I made pineapple upside-down cupcakes the other day, and with the leftover batter (and only 2 pineapple slices) made a happy face cake. What could be happier than Pineapple Upside-down Cake, right? As soon as my daughter saw it, she said, "Are you going to write a story about this?", and I thought , why not? This one's for you, Laurel. :-)

If anyone else has a one-shot about the base of Stephanie's food pyramid - Dessert - I'd love to see it!

As usual, all characters belong to Janet Evanovich, although all mistakes are mine.

I can do this. Sure making a cake from a box mix isn't that hard, but it's also not something that I'm used to doing by myself. At least it shouldn't be hard. Try telling that to the charred remains of my previous two attempts currently decorating my garbage can. I have to remember to take the trash out to the dumpster before anybody sees it. I have a reputation to uphold.

The kitchen is a wreck. While I was attempting cake number 2, I pulled the beaters out of the bowl before I turned the mixer off. There is still cake mix dripping from the ceiling. Fortunately I still have a few hours before the front door opens, bringing my love home to me. There is plenty of time to remove the evidence.

Ok, preheat oven to 325 – Check. Cake number one taught me that you can't just cook it at a higher temperature for less time.

Mix, eggs, oil and water in large mixing bowl – Check. If this one fails, I only have enough eggs for one more try.

Stir until smooth – Check. This time I remember to turn the stupid machine off first.

Pour melted butter in bottom of pan – Check.

Sprinkle brown sugar over butter – Check.

Arrange pineapple slices in pan – Uh oh. This can't be happening. There are only 2 pineapple slices left. What happened to all the pineapple slices? I slide another glance at the garbage can. Oh, yeah, that happened. Ok, I can deal with this. I arrange the pineapples and cherries in the bottom of the pan. This is even better. This is now a happy cake. It's even smiling.

Pour the batter in – Check

Bake at 325 for 35 minutes – Check? I set the timer on the stove. For good measure, I also set the timer on the Microwave, and the one on my cell phone. There is no way I am going to miss this one. Thank you, cake number two. Besides, I plan on staying in the kitchen to clean up the mess.

I put all of the empty measuring cups, bowls, and dirty pans in the sink. Once they are soaking, I drag a chair in from the dining room so that I can reach the ceiling to clean it. Stupid high ceilings. Just as I reach up to wipe the cake mix off, I hear the front door unlock. Crap. I should have had more time.

"Carlos, are you here?"

I make it to the archway in time to see her unloading her bags in the foyer. "Babe. I thought you weren't going to be home for another hour."

She walks up to kiss me, but wrinkles her nose instead. "What is that smell? It smells like you tried to cook Rex." She stands up on her tip toes and tries to peek around me. If you can't beat 'em, distract 'em. I grab her by the waist and give her a bone melting kiss hello. This could work. I glance at the timer on the microwave. I have 25 minutes. I can work with that.

I tuck a curl behind her ear. "I'm glad you're home. I have something to show you." I start to lead her towards the bedroom. 25 minutes isn't enough time to truly appreciate her, but I'm up for the challenge.

She leaned into me for another kiss. I made two steps towards the bedroom when she ducked under my arm and went to the kitchen. She stood there slack jawed, staring at the disaster that was our kitchen. After taking in the sight, she started laughing. Once she started, she couldn't stop. Finally, she sat down in the dining room and wiped the tears from her eyes. I couldn't really pull off an annoyed look, after all, I've seen what it looks like. I told her, "I don't think it's that funny."

She was still giggling. "Oh, but it is. You're a superhero. There's nothing you can't do. Who knew Batman can't cook? I would take a picture, but no one would believe it wasn't my mess." She walked over to me and put her arms around me. "Would you believe that I think it's really cute that you messed up?"

I managed to give her a grumpy look. "If you call me cute again, they'll repossess my man card."

She laughed again. "Does sexy sound better?" I nodded. She kissed me and said, "Let's get this cleaned up, and you can tell me what you were doing."

"No," I told her, "I'm still trying to salvage the situation. Why don't you go put your stuff away while I clean up, and I'll tell you about it over dinner." She agreed, and took her bags into the bedroom while I went back to the kitchen. I finally finished cleaning everything up when the timers went off. I got the cake pan out of the oven and onto the cooling rack without a problem. This one at least looks like a cake. I left the cake to cool and brought dinner out to the dining room.

We settled down to Ella's chicken and wild rice. After dinner, I went back into the kitchen and flipped the cake pan over onto the cake plate. I lifted the pan to make sure that the cake wouldn't stick, and that everything looked the way it should. I brought it out to the dining room still covered, and explained what happened. "Babe, I know your mother stopped talking to you when you walked out on Morelli. I also know that Ella makes you any dessert you want, any time you want it. In the six months that we've been together, you've turned my world upside-down. I can't imagine not having you in my life." I picked the tray up off the table and got down on one knee. I lifted the cover off of the cake pan to show Stephanie the happy face upside-down cake with a vintage diamond engagement ring in the center. "I will love you forever, and I want the world to know it. Stephanie Michelle Plum, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

With shaking hands, she picked the ring up off of the cake. I set the plate down and took her left hand in mine. She looked up from the ring into my eyes, hers swimming with tears. She said, "Yes", and threw herself into my arms where she belongs.

A/N I went ring shopping on Ranger's dime... If you want to see the one we picked out, I pinned it to a certain website... /spiffytgm/plum-diamond/