The Cupcake Diaries Collection: Katie and the Cupcake Cure; Mia in the Mix; Emma on Thin Icing; Alexis and the Perfect Recipe by Coco Simon Read Free Book Online Page A

ran up to Mia and me and started sniffing my sneakers.
    “That’s Milkshake and Tiki,” Mia told me. “If you don’t like dogs, I can put them in their crate.”
    “No, I love dogs!” I said. “I want one so bad, but Mom’s allergic. Can I pet them?”
    “Sure,” she replied. I reached down to touch them, but the skittish dogs wouldn’t stand still. I could barely feel the fur under my fingers.
    “Follow me,” Mia instructed. We went down a hallway and through one of the doors there.
    A woman with black hair like Mia’s and headphones on was sitting at a desk, typing on a computer.
    “Mom, can you please tell Dan to turn down the music?!” Mia yelled.
    But Ms. Vélaz didn’t see or hear us. Mia walked over and took the headphones off her mother’s ears. Ms. Vélaz smiled.
    “Oh hello, Mia.” She nodded to me. “And this must be Katie.”
    “Nice to meet you,” I said.
    “Mom, can you please tell Dan to turn down the music?” Mia pleaded.
    “Would you mind asking him yourself?” her mom asked. “I’m IM’ing a potential client, and I can’t leave the computer right now.”
    Mia sighed. “All right. But I bet he won’t do it.”
    “Please get a snack for Katie too!” Ms. Vélaz called out to us.
    We left the office, and Mia grabbed a bag of cookies before we headed up the gleaming wood staircase. Mia told me her story as best as she could over the loud music.
    “Mom used to work at a fashion magazine in New York, but then she met Eddie, who already had a house out here,” she explained. “So now she works out of the house. She’s starting her own consulting business.”
    We stopped in front of a door on the second floor.
    “This is Dan’s room,” Mia shouted. “He’ll be my stepbrother when Mom and Eddie get married in a few months.”
    Mia pounded on the door. It slowly opened, anda teenage boy with dark hair hanging over his eyes stood behind it.
    “Too loud?” he asked.
    “What do you think?” Mia shouted back.
    Dan closed the door and a few seconds later the music was much quieter. Mia shook her head as we walked to her room.
    “He’s a junior in high school,” she said. “Two more years and he’s out of here. I hope.”
    I wondered if he knew Callie’s sister, Jenna. Callie was always popping up in my head.
    We stepped into Mia’s room. I was kind of expecting it to be as neat and stylish as Mia. The rest of her house looked like something from a magazine. But her room was a little messy, which was fine, just kind of a surprise.
    “My old room in Manhattan was so much nicer,” she said, pointing to the wallpaper. “Can you believe those flowers? I think some old lady must have lived in here before. Eddie keeps promising that we’ll paint it, but he and Mom are always so busy.”
    I forgot who Eddie was for a minute until I realized Mia was talking about her almost-stepdad. I have never called an adult by their first name before, except for Joanne at my mom’s office, but she’s notlike a real adult anyway. I tried to imagine calling my mom by her first name, Sharon. Weird!
    Mia pushed aside some clothes on the bed and opened up her laptop. “You want to check out Teen Style ?” she asked.
    “Sure.”
    “It’s pretty fun,” Mia said as she typed away. “They have a whole section of celebrities, and you can rate the outfits they’re wearing.”
    She clicked a few times, and a photo of a thin, blond actress came on the screen. She was wearing a red dress with feathers on the bottom.
    “What do you think?” Mia asked me.
    I shrugged. “It’s nice, I guess. I mean, if she likes it, then what’s the difference?”
    “I think it’s too long,” Mia said. “Take a few inches off of it and it would be perfect.” She clicked on the number “7” and then a new picture popped up.
    I really didn’t get it. I had no idea why one outfit was better than another. But Mia had a definite opinion about everything.
    We did that for a while, and then Mia clicked on