Baker's Law

“It’s a less than a month away.” Her sister swiped at her mouth with a paper napkin and folded it neatly on the table.

“What is?” she asked when she finally swallowed. “The wedding?” Marissa’s easy schedule was quickly flying out the window. “Why so fast?” Why such a speedy wedding after he’d just moved to town? Not to mention, why was Bunny involved? The last she’d heard they weren’t on the best of terms. Was it an olive branch to get back in his mother’s good graces? Though, that was a hell of an olive branch. “Can you get a wedding done under a month?”

Marlie pouted, as if Marissa had insulted her, then she said, “I can get it done. Most of the details are in place. Bunny has already fired the three previous wedding planners.” She leaned closer. “Actually I think I heard the last one walked out and forfeited her fee. Anyway, it’s more or less overseeing the finishing touches.”

For the next two hours, Marlie ran over the details that were already in place from the previous planners. Most of the details were already set in motion. Why couldn’t the Carlisles just proceed on their own? When she wasn’t helping her customers, she made notes of what Marlie needed her to do.

“I have a face-to-face with Callie and Bunny first thing tomorrow morning. Do you think you could tag along?”

“Where is it?”

Marlie looked away briefly and mumbled, “At the country club.”

Marissa’s stomach pitched. It was bad enough she’d agreed to help her sister with the Carlisle wedding. To have to go to the Oak Hollow Country Club was almost too much. She’d worked there in high school, not fancy or rich enough to become a member. But she’d been good enough to wash towels and table linens. “You’d go back there? After what they did?”

Their father had worked at the club for nearly twenty years, the last five as the head mechanic. Marissa and Marlie’s senior year in school, all the white towels and linens had turned up pink. Marissa had been the last one on duty, and though they were white and in the closet when she’d left, she’d been promptly fired. As had her father. They said if he didn’t agree to it, they’d press charges against her for property damages.

Even though her father believed in her innocence, he didn’t want to chance that the incident would adversely affect her and her chances in college.

“That was nearly seventeen years ago. Dad got over it, why can’t you?” Marlie crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. “You pinky swore, so you’re going. It’s one wedding, a wedding that can really put my name out there. It won’t be that bad.”

The bell over the door chimed. Marissa gave her sister one last lingering “how could you” look then turned to greet her customer. “Speak of the devil. There’s your groom now.” Marissa nodded her head toward Jax.

Marlie swiveled in her seat. “Where?”

“At the door?”

“No.” Marlie jiggled the pen in her hand. “Who’s that?”

Marissa leaned into her sister and whispered, “Who’s the wedding for?”

“Bunny’s daughter, Callie. You remember her, don’t you? She was a few years behind us in school.”

Relief washed through Marissa with so much force she swayed a little on her feet—though she had no reason for it.

She did remember Callie. As a matter of fact, she’d always suspected Callie was the one who’d turned all the linens pink. She’d seen the girl lurking in the back hallways of the club the night of the incident, but it wasn’t as if Marissa could accuse her of doing it. And she’d only been eleven or twelve at the time. She’d been a spoiled, rich brat, but not deliberately malicious.… Marissa gave a mental shrug. Given that Callie Carlisle had gone through three wedding planners already, it sounded as if things hadn’t changed much.

She turned her attention to Jax. “Good evening, Chief.”

Jax removed his hat and nodded to Marissa and her sister. He sure did make that OH uniform look good. Marissa gaped a moment, worried he could read her mind as he held her gaze. She fought off the urge to fan herself.

“Ladies.” He interrupted her thoughts. “I came to check on how you’re doing. Any more break-ins?”

“Break-ins?” Marlie’s head whipped around and she pinned Marissa with her narrowed, blue gaze. “When did you have break-ins? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Behind her, Jax shifted and his eyebrows rose.

“It was no big deal. I didn’t want to worry you.” Marissa moved around her sister and turned her attention to the chief. “All’s well. My brother came out and fixed the door.”

“Duff came over here? You told one of the guys but not me?” Marlie stood, then slammed her hands on her hips.

“Like I said, I didn’t want to worry you. And I was a little afraid you might overreact. Silly me.” She rolled her eyes. “Marlie, you remember Jax Carlisle from high school. He’s the new police chief.” That cooled her sister’s jets.

“I heard you were moving back.” Marlie morphed from freaked out, concerned sister to businesswoman—emphasis on woman—and went to shake Jax’s hand. “Congratulations on the job.”

He gave her a quick, polite shake, but his gaze didn’t linger on Marlie. A fact that gave Marissa even more relief than when she’d heard he wasn’t the intended groom. Though, that might be totally premature. She didn’t know a thing about him. She normally swore by her instincts about people, but he could be getting ready to celebrate his twentieth wedding anniversary and have half a dozen kids at home. His mother was tightlipped about the foal she couldn’t keep corralled.

“How does it feel to move back to Oak Hollow? Have you gotten settled in yet?” Marlie peppered him with questions. “Must be a rough move for a household.” Leave it to her to ask the questions Marissa had been wondering.

Jax gave a quick chuckle. “It’s good to be home. Settled just fine and moving me and my dog wasn’t all too traumatic.”

He was single.

Marlie turned her back on Jax for a brief moment and gave a quick brow waggle. And all Marissa’s hopes dashed. Not too many men were immune to her sister’s charm and beauty when she turned it up.

As Marlie asked Jax another barrage of questions, Marissa glanced at her watch. It was about an hour until closing time. “If y’all will excuse me…” She hurried behind the counter and plucked out the unsold cupcakes she’d take over to her dad later. She’d just finished packing up the box when Jax came over to the counter.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been by sooner to check on your shop. I did beef up patrol and have them coming by more frequently.”

Marissa nodded. “I’ve seen them. Thanks.”

“Would you mind if I check out your door?”

“My brother did a good job on it. But I don’t mind.” She waved him around the counter. “Marlie, will you keep an eye on the front for a sec?”

When her sister nodded, Marissa ushered Jax to the back to look at the door. “My brother said it looked a little too intricate for a teenager to have drilled through the layers of the door. But he also said the hole looked pretty old. I’ve been here less than a year, so who knows how long the shop’s been vulnerable.”

Jax didn’t comment, just squatted before the door and ran his fingers across the repair job. Finally he stood. “Looks good.” For a long moment he looked her over.

Marissa had to fight not to squirm under the scrutiny.

“I want to apologize.”

She frowned. “For?”

“The other night, calling you by your high school nickname.”

* * *

Jax had gone and done it again. The moment he’d brought up her nickname all the color fled from her cheeks and the smile in her eyes fell flat. The first time he’d said it, he hadn’t known why it’d warranted such an extreme response. Midweek, he’d run into Otto Kendal and later gone out and had a beer after work. They’d played catch up and gone over some of the people, Jax’d run into since moving back to town. When he’d mentioned Marissa’s name Otto had laughed.

“She didn’t slug you for calling her that?”

Jax picked at the label on the bottle. “Why would she?”

“She hated that name.” Otto downed the rest of his beer and leaned back in his chair.

“How do you know?”

“Come on, Jax. She was fat, with braces and glasses. Some of the guys would walk behind her mooing. They called her Moo-Moo Llewellyn and it finally just got shortened to Lulu.”

Jax’s gut had twisted. Then he’d asked, “How do you remember that? She was grades behind us.”

He shrugged. “I heard it a couple of times when she’d follow her dad around at work up at the club.”

Jax had forgotten all about her father. Mr. Llewellyn had been employed at the club for years. Marissa’d worked there eventually, too. After he’d moved to Austin, he’d heard they’d both gotten fired, but he never knew why.

“Who knew she’d end up not half-bad,” Otto had commented.

Not half-bad? She was so much more than not half-bad. She was a beauty. Even back in school, while, yeah she might have been how Otto described her, half the kids in school looked like that at one time or another. She’d been cute if a little awkward at times. And he would never have classified her as fat. She’d had burgeoning curves as a fifteen-year-old—that now, even under her jeans, a T-shirt and an apron, he could tell had developed quite nicely. In school, she’d always had a smile on her face and been ready to help out if someone needed it. He was surprised he remembered so much about her. It wasn’t like he’d paid that much attention. But in a school full of followers and hangers-on, she’d stood out by being neither.

After he’d left Otto that night, he’d felt like such an ass. He would never have used her nickname if he’d known how or why it got started.

Marissa fidgeted with the edge of the little apron she had tied around her waist.

Jax had said what he needed to for his apologies. He didn’t want to watch her squirm any more. He slapped his hat back on his head. “Have you given much thought to getting a security system?”

“Thoughts, sure. All the time.”

“You might want to consider getting something installed. I can ask around for a recommendation.” His cell phone vibrated on his hip, but he kept his gaze pinned to hers. “There have been some other break-ins around town.”

Her dark eyebrows pulled down. “Other break-ins?” She took a step closer to him. “Where? Who? What was taken?”

He named off a few of the local companies that had been burglarized over the past few months. “It was in the paper.”

She shifted her gaze from his for a moment. “I’ve been working almost nonstop for months on end. I…it’s easy to lose track of what’s going on around you.”

“The other shops lost money and merchandise. You got off pretty lucky.”

The V of her eyebrows pulled down farther and she shook her head slowly. “I don’t think it was the same guy.”

“You can’t know that.” He shifted. “Two of the other stores had holes in their doors just like yours.”

“That doesn’t mean he did it. That just shows how he got in. Assuming that’s how.”

The two locked eyes, neither saying anything.

“Mar, there’s someone up here to see.” Her sister Marlie poked her head into the back.

“Coming.” Marissa said without taking her eyes off Jax. “I appreciate you coming out. I think you’re wrong about the young man who was here and I will see what I can do about getting better security.” She waved him toward the front of the store.

He was dismissed.

There was only so much he could say and do as the police chief. If Marissa didn’t take his concerns seriously… He’d send the extra patrols around when he could. He’d check up on her, too. Past that, he’d almost have to wait for her to have a break-in.

His cell phone vibrated. He unclipped it from his hip. It was his mother. For someone who’d decided he wasn’t her son anymore, she sure did call a lot. “Do you mind if I answer this here?”

“Go right ahead.” She headed out to the front of the store.

Jax put the phone to his ear. “Chief Carlisle.”

“Jackson, I have been calling you all afternoon. Why haven’t you answered my calls?” His mother’s shrill voice echoed through the phone.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m working.”

“What if I had an emergency?”

“Then you should call in to the station like everyone else.” Even though she was “humiliated” by his new job, Bunny Carlisle still wanted preferential treatment. Typical.

“I need you to come by the club tomorrow morning.”

“I don’t know that I can.” He’d been by his parents’ home once since he’d been back in town. And that was only to see Callie. On a day when his mother was in the middle of one of her social obligations. He’d been avoiding the club.

“Your sister is getting married and we need to coordinate with you as one of the groomsmen.”

Had his mother asked him to be in the wedding party, he’d have turned her down flat, but when Callie asked… He’d never been good at denying his baby sister anything. “I’ll see what I can do.” He hit the end button on his phone before she could make any more demands. He was walking through the kitchen when he overheard Marissa.

“… he breaks into my shop and you want me to give him a job?”

Chapter Five

Marissa stared at Lexi. The girl had dragged Hill—and it was clear he didn’t want to be there—into her shop. Through Lexi, Hill admitted that he’d broken in, taken cupcakes and who knew what else but now he was sorry and wanted to make up for it. By working it off. Lexi wanted her to give him a job.

When Lexi and Hill had come in, the girl had bought them each a drink and a cupcake. Hill was partial to the red velvet, she’d learned from the wrapper he’d left on the table the other night. While Hill ate, Lexi had pulled Marissa aside and dropped her little bomb. But there was more.

“I know he broke into your store. But it was only on nights when it was too chilly or he had homework.” The teen worried the edge of her shirt.

“I don’t understand.”

Lexi leaned in. “He has no place to go. Like nowhere.”

There were few things in the world that could make the bottom drop out of Marissa’s stomach; homelessness was one of them. Many years after her mother left, Marissa, Marlie and their brothers had been in downtown Fort Worth with their father at the big library. It had been such an adventure when she’d entered the grand building with its white columns. Her dad had helped her get her first ever library card. She was so proud, checked out three books all by herself. As they were leaving, Duff pointed at a woman up the street. She was wearing tattered clothing, pushing a shopping cart. It was all her father could do to stop him from running down the street.

Marissa could remember Duff’s contorted face as he looked up at their dad and said, “But it’s Mom.”

Marissa had wanted to get a closer look. She barely remembered what her mother looked like. But the dirty woman, the one who was talking to herself, looked nothing like the image she’d formed from a few aging photos.

Glen Llewellyn had gathered up his children, shuttled them back to their van and driven away without so much as a comment. Later that night, Marissa had overheard him talking to Mr. Humphries. Their mother had a drug problem. When she’d run off it was to avoid going into rehab—she’d chosen God knows what over getting the help Glen was offering her. Apparently she’d come back from time to time to ask for money, and the last time Glen had refused. He’d told her no, and until that day at the library it’d been three years since he’d seen her.

Her father was devastated and so confused. Marissa had been mad at the woman for upsetting him. They’d never gone back to that library—as a family. When Marissa was old enough, she’d gone looking for her mom. She’d wanted nothing more than to find her mom, help her, get her off the streets, but no matter how many times she’d gone back to that library she’d never found her mom. She always feared her mother had finally succumbed to either being on the streets or drugs themselves.

Marissa lowered her voice as her stomach continued to pitch. “He’s homeless?” Her voice carried and the young man’s cheeks turned red.

Hill set down the drink he’d just pulled up to his mouth and gulped heavily.

A deep throat cleared from behind Marissa and she jumped. “Oh, Chief, hey.”

Hill stood suddenly as Lexi gasped. “We’ve gotta…”

“No.” Marissa held her hand up. “You’re not going anywhere.” She turned to Jax. “Was there something else you needed?”

He opened his mouth, but the cell at his hip chirped again. When he looked at the screen, he shook his head. “I’ve got to go.” He glanced back up at Marissa, then to Hill. “Will you be here a little later? I think you and I need to talk.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” Marissa hurried Jax to the door. “I’m here ‘bout another hour.” Once she got him out of the shop, she turned to face the two teens.

“What’s going on?” Marlie stood behind the counter, her gaze volleying between the three.

Marissa turned to her sister but decided not to tell her who Hill was. Not until she could figure out what to do. “Don’t you have an appointment at the club?”

Marlie jumped and checked her watch. “Oh, I do. I’ll call you later with the details for the wedding—”

“I don’t know.”

“You promised you’d do it,” she said in a singsong voice as she waggled her pinky and gave Marissa the sisterly you-owe-me stare.

“We’ll see…” Marissa tried to get the words out before her sister made it out the front door, but she blew past so fast, she wasn’t sure Marlie had heard her. She had pinky sworn, though, so even though Marlie had tricked her, she couldn’t wiggle out of it.

When she turned back to the teens, they were quietly arguing over the half-eaten cupcakes. “Okay, so let’s talk.”

The pair jumped apart, both wide-eyed. And suddenly mute.

Marissa smashed her hands on her hips. “Which one of you is going to go first?” She waggled her finger between the two.

Both teens looked at their feet.

“Lexi, you seem to be the one with all the ideas and plans. You go first.” Marissa pulled out a stool and leaned up against it, then slid the one across from her out with her foot. “Sit. Start over from the beginning.”

Lexi walked over to the stool and only glanced back over her shoulder at Hill once. She hopped her five-foot frame up on the tall stool, took a deep breath and the words tumbled out of her. “You see, it’s like this. Hill’s mom passed away a few years ago. He was living with his dad. Who is a real loser. Sorry, Hill—” she looked back at him for a moment “—but he is. One day, his dad up and leaves.” She held Marissa’s gaze without blinking once. “No one seemed to notice there was this kid living all by himself. Hill’s a good student so it didn’t affect school or anything. But a few months later the bank forecloses on the house. He didn’t have a way to float a mortgage on top of school and his part-time job. He did have a job.” She said it so earnestly, as if to score a few extra points in Hill’s favor. “But the company folded and everyone lost their jobs.”

Lexi took a long breath and continued. “He lived with friends here and there. And no one asked questions or seemed to notice he had nowhere to go.” She gave a quick little growl of disapproval. “I’d totally let him stay with me, but my mom’s so provincial I can’t. He’ll be eighteen in two months and then it won’t matter, but until then…” She shrugged. “He needs a little help here and there.”

Hill shifted. He hadn’t said a word. Just let his friend Lexi plead his case.

“So like I told you, he only snuck in here when it was too cold or he had a lot of homework. He didn’t really hurt anything or anyone by doing it.” She folded her hands in her lap and straightened her shoulders. She’d said her piece.

For a moment, all Marissa could do was try to catch her breath. She glanced at Hill. He stood next to the other table, his food and drink still half-finished. He’d turned three shades of red under his tan complexion and looked ready to bolt at any moment.

Marissa’s head swam with the information. The most she could muster up at the moment was a simple question. “Is that all true?”

“Yes ma’am.”

It was the first time he’d spoken. He had a deep, smooth voice that while polite held an edge of mistrust.

There were so many people who’d failed him. She didn’t know the first thing about where or how to help, but there were also services and organizations for that. None of which had come to take care of him when he needed it the most. He could have gone to them, but he was still a kid. He’d been taking care of himself any way he could. Until he’d gotten caught.

And what had she done?

Sure, she’d called the police initially, but when he’d run and she could have identified him, she hadn’t. Was she as guilty as the others? Even when Jax had come face-to-face with Hill, she hadn’t turned and pointed to him. She’d kept quiet. Now the teens trusted her for it and were asking for her help. Sort of. It wasn’t like they were necessarily asking her to help him into the system, though. They wanted her to overlook the fact that he’d broken into her shop—several times—and helped himself to her food.

Food that was going to go to waste, a little voice in the back of her head whispered.

She shook herself and asked, “And somehow all this parlays into a job offer from me to him?”

Lexi’s face brightened. “Yes. You could let Hill work here. He could clean up and maybe you could let him sleep on the sofa in your office. It’s not all that comfortable, but it beats under the bridge on the far side of town.”

Marissa let that sink in. It sucked that she’d been right. It sucked worse that Hill had been basically tossed aside and made to fend for himself. What must it be like for a teenager—whether he was soon to be eighteen or not—to be completely on his own? She’d never been alone since the moment of conception. She’d always had Marlie, her older brothers and her dad. Not to mention a slew of extended family all over Texas and beyond. She’d never once worried about being alone.

Lexi wasn’t done yet. “If you agree, it will give you an added layer of security having a warm body here at night. So no one can break in.”

“No one else can break in, you mean,” Marissa pointed out.

If Hill’s face had been red before, now it was about-to-stroke-out red. He rolled his head back and stared up at the ceiling.

“How many times have you…” Marissa motioned to the back of the shop.

“Not that many,” Lexi said at the same time as Hill lowered his head and said, “a dozen or so.”

Marissa pinched the bridge of her nose. A dozen times someone had broken into her shop. A dozen times a lone, teenage boy had slept in her office, on her sofa, to keep from sleeping under a bridge. She’d only noticed a couple of times when things seemed off, and only once was it obvious that food had been taken.

The bell over the door clanged as a woman with three little girls came in chattering away.

“How are y’all?” Marissa stood. “I’ll be right with you.” When they passed and made their way up to the counter, she turned to the teens. “I’m not done talking with you two. Sit. Finish your snack and I’ll be right back.”

She wasn’t entirely sure they’d listen to her. She half-expected them to be gone when she finished with her customers. But Lexi and Hill were at the table. Hill had finished his cupcake and Lexi sat picking at hers. Marissa grabbed another red velvet from the case and headed back over to the teens. She set the cupcake in front of Hill. He stared at it for a long moment, then peeled back the paper and took a bite.

There were so many things she could do. The least of which was nothing and tell the kids to skedaddle. One thing that played over and again in her head was the fact that Hill had admittedly sneaked into the shop so many times and—other than the food—he hadn’t taken a single thing. He could have cleaned out the money from the cash register. Not that she kept more than a few dollars in the drawer when the store was closed. Not to mention, there were any number of pawnable items in the shop and on her desk and he’d never once filched anything. That should count for something. And while she did want to help him out, she wasn’t ready to invite him to her small two-bedroom townhome. Nor was she ready to thrust him upon a system that as of yet hadn’t even noticed he needed help.