Baker’s Law (26 page)

“Hill!” Marissa stood rooted to the floor for a moment. “Dammit, Jax.”

Jax rushed after the teen, sidestepping Marissa to keep from plowing over her. By
the time he reached the door and was out on the porch, he couldn’t even tell which
direction the boy had gone. He called in to the station again to put out an APB on
Paul Hillman.

A jolt knocked into his back. Marissa hit him with her fist.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

He turned and grabbed both of Marissa’s hands before she could pummel him again.

“You promised to keep an open mind, Jax. I told him you’d help him.”

“I was trying to help him.”

“By arresting him? By sticking him in the system?”

“Marissa, he’s not just some stray puppy you can pick up off the street and start
taking care of. He’s a kid. A person and he needs proper care and guidance.”
By the book
he wanted to add, but stopped when he looked at Marissa.

Her eyes narrowed to small slits, her lips all but gone the way she drew them up.
“You need to leave.”

“I’m not saying you don’t care about the boy. You just went about it the wrong way.”
He took a step toward her but she moved back, so he continued, “Before you get all
righteous and pissed, think about this—you could have just as easily become his legal
guardian. You could have gone to the court to petition guardianship for him and probably
won since this is a small town and there are few kids and fewer foster parents willing
to step up. But you chose to all but hide the kid away. You can’t just pretend like
he wasn’t living on the street. You don’t know how to handle a homeless teen.”

“My mother was homeless. For many, many years.”

Her words knocked the wind out of him. She never spoke about her mom and he hadn’t
wanted to pry. “Marissa…”

“Do you know who helped her?” She swiped tears from her eyes. “No one. My dad tried
for a little while, but he gave up. He gave up on her.”

“You’re not giving up on Hill by making him stand up for what he’s done.” Jax ached
to go to her, to draw her into his arms. She wouldn’t accept his touch, though. She’d
closed herself off to him.

“No, but what chance has he got now if you lock him up?”

“A very good chance.”

Marissa fisted her hands at her sides. “But she got hooked on drugs and refused help.”

“That was your mom. Hill is a good kid. He hasn’t gotten too far into anything. He’s
managed to keep up his grades, as you’ve pointed out many times, while living under
a damned bridge. Once this gets straightened out, he’ll be stronger.”

“Fat lot of good that does if he never trusts me again.”

“This is the right thing. The right course of action for a teenaged boy.”

“Leave, Jax.” Her voice was low and tight. Marissa didn’t say another word, just leaned
past him and held the door open wide.

Jax reached for her cheek, needed to touch her, maybe somehow make her understand.
She shied away.

“Think about what I said.” He tucked his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t be tempted
to reach for her again. “You’ll see that I’m right.”

It had been more than a day and a half since Hill had run out of the house. She had
hoped he’d be back as soon as Jax left, but he hadn’t been. She’d been tempted to
go out and look for him right then and there but was afraid to leave the house in
case he showed up.

Instead she’d broken down and called her dad over, spelled out everything that had
happened over the past week and a half with Hill. And some of what had happened with
Jax. Not everything, though. She’d left out the intimate points, the parts that crushed
her heart, how she’d fallen in love with the damned man and how he’d turned her world
upside down. Then how he’d smashed it to bits—her dad didn’t need to know any of that.
Whatever she had expected him to say, you could have knocked her over when her dad
agreed
with Jax.

“The boy needs structure, Mar. Not that what you did wasn’t admirable,” her dad had
said with a comforting hug.

She’d tensed up like she had when she was a kid and her dad was telling her what she
needed
to hear, not what she
wanted
to hear. Then just as quickly, she’d deflated and sat hunched over a tepid cup of
tea. “But—”

“But nothing.” Glen Llewellyn had sat across from her at the table, looked at her
with the love he’d always shown her and her siblings. He hadn’t held anything back.
“Yeah, you did good, but you only half-assed it. You didn’t give the boy the kind
of commitment he needs. There are people and policies in place for a reason that can
help a kid like that.”

Marissa had glared up at her dad. “Like it helped Mom.”

“You mom didn’t want to be helped. There’s a huge difference.” When she and Marlie
had turned fifteen, their dad had confessed that when their mom had run off and ended
up on the street, he’d convinced her to go to one of the homeless shelters to get
help. At first she’d gone and seemed to be doing better, but she’d relapsed and eventually
they’d all lost track of her.

The system had failed her mom as far as Marissa was concerned. She hadn’t put much
stock in it for Hill but until her father had come over and she’d talked it out with
him, she hadn’t even been aware that her prejudice blinded her to the help she could
have gotten for Hill.

Even more, Jax had been right. She could have stepped up even further and agreed to
be Hill’s legal guardian, but she hadn’t done that. Sure she’d looked into it, once,
in an internet search. Half-assed was right, though she couldn’t bring herself to
admit that aloud to her dad.

“I am sick to my stomach.” She’d stood and moved over to the corner of the room.

“Worry will do that.”

It was more than worry. It was guilt. Guilt ate at every fiber of her being. “I need
to get out of here. Dad—” she turned, gripped the back of the chair he was sitting
in “—would you stay here? In case he comes back? I want to, need to, go out there
and look for him.”

Her father had agreed.

“I’ll be… I don’t know.” She’d waved at him as she snapped up her purse and headed
out the door.

For hours she’d driven around Oak Hollow. She’d gone to the overpass three times,
only to find it empty. She’d gone up to the high school and just about any other place
she could think of that he might have run to. But it was as if Hill had just vanished.

She’d even called Lexi. The girl was upset but swore she didn’t know where Hill was.

When Hill hadn’t returned to her house and she hadn’t found him, she’d had no choice
but to get back to her routine. She had a business to run and couldn’t push it off
on the other employees.

Sleep had not come easily. With every noise and creak of the house, Marissa thought
Hill had come back. She was dragging at work all day Thursday. Friday was no better.
Coffee and too many sweets kept her moving if not completely functioning properly.
Were it not for the rest of Callie Carlisle’s order she might have called Kya to cover
her shift and played hooky. As it was, she’d screwed up so many batches of cupcakes
that she’d had to write out the process she usually did by rote.

Somehow, she got through her morning routine and finally managed to finish the last
of the bridal-shower order. By lunch the caffeine had taken its toll and she was antsy
and irritable. When the bell over the door rang she nearly growled aloud, but refrained,
trying for the minimal customer service. At least until she saw
who
the customer was.

Marissa looked up and did a double take. “Bunny?”

Bunny Carlisle waltzed into the cupcake shop, her nose turned up every which way she
looked.

Marissa fought back the urge to fidget and squirm. She was a grown woman and this
was her shop. “Can I help?”

Bunny pulled a white envelope from her purse and waved it at her. “Callie asked me
to drop this off.”

“Callie did.” Marissa couldn’t imagine Callie sending Bunny Carlisle her way. She
took the envelope and opened it to find a check for the bridal-shower order. “Thank
you.”

Bunny gave a brief nod, but her gaze was riveted to the case in front of her.

“Would you like to try one? What’s your favorite flavor?”

Bunny looked up, her eyes wide. “Oh, I couldn’t.”

“Sure you can. What’s your favorite?” Marissa opened the back of the case. Her hand
hovered near the strawberry where Bunny’s gaze was glued. “Strawberry is Jax’s favorite.”
Before Bunny could answer, she plucked out a strawberry. “Here, try this.” She set
the cupcake down. “Would you like some coffee?”

“Sure, thank you.” Bunny slowly peeled back the paper on the corner of the cupcake.
Her eyes rolled back into her head when she bit into the sweet treat. “This is heavenly.”
Bunny seemed almost as surprised by her admission as Marissa was. She straightened
her shoulders and returned to the prim and refined Bunny most people were used to.
“You’re very good at what you do.”

Marissa’s breath caught in her throat for a moment. “Thank you.” That was high praise
coming from one of Oak Hollow’s elite.

Bunny nodded and finished her cupcake. Marissa boxed up four more strawberry cupcakes.
“For later.” She slid the box across the counter to Bunny. When Bunny reached for
her handbag, Marissa waved it away. “On the house.”

Bunny scooped up the box and her coffee cup, and with one of her famous nose-in-the-air
nods, left the shop.

“I think I just made a new friend. Sort of,” Marissa said aloud in the empty store.
When she went to put the check in the cash drawer, a note fluttered out from behind
it.

Marissa picked it up and read,
You’ll find a way to my mother’s heart if you just wave a cupcake or two under her
nose. She’s addicted to them now. Love, Callie.

Marissa shook her head and snorted. “Ever the matchmaker, even when it’s just for
friends.” She made a mental note to call Callie later and thank her.

Half an hour later another of the Carlisle clan came into the shop.

“You missed your mom by about half an hour,” she said to Jax when he approached the
counter literally hat in hand.

“My mom was here? Why?”

“Cupcakes and coffee. Why else would she be here?” She leaned her hip against the
counter. “I think she and I crossed an impasse. Her favorite is strawberry. Like yours.”

Marissa was happy to see him despite the anger still seething under the surface. She
wasn’t ready to fall back into their routine, though. “What are you doing here?” She
crossed her arms over her chest. It hadn’t been long enough since he’d left her house,
not long enough since he upended her world. Whether he was right or not.

His eyes softened as his gaze swept over her slightly untidy “uniform.” She’d run
out of the house that morning without packing an extra shirt or two—to replace the
one she had on—on the off chance she spilled flour all over herself. Which she had.
Twice.

“How are you doing?” he asked when he finally spoke.

“What do you care?” She waved away her comment. “Hill is still missing.”

Jax sighed. “I was afraid of that. He hasn’t been at school. You haven’t seen him
at all?”

“He missed school?” The coffee rolled in her stomach. School was the one thing Hill
had for himself. Had done for himself. Something he was proud of, something that kept
him going day in and day out. The only reason he’d miss school now, was if he was
afraid Jax would catch him there.

“God, this sucks.” She pounded her fist on her hip. “I should never have trusted you.”
The words slipped out. She hadn’t meant to say them aloud. Hadn’t even meant them,
but she hurt and it was easier to hurt him in return than to admit how royally she
had screwed up.

Accurate or not, the words hit their mark judging by the pallor that came over Jax’s
face.

She wanted to apologize. But she couldn’t. She wanted to bury her face in Jax’s neck,
wanted to have him wrap his arms around her and comfort her, tell her they’d find
Hill and everything would be okay. She couldn’t turn to the one person she needed
the most, the one she loved the most. She was so confused and torn up that it all
made her too damn angry and ashamed to admit anything to Jax.

“No, I have not seen him. Thanks to you.”

Jax pulled out his notebook and made a couple of notes. “I’m sorry things turned out
the way they did.”

“Whatever.” She turned her back on Jax to straighten a napkin holder on one of the
tables. “You know, it’s not whatever.” She turned back. “I was taking care of Hill
and I was doing the best I could. I didn’t see anyone else stepping up to help him
out. Maybe I didn’t do enough, but I tried.”

Jax stepped closer to her, looked as if he was about to reach out, but stopped himself
at the last moment. “I never said what you did wasn’t great. Hell, Marissa, everyone
else who knew the boy was homeless left him to fend for himself. And the more I look
into this, the more I see there were plenty of people who knew long before you did.”
He took a deep breath. “I
am
trying to help him, for what it’s worth.”

“Your kind of help,” she scoffed. “Locking up a scared, teenage boy who’s been abandoned,
yeah that’s oh, so helpful.”

“It is. He broke the law. He needs to be accountable for that. But he can also be
helped. The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. With his cooperation, he can
get this behind him. He can have a home and a future. He won’t have to hide from authorities.
That can’t be easy on a kid.” Jax walked to the door. “We arrested some of the young
men involved. One of them hasn’t said much, but one confirmed everything Hill said.
By the way, Bryant Travers is still out there.”

Marissa’s spine straightened. The guy who’d threatened her hadn’t been picked up yet?
A shiver raced down her spine.

“We’ll find him. Soon.” Jax gave her a long look, then walked out the door.

She balled her fists and fought off the urge to scream. Scream until her throat ached.
Scream until her lungs collapsed. But it wouldn’t solve anything. It wouldn’t make
anything better.