Baker's Law

Marissa leaned over the counter and held out her pinky to her sister. “I pinky swear, I’ll be your assistant.”

Marlie squealed and latched on her finger for their elaborate handshake.

“Now tell me.” Marissa grabbed a cupcake for herself and sat with her sister at the closest table. “Who called you?” She took a bite of the black cherry cupcake.

“None other than Bunny Carlisle.”

Marissa didn’t even taste the food as she chewed. It had been almost a full week since she’d seen Jax Carlisle and that was after nearly twenty years. Why hearing he was getting married sat so heavily with her… Probably because the moments she did sleep over the past week, she’d done nothing but fantasize about the man. “That’s…great.”

“It’s more than great. It’s going to be the wedding of the year.” Marlie dragged her finger across the top of the icing and scooped some up. “There’s only one catch.”

Marissa frowned around another bite of her food. There was always a catch. Her mouth was too full to ask, but she didn’t need to—Marlie plowed right on anyway.

“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?”

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