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as if he knew Angie was out there. His light blue eyes turned their way, and Mel’s breath stalled out in her lungs when Roach spotted Angie in her zombie wedding dress! Oh, this was not going to end well.
    The guitarist must have been thinking the same thing, because he stepped forward when Roach jumped up from his seat behind the drums, and put his hand out, gesturing for Roach to stop. Roach looked like he wanted to argue but the bass player joined them.
    Roach shot Angie a desperate look, which she missed since she was staring at her shoes, but Tate didn’t. He threw an arm around Angie’s shoulders and hugged her close. Roach narrowed his eyes and Mel was afraid he was going to launch himself off the stage and crowd surf over to them if he had to.
    Thankfully, the band manager Jimbo had the presence of mind to grab Roach by the back of his sparkly belt and haul him back into his seat. He seemed visibly shaken, but, ever the performer, Roach shook his head of long black hair and kicked into his ballad about Angie.
    Mel had heard the song a million times; sort of hard to avoid a chart topper. As Angie said, she felt like the song was bird-dogging her in the grocery store, the gas station, the mall, truly, it had been a megahit. But in all those times, Mel had never heard Roach’s voice sound so plaintive. He sang the song right to Angie, and Mel almost felt like an intruder on their moment.
    Tate must have felt the same way, because with a heavy sigh he took his possessive arm off of Angie and stepped behind her, letting Roach sing just to her.
    â€œThat’s awfully nice of you.” Mel stood on tiptoe and whispered in his ear.
    â€œHow can I not feel bad for the poor bastard?” Tate whispered back. “He lost
her
.”
    Mel gave Tate a half hug. This was one of the many reasons why she loved him so much. He was good all the way down to his core. He was going to make a wonderful husband for Angie.
    After glancing at Tate and getting a small nod of approval in return, Angie lifted her face and watched Roach play with a small, bittersweet smile on her lips. Mel assumed that now that Angie was engaged to Tate, perhaps she could forgive Roach for writing a song about their relationship, which had turned into the monster breakup song of the past year. Perhaps.
    When the song ended, the crowd went nuts and the band broke into a thrasher of a tune that had all of the zombies dancing on their feet. Mel glanced behind them to see if she could work her way out of the crowd. She didn’t like the idea of leaving Marty and Oz on their own in the van for this long.
    She began to wind her way out, glancing back to let Tate and Angie know she was going. To her surprise, or maybe not, they were following her. When they cleared the crowd, she studied Angie’s face, trying to determine her state of mind. The heavy gray makeup made it impossible.
    â€œYou all right?” she asked.
    â€œYeah, I’m good,” Angie said. She sounded unsure and must have known it as she added, “I think that was surprisingly good closure.”
    Tate looked at her. His gaze was direct as if it killed him to ask, but he had to anyway, so he said, “No regrets?”
    Angie stopped walking and looked at him. Her brown eyes glowed with warmth when she smiled up at him.
    â€œNot a one,” she said and jumped into his arms.
    Tate laughed. He didn’t hesitate but snatched her close and planted a kiss on her that made Mel blush.
    â€œWell, then, I’ll just . . . yeah.” Mel turned and strode back through the crowd, unable to stop the smile that creased her lips. There was something magical about Tate and Angie’s relationship, and she couldn’t help but be happy for them.
    Back at the cupcake van, she saw the undead were circled around the vehicle. She climbed up into the back, taking Oz’s place at the window.
    â€œGo out and open up the casket; it’ll give them