Sensing she was out of time (and patience), I played my final card. Handing her the foil tray, I said, “I know, and you’re right. Sorry to bother you like this at work. Here’s some leftover adobo and rice. Figured you’d be hungry and could share it with your shift members. There should’ve been lumpia too, but Amir ate them all.”

She raised her eyebrows, but accepted the obvious peace offering as well as my apology. I think she knew it was supposed to be a bargaining chip and was surprised at the sincerity of the apology. Heck, I was too. Pretty sure we’d never apologized to each other our entire lives. But maybe it was time to bury the hatchet—despite the aunties egging us on, we had no reason to be in competition anymore. We were adults now and didn’t have to keep playing these games. My mom was gone, our pageant and athletics days were behind us, and I could really use an ally.

Friend might be going a little too far though. Baby steps.

“Why don’t you come over for lunch tomorrow? Before your shift? I’m sure Tita Rosie would be happy to see you, and you know she always makes too much food. I think she’d appreciate the distraction.”

At her confused look, I explained, “Until the medical examiner figures out what killed Derek, the restaurant is shut down. We also have to wait on the health department to check the place out. Knowing Lola Flor, she’ll use this as an opportunity to waste money at the casino, but Tita Rosie will be stuck at home.”

Bernadette’s expression softened. “So that’s why you’re here. You’re trying to help out Tita Rosie.”

I looked her in the eye. “Just because I left doesn’t mean I was never there for my family. We all help in whatever way we can. Not all the Macapagal kids are deadbeats.”

Now it was her turn to flush and apologize. “You’re right. And lunch sounds great, thanks. I’ll do what I can from here, and figure out a legal way to pass along the information.”

Amir handed her his card. “If it helps, you can say that I asked for it in an official capacity. Edwin Long has made accusations against the family, so I’m representing them. Anything you say to me will be confidential.”

I glared at him. How dare he railroad me? I was hoping that having her over in an attempt to bond would also shake out some new info, but there was no way she’d tell me anything if she could just report to Amir with no repercussions. And he knew that. This was his attempt to get me to stop investigating on my own. I’d planned on having him come with me to Ninang June’s, but forget that. If he wanted to know what she had to say, he could charm her on his own time.

“You got my number, Ate. Feel free to text me whenever. You want Tita Rosie to make anything in particular?”

“It’s freezing lately, so maybe some kind of soup? And something easy to pack for my baon to take with me to eat at work.”

I laughed. “I’ll let her know. See you tomorrow.”

She waved us off, and I left without waiting for Amir. He caught up with me near the elevators.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

I wouldn’t even look at him. “Don’t play innocent with me. You know what you did.”

“You mean help you out? She clearly wasn’t comfortable talking to you, so I made it easier to pass on information.”

We entered the blessedly empty elevator and he continued, “I told you to leave it alone, you wouldn’t, so I’m assisting you the only way I know how. What’s your problem?”

I knew he was right and I needed his help and that upset me even more. “If you really wanted to assist, you would’ve asked me how you could help. Did you ask me? No, you just did what you wanted since you always know best.”

He looked away, running his hands over his perfectly coiffed hair. “You sound like Adeena.”

I shrugged. “Adeena’s right.”

We lapsed into silence yet again as the doors opened and we stepped out. This uncomfortable quiet between us was fast becoming the norm.

His phone rang, the generic Ring! Ring! from landlines past. Ugh, even his ringtone was old-fashioned.

He checked the screen. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later though, OK?”

“Just text me.”

He smiled. “Still hate talking on the phone?”

I smiled back. “Always.”

I let him walk to his car ahead of me, claiming to need to use the bathroom. We waved goodbye to each other, and I stood watching until he got in his car and drove away. I headed back the way I came, but turned down a different hall and stopped in front of an office door. The nameplate read:

ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR

JANET SPINELLI

Amir may have gotten his hooks into one of my sources, but he’d never figure this one out.

A girl’s got to have some secrets now, doesn’t she?

Chapter Nine

I stood in front of Janet’s office, trying to hype myself up enough to knock on the door. You’re not in high school anymore, Lila. I’m sure it’ll be fine. There’s no way she still hates you. You’re both adults. Sort of.

Who was I kidding? This was a terrible idea. I was about to wander back the way I came when I heard someone step into the hall and a voice call, “Turning tail and running away again, Lila? That does seem to be your MO, doesn’t it?”

I closed my eyes and counted to ten before responding. “Hey, Janet. I see not much has changed, has it?”

I turned to face my high school bully. Wow, she really hadn’t changed. There were some laugh lines around her eyes (though I sincerely doubt they were caused by laughter), but the rest of her porcelain complexion remained as flawless as ever. I had to fight the urge to pick at the tiny pimples near my hairline.

She was still strawberry blonde and willowy, her breasts and bangs pushed up to impressive heights. Her left hand sported a ring with a rock so big it practically screamed “FAKE!”

She must’ve noticed me looking at it because she held it up and smirked. “You heard, right? Terrence and I are getting married. He’s mine,” she added unnecessarily.

“Yup. Congrats.”

She waited for more, but that’s all I had to say on that matter.

“That’s it? After you tried to steal him from me senior year, I figured you’d have more to say.”

Don’t take the bait, Lila, don’t take the bait. This woman is in charge of pretty much all patient information and she could easily get Bernadette fired. Don’t push her.

When I didn’t respond, she said, “You always had such a smart mouth. Why are you so quiet now?”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Because that all happened, what, seven years ago? Maybe even eight? How are you not over it yet?”

She scoffed, so I added, “And if you recall, he came to me when he saw you for the bully you were. Besides, I remember you getting pretty cozy with Derek as well.”

Her hand flew to her chest and literally clutched at her pearls. “How dare you! Just because you got dumped by your fiancé doesn’t mean you have to lie about mine.”

As usual, good news traveled fast around Shady Palms.

“Forget it. I was a fool to think you’d help me.” I started to walk away, but knew I couldn’t leave it like that and turned back around. “Congratulations to you and Terrence. He’s a good guy and there aren’t many of them left. I hope you make each other happy. Truly.”

She stood there with her mouth hanging open as I walked away, trembling but proud.

I’d witnessed a tragedy, been interrogated by the police, reconciled with Bernadette, told off Amir, and confronted Janet all in one day. And it wasn’t even dinnertime yet.

I checked my watch and saw I had another couple of hours to kill before calling on Ninang June. There was only one thing I knew would get me out of this funk, so I hopped in the car and headed home.

It was time to bake.

Chapter Ten

A pound of butter and Lord knows how much sugar later, my head was clear, my spirit was calm, and I had a delicious calamansi-ginger pie cooling on the counter. I twisted shut the lid of the jar I’d filled with the excess calamansi-ginger curd and sighed in satisfaction. Now this was bliss.

The sweetness of the coconut shortbread crust scented the air, interspersed with the zest of citrus and zing of ginger. If I could bottle this scent, I’d wear it forever.

My chubby dachshund, Longganisa, pranced around my feet, waiting for her share of my experiment. I tossed her a bit of the crust I’d trimmed off and waited for her reaction. Nisa was always my first critic. If it didn’t pass muster with her, it was a no go.

She snapped up the shortbread in record time and got up on her hind legs, begging for more. A good sign for me, but disappointment for her.

“Sorry, baby, you know you can’t have more than that. It’s not good for you.”

I poured out some of her diet kibble and set it in front of her. She looked down at her bowl, then up at me, and I swear, if a dog could raise an eyebrow in disgust, she would’ve. Go figure I’d pass my food snobbery on to my dog.

I poured a tiny bit of broth over the kibble to make it more enticing and went to check on my aunt. She was still napping in her room, so I left her a note saying I’d be at Ninang June’s if she wanted to join us when she got up.