything over with as soon as possible, but we all knew when we planned this that it would be best to have multiple customer orders to deal with in order to make the switch we need to make. Lincoln comes as late as he can, and I spot Officer Brady keeping to the back of the line. We called him last night from Mrs. Van Buren's after we came up with the plan and looped him in.

"Good morning, Linc," I say. Despite everything we're about to try to pull off, the smile on my face is automatic. It would be hard to believe that this good, good man is in love with me if I hadn't tallied off everything he's helped me with the last few weeks. I'm not sure I deserve this kind of happiness, but the way he looks at me, like I'm his everything, means I try not to think about whether I deserve him or not.

"Morning, beautiful," he says, and I hold back a laugh of surprise. One thing he told me last night was that he was going to make it clear to Astrid who he has feelings for. I glance over at Astrid, who's taking an order, and note the way her gaze snaps to Lincoln, eyes narrowing. I'd feel bad, except I'm pretty sure she tried to make him sick. My sympathy is thin.

"What are you having this morning?" I ask.

"I think I'm ready for sugar cookies again," he says. "That orange dreamsicle frosting sounds amazing."

Fortune is with us, and Astrid is already sliding from her seat to get an order. "Can you grab six sugar cookies for Lincoln?" I ask.

She smiles at him, but it's much less bright than it has been the past few days. "Sure thing." She packs up her order, then the sugar cookies, all with Mila surreptitiously watching. She gives me a nod, the indication that Astrid has done something to his cookies.

She heads back for the front, and I reach for the box, keeping her from handing them straight over to Lincoln. She frowns slightly at me before shrugging and turning to her line, where Mrs. Van Buren and three of her friends from Harmony Homes have stepped up to order (probably cutting several people in line, judging by the looks they're getting). They start listing off a long and difficult order, asking Astrid to show them the screen of her tablet several times to make sure she's getting it right. It gives me the distraction we need to switch boxes and hand over the cookies that Mila made at her apartment this morning before coming to work.

Once Lincoln has his cookies, Mrs. Van Buren cuts off her order and her little posse steps off to the side to wait while Astrid goes to box up the twelve different things they ordered. She has to take her tablet with her just to keep everything straight, and when Mrs. Van Buren meets my eye and winks at me, I choke on a giggle, barely holding it back. I can see why Lincoln likes her—loves her despite everything, even if he can't admit that to himself. She's good for him. I saw it in the way she hovered near him last night while we were all there, and the way he kept 75% of his attention on her the whole evening. (I was a little bit of a distraction, but I stayed close to him so keeping us both in his eyeline would be easy.)

"I just can't wait to eat this today," Lincoln says, making sure his voice is raised enough for Astrid to hear. "They look delicious." He pulls one from the box. "Want one, Layla?" he asks.

Astrid's head snaps up as I take it. Her gaze goes back and forth between me and Lincoln as he pulls another from the box and raises it to his mouth.

She drops the box she's preparing, her face pale, her eyes wide. "Lincoln, no!" she screams, lunging toward the front of the truck, hand out as though she can stop him.

Lincoln raises his eyebrows and chews.

"Don't you need to have those checked first?" She's trying to keep her voice low, but panic is etched into every word. She looks over at me as I take a bite as well. "Layla!" she cries. She can reach me, so she swings at the cookie and knocks it from my hands. "Spit it out," she demands.

I quickly swallow and can't help laughing.

"This isn't a joke!" Astrid cries shrilly. "Make yourself throw up. Hurry!" It only makes me laugh harder. "Layla!" She stomps her foot, trying to appear stern, I think, but I can't stop laughing.

"Don't worry," Lincoln says, taking another bite. "Mila made these special for me last night. No arsenic at all."

I pull out the box that Astrid handed me earlier, and if it's possible, she goes paler. She clamps her lips shut.

Mrs. Van Buren steps up to the ordering counter and eyes Astrid. "The jig is up, missy."

Astrid's confessioncomes out between sobs while she sits in the back of Officer Brady's car, which is parked behind the bakery truck. Even though we close the truck down while we all deal with her, a crowd still mills around. I have to swallow back laughs every time Mrs. Van Buren or one of her friends tells someone to get back.

FitBallerLA, better known as Bo Steele, found Astrid via a job posting for an actress to help with marketing for his business. She did a handful of social media ads for him, which is how she ended up following his account. Then he asked her to do something more lucrative—infiltrate Mila's bakery truck to get Lincoln sick. Astrid tried to refuse, but Bo promised her several parts in exchange and promised no one would get really hurt. Convinced her that it was for Lincoln's own good to realize he shouldn't be eating so much junk. All he wanted to do was prove that Lincoln was damaging the Rays by eating unhealthy food every day from Mila's bakery truck. (From Astrid's description, to say he was an avid fan would be an understatement.) He even came through with a part for her right off to convince her he could do it.

By the time Astrid understood what he'd given her to make Lincoln sick, it was too late to back out. Bo told her he'd make sure to lay all the blame on her if she said anything. Blackmailed her by saying he would take everything to the cops and laying out how guilty she'd look. She stopped putting the arsenic on Lincoln's treats anyway, telling Bo that they had to lie low for a bit since Mila had brought the police in. But then he started coming by the food truck to spy on her and pressure her, and when she found out we were having them checked before Lincoln ever ate anything, she used the poison again. That way, she could still tell Bo that she was doing her job while keeping Lincoln safe.

By the time she finishes, Mila's in the back seat with her, holding her and comforting her and promising that we'll help her out and make sure that Bo—well, let's just say she didn't wish very nice things on him. Mila's loyalty surprises no one but Officer Brady, who keeps trying to insist that Astrid is in a lot of trouble in a very stern voice. Every time he gets a word in, Mila assures Astrid that everything will be just fine. So Officer Brady finally agrees to do what he can to get Astrid a plea deal if they can bring Bo down for it.

And then Kipp Avery shows up and surprises us all. Maybe me most of all. He tells Astrid he'll meet her at the police station with his lawyer and make sure Officer Brady comes through with the deal.

Mila beams at him, her romantic heart near to bursting, I'm sure. "Maybe he's not so bad …?" she whispers, leaning over as he closes the door softly on the back of Officer Brady's police vehicle and then hurries to his own car.

"He's no Jack …" is all I can say. And that's the most sincere compliment I can give him.