Page 61 of Billionaire and the Barista

In a perfect example of the universe mocking me, the envelope I ripped open was the property tax notice. I shook it at the phone. “I can see right here that the county thinks my property is worth more because they want me to pay them more for what is already mine!”

I crossed my arms on the desk and buried my head the best I could. I still gripped the tax notice.

“You okay in here?” a gentle voice asked.

I looked up and saw David peering in the open kitchen door. I sighed and straightened myself up.

“Yeah, everything is fine.”

I tried to see him the way Lacey did. I shook my head and laughed at myself. I don’t think I would ever see another man as attractive or ‘hot.’ Nathan was too fresh in my memories. How I felt about him, how thinking about him hurt.

David retreated to the front, and finished my desk work, grumbling the entire time. After a few hours, I was finally able to get to my baking zen. I was lining up all the ingredients for the batches of cupcakes I had scheduled for today when Mitch popped his head in.

“Hey Gabby,” he said in that craggy voice of his.

“Oh, hi, Mitch, come on in,” I said without looking up.

“We have a situation here. I was wondering if you could come out for a moment,” he said.

I knew that tone. Someone was in trouble.

I wiped my hands on my apron before pulling it off. I tossed it overhand into the laundry as I walked out of the kitchen.

Mitch was sitting at a far table with a young woman who was crying. I grabbed some cupcakes and poured a cup of coffee before I headed over. I recognized her. She had started coming to our little support group after the races. I couldn’t remember her name, but I recognized her face. Only the last time she hadn’t had a dark bruise on her cheek.

“Gabby, you remember Millie,” Mitch said.

“Yeah, hey, what’s the matter?” I asked as I placed the food in front of her, and then handed Mitch a cupcake too.

Millie ground the heel of her hand across her cheek, wiping at tears. She winced when she hit the bruise.

“I didn’t know where to go, and I thought you could help. But you weren’t here,” Millie said between hiccupping tears.

“I found her sitting outside,” Mitch said. “I told her you were always here, and I’d find you for her.”

“Okay, you’re here. I’m here. Mitch is here. Step one, you got to us. Are you in trouble?” I didn’t know if she would be a talker or need some coaxing. A lot of the kids that came to our group did so because they had gotten into trouble with drugs. Either getting caught up in the dealing of them and were not able to find a way back out, or they got busted for selling.

Millie shook her head. “My dad,”— she pointed at her face— “I can’t keep pretending that walking into an open door is doing this to me.”

“Are you still in school?” If she was under eighteen it would be harder, we would have to get her into a fostering situation. If she was older, we had more options.

“Graduated last year. But I don’t have any money, and I don’t want to go to the shelter. I’ve only heard bad things about it. And I can’t sleep on the streets again.”

“You’ve already been on the streets?” Mitch asked.

She nodded. “My boyfriend Hal said I could stay with him last night. But he kept trying to get me to fuck him, and I didn’t want to. So, I ran from him too.”

“Hal, green Ninja. Yeah, I know him. Want me to pay him a visit?” Mitch asked.

I swatted him on the shoulder. The last thing we needed was to introduce more violence into the situation.

Mitch looked at me aghast. “I would talk to him about how to treat someone in a vulnerable position. And that sexual coercion is never acceptable.”

Sure, he would. He would probably say the words between punches and kicks. Mitch’s heart was in the right place, but he had come from the rough places, and they were still with him.

“Okay, we will find you a place to lay low,” I started.

“She can stay with me and Jenny,” Mitch offered.

Millie’s eyes went wide.

“They won’t let anything happen to you. And when you are ready to get your stuff, Mitch will find some guys to help. Do you have a job?”

She shook her head. I had to think. I didn’t have any openings. I couldn’t send her next door because those businesses were going to be closing soon, even if they didn’t know it yet.

“We’ll think of something. You did the right thing.”

And I was doing the right thing, staying here, being helpful in any way I could. This time when tears hit my eyes, they were tears of anger. That stupid Lake Moore project was not going to be neighborhood people helping each other, it was going to be a bunch of rich, not-in-my-backyard types.

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