Baking brought a sense of peace to Lani’s troubled mind.

After witnessing that exchange in the alley, she dashed back inside and got to work. She couldn’t even look her dad in the eye, let alone tell him about the issue with Emmett. Her hands cramped as she piped a batch of cupcakes in pink frosting, adding little Hello Kitty ring toppers once she finished. They were a pre-order for a birthday party that evening, and the perfect distraction.

It made her smile to think back on the days when her dad used to bake cupcakes for their Elementary school birthday parties. Even as adults, he always loved baking her a cake at home. Never store bought.

Dad wouldn’t dabble in anything addictive, would he? He ought to know better. But with everything that’s happened in the recent years, she understood why he might need something to take him off the edge. The high only lasted temporarily, and it never solved anyone’s issues. Lani knew that much, but she also knew how tempting unhealthy habits could be.

Xavier and Casey occasionally smoked pot in that alley. Had she caught one of them buying that crap, it wouldn’t have surprised her. Her dad? No freaking way. Despite how her mind tried coming up with other possibilities for what she saw, it all came back to drugs. Who was his dealer then? Lani hadn’t recognized that young man, but she was sure she’d remember him if she saw him again.

“How’s it coming in there?” Dad asked, coming around the corner.

“Good,” Lani murmured.

Despite the questions swarming her mind, she kept her attention focused on the cupcakes in front of her. She couldn’t just outright ask him if he’d bought drugs. Who would come clean about that? How long has it been going on? Addiction was a dreadful battle to overcome, and Lani hated the thought of her dad facing withdrawal and desperately crawling to those slimy gang members for drugs.

“Are you okay?” Dad asked, worry lines creasing his forehead. “You don’t even have your music on.”

Lani shrugged. “Didn’t feel like it. There was something I wanted to talk to you about though.” Dryness filled her mouth as she choked on the questions she wanted to ask.

“Sure, what is it?”

“That Emmett guy,” Lani said softly. “He told me I needed to come clean about that woman’s death so he could handle it. Kinda cornered me when I came in earlier.”

“What? He had no right talking to you like that. Dammit.” Her dad tossed the towel in his hand on the counter. “I’ll have a talk with him, okay? Make sure he knows to come to me next time he has a problem. Not any of you.”

Lani nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”

“Is that all he did?” Dad asked. “If there’s anything else, I swear I’ll-“

“Nope, that’s it.”

Skepticism clouded his features, brows knitted in a frown. He parted his lips to say something, but Xavier rescued her from further questioning by needing help with an order.

Relief flooded through her when her dad stepped out of the main kitchen, but it was short-lived. She couldn’t avoid it forever. But she didn’t want to come at him from a confrontational angle because it might push him away. Maybe she should confide in Casey? He knew better than anyone in their family what it was like to witness a loved one suffer from addiction.

After finishing up her cupcakes, Lani sent a quick text to Casey, hoping he could meet her during her lunch break later. As much as she wanted to pretend like she hadn’t seen that exchange, she knew she couldn’t let her dad fall down that dark rabbit hole of drug abuse.

They could help him. It wasn’t too late.