Miller - Pineapple Meringue

Pineapple Meringue

By

Brian Miller

2019, Winter Moon Publishing House, LLC

All rights reserved.

In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976,

no part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form

or by any means without the prior written permission

of the Author.

This book is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, places, and incidents

within are purely fictional.

Any resemblance to

actual events, locales, and persons,

living or dead,

is purely

coincidental.

ENJOY!

Acknowledgments

Id like to send out a special thanks to all those who helped bring this story to life.

Jean Forrester for helping develop both Jewelie and Marisol, as well as story.

Gabriella Messina for her awesome talent in developing the beautiful cover and teases.

Marcy Barth for her persistence in making sure the story made sense.

Sheri Lee Meece for agreeing to continue beta reading for us.

Jo Anne Vesledahl for teaching me to swear in Spanish.

And most importantly

My wife and muse for helping me write the love story between Jewelie and Mare.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Jewelie Renee Reese

Jewelie studied the signature she had just signed on the bottom of the page. Normally, the swirl of her J and the relaxed curls of her R s would be a source of great pride for her. Hell, her cursive had been part of the reason shed gotten into the cake decorating business. Well, that and her Grandma Jo.

Grandma Jo, please forgive me for what I just did, but I had no other choice.

Jewelie could not endure the thought of disappointing her Grandma Jo. The woman had taken a run-down diner in Hollywood and transformed it over the course of fifty years into the place stars would stop by for their morning sugar fix. It was the place where Jewelie had spent her formative years not only learning everything the old woman knew about baking but running a successful business as well.

It broke her heart to think about the years the two had spent in the kitchen baking everything from bread to baklava to croquembouche had become little more than a promissory note.

When Grandma Jo became ill, she turned the daily operations over to her granddaughter, even though she was only eighteen at the time. Four years later, The Mad Batter and all the recipes the master baker had developed over the years were left to Jewelie. The last gifts, when her grandmother departed this world.

Now her signature just looked flat and ugly. A tear threatened to fall and splatter the ink across the page.

Quickly wiping her eye with the back of her hand, she straightened up and sat the pen beside the contract. She watched as the greasy man with the long, blonde hair, that reminded Jewelie of some never-was actor, sitting across from her flipped the paper around and read the contract aloud:

It is agreed by the signatories below, that if the defendant, Micah Thomas Reese, fails to appear in District Criminal Court on the 23rd of May, 2020, the deed for the property located at 7152 Santa Monica Boulevard, containing the bakery known as The Mad Batter, and all equipment within, which is now being held as collateral in lieu of bail, shall transfer ownership to The Out of Jail Card, Incorporated.

The bail bondsman slid the check across the table to Jewelie. She just looked at it in disgust and walked away.

She heard her mom snatch the check from the desk while kissing the mans ass for all his help. Anne quickly reassured him that Micah would be

Jewelie tuned out the rest of the conversation as she left the office. It was all she could do not to let her younger brotherhalf-brother from another father, to be correctrot in jail.

And she would have, too, if it had not been for her moms refusal to take NO as an answer. The constant calling and texting finally wore her down around 3:30 this morning, and, of course, her mom had already been in touch with a bondsman whose office was open 24/7. From what Jewelie had seen on TV, the seedy ones always were.

But, then again, they did live in Hollywood, and the city could be just as cheap and sleazy as the guy shed just signed her heart and soul over to.

Cunt! Jewelie could not help belittling her mom, only to instantly feel bad for saying it.

Redirecting her anger at the person who was responsible for this mess, she was about to unleash a torrent of obscenities toward Micah when she suddenly felt a tug on her elbow. Looking next to her, Jewelie saw her mom, pale and gasping for air.

Jesus, Jewels, why couldnt you just wait another minute before you left in a huff? I was

You were what, Mom? Going to make more excuses for your worthless excuse of a son? Christ, how the fuck did he get himself mixed up in a murder for Gods sake?

Hes innocent, Jew

Stop! Dont even try to make up excuses for him, Mom! Because of him, I just signed away the one thing that matters to me. I hope to fuck youre happy, and you damn well better make sure he shows up to court!

Jewelie paused, almost afraid to ask the next question. Who did you say his lawyer was again? Ill call him to make...

She watched as her moms eyes dropped shamefully from hers. Anne softly replied, He has a court-appointed one.

Oh my God, Mom! How could you fucking lie tostupid me! Of course, if Id known that, beforehand, I would have never gotten involved in any of this! Jewelie spat. Well, congrats, dumb-ass is as good as convicted! So, why didnt you bother to hire a real one?

Tears streamed down the older womans face. There was once a time where Anne could have been the next IT GIRL . But the years since the car accident that had claimed the life of Jewelies dad, had not been kind to her. Along with the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, the stress of raising Micah on her own had left her looking older than a forty-five-year-old woman should appear.

To this day, Micahs mere existence was something Jewelie had never forgiven her mom for. Why she had been stupid enough to get pregnant again after her dad had died, was something that Jewelie had not understood.

Wasnt it enough to raise me?

It was the point of contention that the two had never been ever to reconcile, and it drove them apart. It was also another reason she had been so close to her Grandma Jo.

Seriously, Jewelie? Dont you think I would have if I could afford it? Anne snapped back at her.

Look, Mom, I dont have time to argue with you about this. Turning her back on her mom, she started walking toward the parking lot, yelling back at Anne, without looking back, Just go over to the Hollywood Station and post Micahs bail. Well talk about this later.

Once she made it into her car, Jewelie lost what was left of her composure. God Fucking Damn it, Micah! She screamed at the steering wheel, as she pounded her fists against it. How the hell did you get yourself mixed up in this fucking mess? Dont you ever use that pea brain of yours for anything else besides fucking up everybody elses life?

Taking a breath in, she tried to steady herself. She knew somebody in this family still had to go to work and come up with the money to straighten this mess out, and she was sure it was not going to be either her mom or Micah.

Starting her car up, she slammed the shifter into gear and tore out of the parking lot.

Chapter 2

Marisol Perez was already hip-deep in morning customers by the time Jewelie made it back to the bakery. Mare shot a look full daggers at her best friend when their eyes momentarily locked.

For the better part of the morning, she had been planning on how she was going to chew Jewels out for daring to come in late. It didnt matter to Mare that it wasnt her bakery in the first placethey both ran the place like she was a co-owner. And besides, she had been planning on coming down from her upstairs apartment only long enough to grab a couple of croissants and let Jewelie know she was calling in. Hell, after last night, she needed to spend the day recouping.