Authors: Lisa Crane
“I didn’t take
any this morning,” she argued.
“So your leg’s
probably hurting by now.”
“I’m – okay.”
“Uh-huh. Did
you take your antibiotic?”
“Yes, Mom, I
did!” Brooke said mockingly.
Riley had edged
a little closer again. He smiled at Brooke’s words. She was holding her own
with the guy, whoever he was.
“Okay, I get
it,” Travis said, holding up his hands. He reached across the counter and
wiped a smudge of flour off Brooke’s cheek. “Just consider me the big brother
you never had, okay? You just seem like you could use someone to watch out for
you a little, Bunny-girl.”
Brooke’s eyes
widened slightly, both at the touch of his hand, and at the nickname Travis
used for her. It always irritated Brooke when her mother called her Bunny; so
why did it cause that funny little tickle in her stomach when Travis called her
Bunny-girl?
“I’m all right,
Travis, really,” Brooke said after a moment. “I’m working here and I think
it’s going to work out really well.” She gave him a pointed look. “But not if
you get me fired on my first day.”
“Not much danger
of that,” Riley said, once again beside Brooke. He extended a hand across the
counter. “Riley Parker. My wife owns Babycakes.”
“Travis Cooper,”
Travis replied, shaking Riley’s hand. “I’m Brooke’s neighbor.” He looked
closely at Riley. “Are you related to Parker Financial?”
“By blood only,”
Riley said. “My family doesn’t have much to do with me these days.” He eyed
Travis. “How do you know Parker Financial?”
“I have a
meeting with Rodger and Randall Monday afternoon,” Travis said. “I’m in
security.”
“Securities, as
in stocks and trading?”
“No, security,
as in keeping undesirables out of offices and hackers out of computers. The
protection on their server is pretty antiquated.”
“Yeah, it was
when I left four years ago,” Riley nodded. He smiled. “Not my problem
anymore, though. But I wouldn’t mind talking to you about a decent alarm for
this place.”
“You don’t have
one?” Travis asked, surprised.
“No. Jazz – my
wife – has resisted. She says everyone in the neighborhood watches out for
each other. That used to be true, but not as much anymore. It’s still a great
location, don’t get me wrong. But one business down the street was robbed a
few weeks ago. We don’t have a lot that would be of value to a thief, but
vandals could do some damage if they wanted to. Plus, there are nights when Jazz
is here alone while I’m making deliveries and I’d feel better if there were a
good security system in place. I think she’ll go along with it now that the
baby’ll be here in a couple months.”
Brooke had eased
away from the two men and returned back to the kitchen. Jazz looked at her
expectantly.
“My neighbor,”
Brooke muttered. “Checking up on me.”
Jazz moved
around the big table to peek through the window in the door. “The crazy cat –
whoa! That is
not
a crazy cat lady, Brooke!”
“I told you it wasn’t
like that!” Brooke giggled. Then she sighed. “It’s a long story. And kind of
a strange one.”
“Be right back!”
Jazz said, grinning broadly. “I’ve gotta meet this guy!”
Before Brooke
could say a word, Jazz had pushed through the door; it closed behind her with a
soft
whoosh
. Shaking her head, Brooke continued cutting out cookies in
the shape of leaves and acorns.
“Hey, babe,”
Jazz said, sidling up next to her husband.
“Travis, this is
my wife, Jazz,” Riley said, slipping an arm around her waist. “Jazz
Valenzuela, Travis Cooper. Travis is Brooke’s neighbor and we’re discussing an
alarm system for the bakery.”
“It’s nice to
meet you, Travis,” she said. “Is that what you do? Alarms?”
“Security,”
Travis said. “Not just alarms. We provide everything from alarm systems to
body guards to computer protection – you name it and we can keep it safe from
the bad guys.”
Jazz smiled up
at her husband, saying, “I know you’re just drooling over getting a high-tech
alarm system, aren’t you, Ry?”
“Is it that
obvious?”
“So Travis,”
Jazz said, turning her attention back to the man in front of her. “You’re
Brooke’s neighbor?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he
answered politely. “I just wanted to check on her. She left this morning
before I woke up and – wait…that didn’t come out right. She slept in my guest
room because her electricity was out. That’s all. And she was injured in an
accident a few days ago, so I was worried.”
“She mentioned
she was in an accident,” Jazz said, glancing casually over her shoulder toward
the kitchen. “Was it serious?”
“Yes,” Travis
said adamantly. He gestured at his own thigh. “She’s got staples from here to
here. There was a big piece of metal in the road that sliced her leg open. If
we’d pulled it out before we got her to the hospital, she could’ve bled to
death.” Jazz’s face paled. “That doesn’t even take into account the road rash
and bruises everywhere else.” He shrugged. “She’s kind of like a little
sister now, I feel like I should take care of her. She doesn’t have any real
family.”
“Sounds like
she’s lucky to have you,” Jazz said.
“She’s a nice
girl,” he answered. “I think we’ll be good friends.”
“Oh, you’re
new
neighbors?” Riley asked.
“Yes. I just
finished my house – well, the same day Brooke was injured, actually. Just
moved in. Like I said, she seems really sweet.”
“Yeah, she
does,” Jazz agreed. “And I’d better get back in the kitchen to help her out.”
As Jazz pushed
open the kitchen door, Travis called out, “See you later, Bunny-girl!” He
grinned at Riley and handed him a business card. “Give me a call. I’ll put
together a couple of things for you to look at so you can decide what you need,
okay?”
“Absolutely,”
Riley agreed.
As soon as
Travis Cooper was out the door, Riley pushed open the kitchen door. Brooke
glanced up at him.
“Bunny-girl?”
Riley queried.
Brooke closed
her eyes briefly. She sighed.
“Neither of you
looked closely at my paperwork, did you?” she asked. At two negative head
shakes, she continued. “My full name is Bunny Brooklyn Valentine. And yes,
I’ve very aware that Bunny Valentine is a great stripper name, thank you.” She
shook her head. “I have no idea why Travis insists on calling me Bunny-girl.
I guess it’s like he said, he’s the big brother I never had, so he enjoys teasing
me.”
“Really?” Riley
asked, laughing. “You think that’s it?”
“Sure, what else
would it be?” Brooke asked, a blank expression on her face. At the wry look he
gave her, it was Brooke’s turn to laugh. “Oh, please! Travis Cooper is so far
out of my league, it’s not even funny! You heard him yourself. Big brother.
Little sister. End of story.”
“If you say
so…Bunny.”
Chapter
10
On her lunch
break, Brooke drove to a convenience store. She had in her purse a week’s
worth of tips from her job at the diner. In the store, she handed her electric
bill and the cash to the clerk. The woman began processing the payment, then
frowned curiously.
“Says here you
got a zero balance.”
“What? No,
that’s not possible.”
“Says so right
here,” the woman said, pointing at her screen. She shrugged, popping her gum.
“I mean, I’ll take your money, but do you really wanna pay a utility company if
you don’t owe ‘em yet?” She held out the money and the bill.
“Thank you,”
Brooke said uncertainly. She walked back out to her car and pulled out her
phone. She quickly dialed the number on the utility bill. She couldn’t reach
a human being, but the recording did, indeed, say her account balance was
zero. Brooke followed the recorded voice prompts, listening to the payment
history; the mechanical voice said a payment had been made online
that
morning
. How was that possible? Then it hit her. Travis. Somehow – she
didn’t know how – he had paid her electric bill; she was sure of it. What was
that man up to?
While Brooke was
gone, Riley and Jazz sat in the small office eating the lunch Jazz had packed
that morning. As they ate, they talked about their new employee.
“So what was all
that about the neighbor?” Jazz asked her husband. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m just saying,
it was almost like he was trying to convince
himself
Brooke was like a
little sister, you know? He said it twice. Just seemed like overkill to me.”
“And what about
Brooke?” she asked thoughtfully. “Does she really think he’s out of her
league?”
“Yes, but I’m
not sure why,” Riley answered. He grinned at his wife. “I mean, she’s no
Latin beauty, but she’s cute.”
“It’s okay,
Riley, you can be honest,” Jazz laughed. “She’s more than just cute. That
curvy little figure, those pouty lips – and did you see those
eyes
?”
Riley rose. He
leaned across the desk and kissed Jazz.
“But she’s still
no Latin beauty, my little Latin beauty.”
“I love you,
Riley Parker!” Jazz giggled.
A knock sounded
at the door to the bakery. Riley turned to leave the office.
“Back to the
grindstone, my love,” he said. “Oh, it’s Brooke. And she doesn’t look very
happy.” He unlocked the front door, and flipped the “Closed” sign back to read
“Open”. “Hey, Brooke, how was your lunch?”
“My new neighbor
is the most arrogant, high-handed, controlling man I’ve ever met!” she blurted
out.
“Ha!” Riley
laughed sarcastically. “You never met my father!”
“He paid my
electric bill!”
“And…that’s a
bad thing, hon?” Jazz asked, confused.
“Yes!” Brooke
snapped. “He paid the hospital bill, he took care of my dog, he dragged me to
his house and fed me and made me sleep in his guest room and now he’s paid my
electric bill, and…now that I’m saying all this out loud…I realize it just
makes me sound like an idiot, doesn’t it?”
“No!” Jazz
answered, her laughter barely contained. “The nerve of the man, feeding you
dinner and making sure you got a good night’s sleep!”
“He paid your
hospital bill?” Riley asked, keeping his voice carefully neutral.
“Well, he felt
like the accident was his fault,” Brooke said. She explained how the accident
occurred. “What he doesn’t know is I intend to somehow pay him back. I may
have to get another job, but I
will
pay him back.”
“You’d take a
second job to pay a man back who obviously doesn’t expect to be paid back?”
“I’ve worked two
jobs since I was eighteen, Riley.”
“Yeah, we
weren’t all born with a silver spoon in our mouths,” Jazz said dryly. She
looked at Brooke. “So you’re saying you lost
two
jobs while you were in
the hospital?”
“Well, I didn’t
say either of them were great jobs,” Brooke answered, smirking. “There was my
job at Joe’s, and then there was my very glamorous job at Hot Diggity’s. I
might actually still have that one. I’m supposed to go talk to the manager
after I get off work here.”
“You sure you’re
up to it?” Riley asked. “You’ve been on your feet all day. You’re limping
more now than you were when you got here this morning.”
“Lord, please
save me from overprotective men!” she muttered, rolling her violet eyes
heavenward. “Thank you for your concern, Riley, but I’m fine. And sometimes
you just have to suck it up and keep going.”
“How about we
park you on a stool and you can ice some of those cookies you baked earlier?”
Jazz suggested. At Brooke’s obstinate expression, she shrugged. “Hey, I’m the
boss. You sit down to work, or you go home.”
“What about
washing those baking pans?” Brooke asked. “What about sweeping up in the
kitchen?”
“I can take care
of that later,” Riley replied, grinning broadly. He winked at his wife.
“That’s what I was hired to do four years ago, right?”
Brooke bowed to
the pressure put on her by Jazz to sit on a stool and drizzle glaze over
cookies. After several hours, her leg no longer ached, but her hand was tired
from squeezing a pastry bag. She held it up in a claw-like gesture for Jazz to
see.
“Look what
you’ve done!” Brooke laughed accusingly. “I can’t straighten out my fingers!”
“Well, maybe
that handsome neighbor will cook dinner for you again tonight,” Jazz teased.
“Don’t even go
there.” Brooke picked up her purse. “I guess I’ll head on out. I’m off to
see if I can talk the manager at Hot Diggity’s into letting me keep my job, if
he hasn’t already replaced me.”
“Good luck,
Brooke,” Riley said, one arm draped casually around his wife’s shoulders.