Baker's Law

Jax was dog tired as he crossed through the kitchen to set down the cupcakes Marissa gave him, but the tantalizing smell made him hold off on bedtime just yet. He popped open the box and planned to sample only one treat. A few minutes later, he’d eaten two of them and was eyeing a third, but the twenty-hour day was creeping up on him. He shut the box to save the rest for breakfast.

A few hours of sleep and Jax would be good. He didn’t even bother to undress, just laid on top of the comforter his sister had given him when he moved in. As soon as he woke, he was going to head back to Flower Tree, look around a little more and check in on Marissa. Maybe buy a few more of those cupcakes. He’d seen strawberry ones in the case. It would give him another excuse to see her again—unofficially.

Chapter Two

“That’s your fourth cup.” Kya set a batch of red velvet cupcakes into the display.

Marissa’s hands shook slightly from the caffeine. “It’s the only thing keeping me awake.”

“Go home.”

“Soon.” She’d gotten a little sleep after Jax Carlisle left. But not nearly enough. Inappropriate, yet delicious thoughts about the new chief of police had plagued her sleep. Just after daybreak, she’d given up and started baking.

When Kya had come in around noon, Marissa hurried home and got a couple more hours of sleep. She’d finally banished her wayward thoughts of Jax but she couldn’t stop thinking about the boy. Who snuck into a business to do homework? And like Jax said, the boy could have robbed her several times, but he hadn’t.

When she woke, she headed back to the shop just before the high school let out. Several kids usually came in and she wanted to try and spot the one from earlier that morning. Plus she had to meet her oldest brother. She’d called Duff to come look at the door and see if he could fix it. He’d promised to be by after he got off work.

Twenty minutes later, several girls came in giggling and whispering. Marissa recognized one of them from down the street. She was about to wave her over when a lanky frame across the street caught her eye. “It’s him.” She bolted from her perch behind the counter and raced out the front door, flour on her face and apron. “Hey. You!”

The teen turned. She saw the moment he realized who was yelling at him—his eyes widened and he darted between the dry cleaners and the animal hospital.

Traffic up Flower Tree was too heavy for her to run across on foot. She needed her SUV if she wanted to see where he ended up. Back in the shop, the girls looked up from the counter. One turned up her nose like Marissa had just walked out of the bathroom with her skirt tucked into her undies. The one from her neighborhood kept her back to her—like she’d never met Marissa before. Teenagers. They were a good portion of her patrons so she tried to ignore their lovely mood swings. And now she had to deal with them breaking into her shop.

Marissa snagged her purse and keys and was coming out to tell Kya she’d be back as the girls all received their orders. The lot of them headed back out the store. At the door, the one from Marissa’s neighborhood paused—they’d met at block parties several times over the past couple of years. “I forgot my book. I’ll catch up.” She waved her friends away and walked back toward the counter. She checked over her shoulder a couple of times until the other girls were out of eyeshot. “You live up the street, right?”

“Yeah.” Marissa leaned her hip against the display case, then waved her hand at herself. “Marissa.”

The teen’s eyes widened for a moment, then she glanced at the cup in her hand with the store logo on it. “Cool.” She gave a quick nod of approval. “I’m Lexi. Why were you running after that boy?”

“You know him?”

Lexi nodded, then took a long sip of her drink. “He goes by Hill. He’s a senior at my school. Why were you yelling at him?”

“He forgot his change,” Marissa lied easily. “Do you know where he lives?”

Lexi’s cheeks flushed. “He, um, I don’t know. I should go. My friends are waiting.” She hurried to the door.

“You forgot your book.” Marissa scanned the counter and the table they’d stopped at momentarily, but there was no book. By the time she turned back to Lexi, the girl was already out the door.

Marissa shook her head as she removed her apron. “Kya, I need to run out for a bit. I promise I’ll be back in time to meet with my brother for the door.”

“Okay, boss.” Kya came out of the back with the broom.

Marissa headed out to her SUV. Was she being silly to chase after a teenage boy—one she’d unsuccessfully tried to turn in to the police chief?

“Maybe it’s sleep deprivation,” she muttered as she slid behind the wheel. Lack of sleep or no, it didn’t stop her from driving the direction she’d seen the boy—Hill—go. She was being stupid. There were any number of places a boy could hide, not to mention he might have just gone home. She was crossing the bridge into one of the main neighborhoods in Oak Hollow as she shook her head.

“Might as well go back.” Her brother was due at her shop any minute. Marissa made a U-turn as soon as there was a break in traffic. As she was pulling into her lane, a flash of color caught her attention. Bright green and blue. Whatever it was, it hung from a tree branch next to the small creek that bisected the business end of town from the soccer fields. It caught her attention more when she remembered where she’d seen something similar before, on Hill—his backpack.

What in the world would the boy be doing next to the creek?

She gnawed her lip. Stop or not, she wasn’t sure, but since she’d been going on foolish impulse since grabbing her keys, she went ahead and pulled over to the side of the road and got out. The small area off to the side of the bridge was more cluttered than she might have expected for a town that boasted its civic pride on every posted sign.

“I must have lost my mind.” Marissa turned to head back to the SUV and the dirt under her foot gave way. She slid down the short embankment on her butt, squealing the entire way down until she hit the bottom. The air jerked out of her lungs. It took a moment to catch her breath, then she stood and scanned the area. Her heart hammered as much from her quick ride as it did from the realization of how isolated she was. So far off the road, no one would be able to see her unless they came down the embankment as she had. Nor would anyone know if she needed help.

Luckily, no one was lurking about.

She twisted and checked the back of her pants. No holes, but dirty. She shook her head and dusted off her butt.

For some reason she tiptoed as she crossed over to the small tree that held the backpack. She checked around her, feeling a little guilty and slightly exposed while snooping. When she was sure she was alone, she unzipped the largest of the compartments of the backpack. There were several schoolbooks and a notebook. She slid out the notebook. Paul Hillman was written across the front in small, precise black letters.

It was the boy’s backpack. But what did that mean?

Under the bridge overhang, Marissa found a clean sleeping bag. She studied it until a car horn honked. She looked at her watch. Time to get back to the shop to meet Duff.

She breathed a little easier once she was back in her car and headed back to work. All the while her mind tried to process a young man breaking into her shop, taking only a few day-old cupcakes and…doing homework. It made too much sense when she considered the backpack and the sleeping bag. She got a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.

When she arrived at the shop, she headed straight to the restroom to clean herself up before Duff got there. She didn’t want to explain what she’d been doing since she wasn’t entirely sure she could explain it. Just as she finished cleaning the last of the grit from her palms, Duff walked in.

“Hey, little sis.” He gave her a quick hug, then pushed her to arm’s length and frowned down at her. “You look like hell.” One of his blond eyebrows cocked upward as he grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a good onceover.

She elbowed her oldest brother in the ribs. “Well, you’re just a ray of sunshine, aren’t ya.”

“You love me anyway.” He gave her a quick noogie as she tried to swat him. “What do you need fixed?”

Marissa showed him the hole in the back door, then skirted the issue when he asked how she’d found it. He told her it had rust around the edges, so it was probably pretty old.

“I need to run up to the hardware store to get some supplies. Shouldn’t take me too long to get it done once I get back.”

“Thank you, big brother.” She reared up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek quickly.

Duff snorted. “None of that brother-sister kissy stuff. I want cupcakes.”

She chuckled. “Okay.” She hurried over to her desk and snagged a notepad. “Give me a list of flavors and I’ll have them ready for you when you’re done.” Duff’s sweet tooth was only surpassed by his wife’s. He and Libby were often two of her first tasters when she was working out new flavors for the shop.

After he finished the order, he left for the hardware store.

Marissa grabbed two Black Forest cupcakes, two of the vanilla bombs and four of the new orange crèmes. And for good measure she added in two of the new maple bacon and nestled them into the pink-and-white bakery box with a note atop for Duff to let her know what he and Libby thought of the new flavor. Then she took the rest of the quiet time in the back to get to work on the paperwork she’d fallen asleep over the night before. Her eyelids were again growing heavy as she scanned her employees’ time sheets. It shouldn’t be that difficult with one part-time employee and Kya working full-time, but the numbers kept swimming around the page.

Maybe if she took a quick break. She crossed her arms over the sheets and laid her head down.

The next moment, someone was tapping on her forehead. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”

Marissa lifted her head to find Duff standing over her.

“You’re lucky the only markers on your desk were permanent.” He tapped her forehead again. “You’d be sporting some wicked eyebrows and a ’stache.”

“Small favors, I guess, that you do have your standards for your sibling torture.” She leaned back in the chair and massaged a kink in her neck. “So how long do you think it will take you?”

Duff gave a quick snort. “Mar, I’ve already finished.”

Marissa’s eyes widened.

“You were sleeping like a rock.” Her brother gave her a long look. “What’s up with that? Are you having troubles?”

She debated telling him about the break-in, but what could he do about it other than worry? “No trouble. Just a lot of paperwork that seems to be interfering with my sleep.” She lifted the time sheets in front of her.

He looked like he didn’t believe her but didn’t comment further on the subject. “Come, let me show you what I did.” He motioned for her to follow him to the back door. “The patch will hold, but I would suggest you think about getting a new door altogether. And an alarm. This door’s not even wired for anything.”

She opened her mouth to complain about funds being low, but he raised his hand.

“I know they’re expensive. I’m just throwing that out there as an overprotective big brother.” They stopped at the door and he showed her the small panels he’d fastened on both sides of the door with some superglue. “And just in case someone gets the bright idea of prying the panel off, I filled the hole with caulk.”

“Thanks, Duff.” When he straightened he merely held out his hand and batted his eyelashes at her expectantly.

Marissa rolled her eyes. “Let me get your cupcakes. I’d tell you to go easy on them, but I think Libby will be lucky if there are any left by the time you get home.” She patted his belly. “And I threw in two of a new one I’m working on.”

He clapped his hands together. “What is it this time?

“Maple bacon.”

“Hmm.”

That was a noncommittal response if she ever heard one. “Trust me. You’ll love it.” She handed him the box. “You’ll be calling me begging for more. Just you wait and see.”

Once Duff left, Marissa finished the rest of the time sheets. Paying her employees was much more important than leaving a little early if she wanted to keep said employees.

Kya popped back into her office about an hour before close. “Boss, there’s a group of teens loitering outside the shop.”

Teenagers on their own weren’t that big a deal—their orders made up probably a third of her business—but for Kya to come back and bring it to her attention… The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood but she shook it off. It was probably nothing. Or it could be someone returning to the scene of the crime. Marissa sat up straighter in her chair. Would Hill be brazen enough to come back to the shop when she was open? She pushed back in her chair and followed Kya out to the front of the shop. “Where?”

“Right now they’re across the street but they’ve walked past the front of the shop at least three times.”

“Did they come in?”

The younger woman shook her head.

Under the guise of wiping down the tables, Marissa moved to the large window next to the door. A group of three guys stood next to a trash can on the opposite side of the street just as Kya said. It was hard to determine their ages, but they were dressed like typical teenagers. Hill was not with them. One of the guys, dressed in khaki pants and a loose button-down shirt, looked over at her. With his close-cropped blond hair, he didn’t stand out—he looked like any young man from the local high school—other than the way he kept eyeing her. When it looked like he might cross the street, an Oak Hollow officer drove slowly down the street. The boys walked in the opposite direction, not fast enough to look like they were running, but enough to see they didn’t want any part of the OH police force.

“They’re gone now,” Marissa said returning the rag back behind the counter. “But I’ll stay here with you ’til close just in case they decide to come in and cause trouble.”

The rest of the evening was thankfully uneventful. Marissa even managed to get the rest of her reordering done since she had the payroll out of the way. By closing time, they’d not seen the boys again and her jitters had tamped down considerably.

She and Kya went through the closing procedures in silent efficiency and said good-night in the parking lot. Marissa sat behind the wheel of her SUV, unsure where to go next. Her little power nap had energized her enough she wasn’t completely dead on her feet but wasn’t ready to head home. She’d promised her best friend since practically birth, Cherry Humphries, that she’d stop by at some point. Since it’d been at least two weeks, she might as well stop on her way home. And if she happened to pass by the bridge where she’d seen Hill’s backpack…who was to know?

Chapter Three

She drove over the bridge three times and saw no lights, nor any sign of life for that matter. And while she may have been crazy enough to go down there in the middle of the afternoon, after dark there was no way she’d pull over, much less scale the slick embankment.

She wasn’t sure what she expected, nor was she sure what she might have done had she found Hill there, but when her side trip came up nil, it swiped at her suddenly waning energy. At the next intersection—a four-way stop that to the right would take her home or to the left to her friend’s family restaurant—she merely sat. Contemplating.

Cherry or sleep. She waffled for a moment. When her SUV crept into the intersection, she hadn’t made up her mind, but at the last minute she made a left and headed out to the far edge of town to see her friend. Sleep was highly overrated.

Marissa’s stomach rumbled in happy relief as the scent of baked bread and grilled meat engulfed her the moment she stepped through the door of Calista’s Bistro. The young girl standing behind the host stand smiled brightly when she saw Marissa.

“Hey, sweetie.” Marissa enveloped Cherry’s youngest sister in a hug.

“My mom’s been wondering when you were coming by.” Violet made a notation in the book on the stand. “Come on back. How’ve you been?”

“Good. Busy. How are the desserts selling?” Once a week, Marissa sent over a few dozen cupcakes for the restaurant’s Sunday brunch. She was pretty sure that Mrs. Humphries only ordered them to help her business along. She wasn’t going to complain, though.

“Usually gone before we can sneak one.” Violet winked at her as she guided Marissa to the kitchen where the staff was bustling about. At the back of the kitchen, at a sturdy wooden door, Violet paused to rap her knuckles quickly, but didn’t wait for a response. “Knock, knock. Momma, look who I found out front.”

Mrs. Humphries and Cherry had their heads bent over a computer and looked up together. The two women smiled broadly and stood.

“Marissa.” Mrs. Humphries held open her arms for a hug. She smelled of Chanel No. 5 and bread. It was one of the most familiar scents from Marissa’s childhood.

Marissa’s own mother had run off when she and Marlie were only two years old. It was six months later that the Humphries moved in down the street. Glen Llewellyn, at his wit’s end trying to raise two boys and twin girls, had jumped at the chance to set playdates for his girls with the Humphries children. Mrs. Humphries hadn’t hesitated to give Marissa and her sister a mother’s love despite having three girls of her own. She and her husband Chuck had been surrogate parents when her father was bogged down with work.

Marissa and Cherry and Marlie had been glued at the hip all through grade school and even into junior high. Marissa was the one who kept them all grounded when Marlie and Cherry tried their best to get them into trouble. She had always wanted them to be good, so they didn’t end up like her mother.… Once they reached their teens, though, Marlie drifted off into her own little world of high school fashionistas and Marissa simply tried to blend into the woodwork with Cherry nudging her out of her social sequestering from time to time.

Still, over all the years not a week had gone by in which she hadn’t spoken to Cherry—more often than not in person. She gave her friend a little extra squeeze. Just seeing her friend released several knots of tension she hadn’t realized had built up in her shoulders.

When all the small talk was exhausted, Cherry finally pulled her aside. “We’re going to eat, Momma.” Cherry looped her arm with Marissa’s. “Sorry, my mom’s been on a family bent since Lily moved away.”

Marissa nodded. She remembered when her brother, Tanner, had moved away from Oak Hollow she’d cried for days. To this day, she still got a wobbly pull in the pit of her stomach at her brother all the way in Iowa.

Cherry gave her a quick pat on the arm before motioning to the family’s booth. “You look like crap.”

“You always know just what to say.” Marissa gave her a wan smile. “I’m just tired. Didn’t get much sleep last night.” She told her about the break-in and Hill but left off her growing suspicions about his living arrangements. “But I don’t think he was trying to steal anything.” Besides the smallest amount of food.

“Hon, why would someone break in without the intent to steal?”

“I don’t know.” She wiped her hand across her face. “I think my brain’s too tired. My judgment’s off. When I saw Hill this afternoon I ran after him down the street. Hell, I even got in my car and chased in the direction I thought he went.”

“Hill? You know who he is?” She frowned. “Why does that name sound familiar?” She waved her sister over after she seated a couple. “Vi, why do I know the name Hill? He’s a teenager?” She looked at Marissa, who nodded.

Vi tilted her head and tapped her index finger to her pursed lips. Finally she snapped her fingers. “There was a woman who worked here a few years back. Patricia Hillman. She had a son, I think. I think they called him Hill.”

Cherry nodded. “I remember her. She died, didn’t she? Seems like it was a car accident.”

“Aw man.” Marissa slumped back in her seat. “What about his dad?”

Her friend shrugged. “Sorry. Don’t know.” She sipped from the water the waitress set down in front of her. “Did you tell the police you know who it was?”

“I didn’t know ‘til later. Oh.” Marissa widened her eyes. “Do you know who the new police chief is?” She fanned herself and gave a low whistle.

“Do I know? He’s eaten here every night this week. I think he’s—” Cherry twisted around in her seat “—here right now. Yeah, there he is over near the bar.”

Jax Carlisle was sitting alone eating his dinner. He wasn’t dressed in his dark uniform, but had on jeans and boots and a tan button-down shirt. As if he knew they were talking about him, the new chief of police shifted his gaze in their direction. A quick smile spread across his mouth and he nodded hello.

“Well, isn’t that pretty interesting.” Cherry straightened in her seat and waggled her eyebrows. “When did you and Jax hook up?”

Marissa choked on her water. “Hook up? I’ve seen him exactly one time since he moved back. I didn’t even know he was back until he walked into the shop this morning.” She wouldn’t tell her friend how she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the man.

“Not a bad choice. You’ve had a long dry spell.”

“He’s not a ‘choice.’ He was just responding to my call.”

Cherry waggled her eyebrows again. “The guy was good-looking in school. Now he’s an outstandingly fine specimen. I wonder if I should have some sort of ‘emergency’ myself. See what his, um, response time is.” She laughed herself silly until the waitress approached, then sobered enough to order food for the both of them—a Cobb salad for her and the meatloaf special for Marissa, the same meal they’d eaten a thousand times before; there was something satisfying in routine, especially when Marissa’s day had started off as anything but.

Marissa glanced back over to Jax’s table several times and every time he caught her at it, he smiled. She had to make herself not look again and eventually managed to relax into the evening with her dearest friend. Halfway through dinner, though, Cherry was called to the back to deal with a vendor.

A moment later, Jax slid into the booth with her. “How are you?”

The bite of potatoes Marissa had just stuffed into her mouth threatened to choke her. Luckily she managed to swallow without gulping too loudly, or needing CPR, though mouth-to-mouth with the chief… She had to shake herself before she could answer. “Fine, Chief. Yourself?”

A slow smile quirked up the corner of his gorgeous mouth. “I’m off duty. You can call me Jax.”

Marissa dropped her fork onto the edge of the plate knowing there was no way she could take another bite in front of the man. What, was she sixteen again? She gave herself a quick pep talk. You’re a grown woman who owns her own business. He’s just a regular man. Talk to him like any old customer. She settled her arms on the edge of the table and leaned forward. “Are you really ever off duty?

Am I? Jax smiled wider at her question. “No, I guess not.” She hadn’t changed her clothes since he’d seen her earlier in the morning but her hair was down around her shoulders. For a brief moment he imagined that hair floating around his as she lay atop him. He shifted and cleared his throat. “Any other troubles at your shop?”

“Nothing worth mentioning. I saw a cruiser go by. Thanks for that.” She ran her finger over the edge of her water glass, and then tilted it toward herself.

He started to rise. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner.”

She set the glass upright, reached out and set her hand on his forearm. “You’re not. Interrupting me, that is. Stay for a minute. I’m finished.” Just as quickly as she’d touched him, she pulled her hand back and pushed her plate to the side. “I bet your mom is glad to have you home.”