CHAPTER
TWO
MARNIE
Making my way down the stairs, I hold Oly close to my chest, her bag for the day slung over my arm. I registered her for a summer camp program at a local gym. It’s only a couple of days a week, but it gives her a chance to interact with other kids. They’re also teaching her to swim and try other activities. The sun is up already, even though it’s only three in the morning. I’ll let Oly sleep a bit longer in the portable crib in my office before I take her to camp. For now, I have to get to the bakery and start the breads for the day.
As I reach the bottom of the stairs, the hair on the back of my neck rises, and I realize I’m not alone. I spin around, and there, standing in the shadows, is my creepy neighbor. He gives me the heebie-jeebies as his eyes roam over my body. I watch, horrified, as his tongue slithers from his mouth and he licks his lips. I step back, fighting the urge to gag.
“I have to go… uh…”
“Jim,” he supplies, and I turn back before I reach the car. “Thought you and I should get to know each other.”
“Jim… right. Sorry. I need to go and get started baking for the day. Have a nice one.” I start to turn away as he looks me up and down again.
“Well, it’s started off perfectly, sexy. I might stop in and see you.”
“Thank you,” I reply awkwardly, acknowledging his comment.
I open the back door of my SUV, drop Oly’s bag on the middle seat, then carefully place her in her car seat and buckle her in.
“You get a babysitter for the little one, and I’ll take you out to dinner tonight. Wear that little red dress you have,” he says right behind me, startling me.
“Oh, no, thank you. I have plans,” I lie and close her door as I move away from him.
Without Oly in my arms, there’s nothing blocking his full view of me. I’m wearing a lightweight jacket because it’s cool this early in the morning, but it’s open, and he can see my exposed belly beneath my cropped shirt. I make it to the driver’s door and get in. The engine doesn’t fail me this time and instantly cranks over. As I back out of the spot, I see him still watching me. I don’t hide the shiver this time. It’s like he’s walking over my grave, and my whole body trembles.
“Yuck,” I exclaim to no one as I head for my bakery.
I’ve been here for a couple of hours. Several loaves of dough are already resting, waiting to be baked throughout the day. When I hear the heavy back door open, I step away from my station and watch Harley and her dog, Fezzik, come inside. She directs him to lie on the pillow we put by the door, and I raise a finger to my lips to let her know Oly is still sleeping.
“You should have called and told me you were coming in so early. I would’ve come in even sooner.”
“I’m okay. I like coming in early like this. It’s relaxing. Baking always grounds me and helps with my anxiety and stuff.”
A Macy Gray song drifts from the speaker, and I sway my hips to show her I’m calm. Baking has always been my peace. Even growing up, before I went to college, baking was there for me. It helped me through my daily struggles, especially when I felt unsafe. After Jean-Louis died, it was the only habit that kept me sane while I learned how to juggle my new normal as a single parent. Jean-Louis never got to meet his daughter, and that fact still makes my heart ache. He never deserved to die. If not for Oly, I’d wish he never met me. He’d still be alive.
“Why are you stressed and anxious?” Harley asks, pulling me from my dark thoughts.
I can’t tell her the whole truth, that today is my wedding anniversary. My eyes fall to my empty finger, where a plain gold band had sat for only a few short months before he was killed. Tragedy isn’t new to me. My mother died when I was a kid. My father said it was suicide, but I’ve long suspected there was more to her death. Maybe it’s wrong to think he had something to do with it, but my life changed after she was gone.
Before her death, she was my shield, always protecting me from Silas and Ervin, my father. Afterward, there was no one who would stand up to him. My grandparents tried, but he moved us to Europe, where I attended the best boarding schools. By the time we returned to the States when I was sixteen, it was worse, and they were already gone.
A hand brushes my arm, and I flinch before I even realize it. I pull away as pain and memories of old bruises surge through me.
“Whoa, Marnie. It’s just me. You were thinking hard. Are you okay?”
I swallow and close my eyes, trying to center myself and get out of my head. After a few deep breaths, I put a lid on that box of memories.
“I’m okay. I just got shaken up by my creepy neighbor. He said some strange things to me this morning.” I give her only part of the truth.
“What did he say?”
“He asked me out, but he also told me he wants me to wear a dress I don’t think I’ve worn yet. It’s hanging in my closet. I know I haven’t worn it.”
“That is creepy. I can have one of my brother’s guys check him out.”
“Oh no. Don’t worry about it.”
