Page 26 of Keeping Secrets

She arrived just as the library was opening its doors to the public. Ali greeted her with a wide smile and nodded approvingly at the cupcakes.

"I see you took my advice. Are those all for Ingrid, or can I grab one?"

"They’re for everybody."

"Awesome. You can put them in the break room."

"There’s a break room?"

Ali chuckled. "Come on. I’ll show you."

"Fresh meat, coming through," she said as they passed two other library employees.

Keely paused to say a proper hello. "Hi, I’m Keely. I start work today."

"Nice to meet you," one of the librarians said. She was a full head taller than her coworker with blond hair so pale that it was nearly white. The other woman had short black hair that was bright purple at the ends. "I’m Melissa, and this is Maria. Are those cupcakes?"

"They are." She walked into the break room leading the established library employees in a line like the Pied Piper. This must have caught Ingrid’s attention as they passed the open door to her office, because she walked in a moment later.

"Good to see you, Keely. Right on time, I see. What do you have there?"

"I brought cupcakes. I’m helping to cater tomorrow’s fundraiser for Community Property Renovations, and so I did a lot of recipe testing this week."

"You’re making cupcakes for the fundraiser?" Maria asked.

"Actually, I’m making ice cream cakes using three different flavors of ice cream from Kula. But the cupcakes were the start of my recipe testing. I made a few different versions to get the flavors right, and then I made some test cakes."

"That kind of thoroughness and dedication to research bodes well," Ingrid said as she drifted closer to the table that now held the cupcakes. "And what flavors do we have here?"

"We have pistachio, blood orange, and cinnamon. All topped with vanilla bean ice cream that I whipped up this morning."

Ingrid looked at them carefully, bending at the waist to peek at the cake beneath the icing before she selected one of the richly colored blood orange cupcakes. She took a careful bite, and her eyes widened. She looked at Keely, took another bite, and shook her head.

"Ali," she asked, "are there still tickets available for this event of yours?"

"Oh, I see." Ali laughed. "I’ve been trying to sell you on the fundraiser for ages, but you were just too busy. Now that you know there’s going to be ice cream cake, suddenly you’re interested."

"I’ll come," Maria said, already halfway through one of the pistachio cupcakes.

"Me too, if there’s enough space." Melissa was on her second cinnamon cupcake.

"Keely?" Ali asked. "Is there room at the fundraiser for these interlopers?"

"Chloe and I erred on the side of more when we were buying ingredients and starting to prep. Nat didn’t have an exact number for us. She was still wondering if they could get a few more people." She smiled at the library staff. "So yes, I’m sure we have room for three more."

"Excellent," Melissa said through a mouthful of cupcake. She swallowed. "I can only imagine how amazing your cake will be paired with Kula ice cream. I’m in."

"For the families," Maria said, mock serious.

"Yes. For them." Melissa reached for a third cupcake.

"Leave some for the rest of us!" Ali laughed and snatched the last cinnamon cupcake off the tray before Melissa could claim it.

"Sorry. I may have skipped breakfast this morning."

"How are you supposed to catalog correctly on an empty stomach?" Ali teased.

"Or deal with difficult patrons," Maria added.