anything missing?”
This was going to sound ridiculous. Why did she have to say it in front of Jax Carlisle? She bit her lip for a moment, then just blurted it out. “A cupcake.”
“A single cupcake?” Jax looked like he had better things to do than search for her cupcake thief.
“I don’t know where he went.” A huge yawn escaped before she could stop it. “What time is it?”
He glanced at his watch. “A little after three.”
Marissa groaned. Normally, she’d come in to the shop at eight to start baking for the 10:00 a.m. opening. She would get next to no sleep tonight if she drove home all the way across town to then turn right back around and do it all over again a couple of hours later. “I’m sorry you had to come out this late for nothing.” Marissa started to wave him back toward the front of the shop but then stopped. “Hang on a sec,” she said before he pushed out the door.
She hurried back to the kitchen and boxed up a few day-old cupcakes. She usually took them over to her sister or their dad once Kya showed up for her shift. She found Jax standing where she’d left him near the front door. “Here.” She offered him the box when she reached him. “For coming out so late.” She frowned for a second. “Or early.”
He stared at the box. “I’m just doing my job.”
“Then as a welcome home.” She jiggled the box and gave him a tentative smile.
He took the box and stared at her for a long moment. “I do know you. We went to high school together. You’re Lulu.”
Her first instinct was to run and hide. It had been years since anyone had called her that. Lulu. The nickname had started when she was in the seventh grade and a little pudgy. Moo-Moo Llewellyn had stuck for a few months, then been shortened to simply Lulu. By her senior year, some of the kids hadn’t even known her actual name. Thankfully, after graduation it had died away. She’d never have guessed Jax Carlisle knew it or would remember it.
She wasn’t that awkward teen any longer, and she wasn’t going to let Chief McHottypants get to her. “My name is Marissa. And if there’s nothing else…” She pushed him out the door. “Good night.”
Jax moved aside to avoid getting hit by the door. Once Marissa locked it, she turned, headed back through the small shop and never looked back. The lights went out, leaving the bakery barely lit, and all the while he stood in front of the shop holding a box of desserts.
What had he said that had made her so mad, so quickly? And there was no doubt he’d upset her. He frowned. She had been one of the few students who hadn’t fallen over themselves to be near him. At the time he’d soaked up the attention, taken advantage of his godlike status.
It had made him cocky back then. Now he hoped no one remembered.
When the call had come in to the station, her name hadn’t immediately registered. He’d known several Llewellyns growing up. Two boys, both older than him, and two younger twin girls. They’d lived on the other side of the tracks. Literally. The railroad separated the tax brackets in Oak Hollow. His mom had never out-and-out forbade him to hang out with someone from “the other side,” but as they didn’t spin in her circle—and couldn’t pay the ridiculous annual club dues—she didn’t acknowledge them.
It was his mother’s narrow-mindedness that had kept him away for so many years. Partly because of how wrong it was and partly because his senior year of high school he’d started to buy into it all. When he’d gone off to the University of Texas he’d been a nobody. The school was huge and he’d melted into the crowd like every other freshman. At first it had grated on his over-inflated ego. Then he’d realized how hard it’d been to keep up the pretenses the Carlisles were “obligated” to foster.
Once he’d gotten out of school, Austin was as good as place as any to put down roots. He’d gotten a basic degree and wasn’t entirely sure where he wanted to go with his life once he graduated, but law enforcement ran in his blood. It was too blue-collar for his mother to ever acknowledge, but in the back of his mind he’d always entertained the idea of joining the force, so he decided to give it a try. Once he got out of the academy, he’d known it was a great fit for him and he’d settled into his job and his adopted town.
As the years went on, though, there were days when he longed for the familiarity of his hometown, his friends and, even if it was hard to admit, his family. He had stayed in touch with several of his true friends, the ones who had stuck around when his mother cut him off for not following in the long Carlisle steps.
Then when Otto Kendal had told Jax his father was set to retire as the Oak Hollow police chief, Jax immediately inquired about his replacement. It had taken several interviews, but the mayor had finally decided to go with someone who was familiar with the town rather than a couple of the other applicants with a slight experience advantage. Both of those men were from out of state and that had been Jax’s ace in the hole despite his mother’s objections. Had the mayor hired him just to spite Bunny Carlisle?
No surprise, he’d gotten a call not ten minutes after he’d signed the contract. His mother had heard the news before he’d had a chance to tell her. Not that she’d have been able to talk him out of the job. She hadn’t been able to get him to quit any of the years he’d spent on the Austin police force. She was happy that he’d moved back home, but in the weeks since his relocation, she’d been vocal about his choice of profession.
When he was a teen, he’d let her influence him. He’d long since broken that habit.
He shook his head. He’d expected frequent trips down memory lane while he settled back into the routine of life in Oak Hollow. He just hadn’t expected it to take up most of his waking thoughts. Especially when he’d been called to his old stomping grounds. He’d hung out on Flower Tree, the main street of Oak Hollow since its founding in the early nineteen hundreds. In high school, there’d been a burger chain, a donut shop and a florist. The florist was still there, but the two staples from his teens had been transformed into a chic woman’s boutique and the cupcake shop.
Jax had been up at the police station when the call came in from Marissa Llewellyn. Hell, he’d been up at the station late almost every night the past week. He hadn’t anticipated the amount of paperwork he had to do on a daily basis. Working as a detective in Austin for the last six years had prepared him to take over some aspects when Chief Kendal retired. It hadn’t prepared him for the mounds of paperwork that came along with it.
The department had a small staff. Six full-time officers and two reserve officers as well as two dispatchers. He and all the officers were on call even when they were off. One month into his term, he’d gone on several routine calls, mostly small-town non-emergencies. The crime rate in Oak Hollow was well below average, and this was the first B and E call for him here if you didn’t count the fact that the “suspect” snuck out before he could get so much as a look at him. And the fact that nothing appeared to be missing save a single cupcake…
He walked back to the old SUV cruiser he’d inherited with the job. He set the cupcakes on the seat beside him, then set his hat atop the box. Back in high school, he wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing a cowboy hat. Going off to college had changed so many things in his life—all for the better as far as he was concerned.
Another light went out in the shop, but no further movement. He scanned the lot. There were no other cars. He guessed Lulu— no, he’d better think of her as Marissa—had parked around back. He drove around to the back of the shop just
