You Belong With Me (Book 1 in The Love and Dessert Trilogy) Read online

  Layla gnawed on her lower lip as she looked down at her lap. “On my birth certificate, it says my father’s name is Darrin Landon Kendall. It’s possible,” she said softly as she tried to remember the man’s face from that morning. Of course she hadn’t seen her father in over twenty years, but how could someone not recognize their own father?

  Michael leaned over the counter and took her hand. “Layla, I know this is a shock, but they’re taking Landon down to the police station to question him about the burglaries in this area. He fits the description and he has an arrest record. If you can, do you want to go down to the station?”

  Kit glared, her eyes hot and seething. “Oh I’m going down to the station. I’m going to demand some answers. First off, why in the heck did he take off and abandon his three daughters?” she said, standing up and walking out of the room.

  Jane frowned after her sister and shrugged. She had never had an emotional bond with their father. All she felt for the man who helped bring her into the world was a very faint curiosity. “I wouldn’t mind talking to him.”

  Layla looked at Michael and breathed out a long sigh. “Yeah, we should go. I’m kind of curious myself. I wonder if he’s the one who stole our recipe binder?” she said, feeling a sense a hurt and betrayal.

  Michael walked around the counter and pulled her into his arms. “I’m coming with you Layla. You shouldn’t have to handle something like this on your own.”

  Layla closed her eyes and smiled faintly before pulling back. “With Kit and Jane, I wouldn’t exactly be alone, but yes, I would love to have you there with me,” she said fervently as Kit walked back into the room with her purse and car keys.

  “Let’s go,” she said and motioned for the door.

  Layla drove with Michael and they all arrived within a few minutes at the police station. After a twenty minute wait, a police officer showed them into a small room they used for questioning.

  “I’ll be here observing,” Officer Jensen said, a black woman in her early forties with long black braids.

  Layla nodded as she sat surrounded by her two sisters. Michael stood against the wall, folding his arms over his chest. They waited for what seemed forever, but turned out to only be about ten minutes when another officer brought Landon in and instructed him to sit down.

  Layla swallowed sickly as she stared at the man who had once been her dad a long time ago, knowing the answer before she even asked the question. “Are you our father?” she asked without any preamble whatsoever.

  Landon looked tired, old and pale as he sat in his hard metal chair and stared at them one at a time. “Yes.”

  Kit made a growling sound in her throat and she and Jane immediately reached over and grabbed her hand to hold. Kit squeezed her hand back so hard, Layla wondered if she was going to have scars from nail imprints.

  “Why did you leave us? You just took off one day, with no word or explanation to anymore. We thought you were dead. And now you’re back and stalking us . . . stealing from us,” Kit added, her voice sounding scratchy.

  The man stared at Kit, wincing as if her words had been fists, flying at him.

  “Now Kitten . . .” he said, but paused as Kit stood up slowly, holding her hand up, her face white with fury.

  “Don’t you ever call me that,” she whispered, her eyes boiling with fury.

  Layla pulled her sister down and rubbed her back comfortingly. “Landon, answer her questions,” she said in her voice she saved for interviews with possible predators.

  Landon glanced at her and nodded his head. “I did take the recipes. I didn’t take anything else though. I was just thinking that if you girls gave up and sold the bakery, that you’d want to split the money with me, seeing as Belinda was my mother after all. I should have my cut,” he said unapologetically.

  Layla’s eyes widened in surprise but that was the only reaction she allowed. Kit shook her head silently and Jane stared at him curiously.

  “I don’t even know you. Mom told me that you didn’t stick around long enough to see me born. And now, you’re interested in money. Are you even slightly curious about the three daughters you left?” Jane asked sadly.

  Landon looked uncomfortable and shrugged. “Ah, your mom didn’t want me around anyways. It was just easier to take off than to deal with everything you know. But yeah, I mean sure . . ., I’m curious. I wouldn’t mind getting to know you girls after everything’s fair and square that is. If you girls give me my fair share of the bakery, we could uh . . . , get to know each other again,” he said looking even more uncomfortable.

  Layla felt her stomach tense as she sat forward, holding up a hand for Kit to keep her peace. “So let me rephrase what you just said so we all understand things clearly. You’re saying that if we give you money from a bakery we’re not selling, then you’ll be open to having a relationship with us. Is that right? Which means, the opposite would be true then. If we don’t give you money, then you’ll walk away again, or go further than that and continue to sabotage our business?”

  Landon pursed his lips and nodded. “Well, if my daughters won’t give me my fair share of my own mother’s business, I don’t see how we could have a good relationship.”

  Layla could feel Kit’s body humming with rage beside her. She glanced around Kit to see Jane’s face, but Jane was just looking at her father as if she were looking at a sad diseased animal lying on the street.

  Layla licked her lips and steepled her hands on the table as she smiled coldly at her father. “Just out of curiosity, why didn’t your mother leave the bakery to you in the first place? Why didn’t’ she make a provision for her only son? That’s kind of a big oversight, don’t you think?” she asked, watching him closely.

  Landon’s face turned red and he sat up, fidgeting in his chair. “She wasn’t in her right mind! The cancer must have affected her head or something. I told her I needed the money. She knew I wanted to sell the bakery. I talked to her right before she died and she was talking crazy about preserving her legacy or something stupid like that. I mean, really, a bakery being a legacy? It’s ridiculous. I looked into getting the will overturned, but I can’t afford no lawyer. It’s up to you girls to do the right thing. If you don’t, then you’ll have to pay the price, won’t you?” he said coldly.

  Layla sat back and blinked a few times. She’d just met her father for the first time in over twenty years and he had just threatened her. She glanced at the police officer standing in the corner to see if she’d gotten it and Officer Jensen nodded her head at her. It had been noted.

  “Well, Landon, let’s just go ahead and make things very clear for you. We’re not selling the bakery. Right now, we’re barely squeaking by. If we took out the amount of money you feel is your fair share, we’d go under. Just out of curiosity, what amount do you think is your fair share?” Layla asked with a polite smile.

  Landon sat forward smiling, his eyes, now direct and intent. “I want half. I’m her son, and you girls are only granddaughters. The bakery should have come to me anyways. But I’m willing to let you girls keep half of the profits from the sale,” he said quickly, smiling in excitement.

  Layla shook her head with a frown, while Kit snorted rudely and Jane looked at him with pity. “Landon, I asked out of curiosity. Nothing more. The answer is no. Your mother, for whatever reasons she had, wanted us to be the ones to inherit her bakery. Not you. Now, since you’ve already stated that we’ll pay the price if we don’t do what you want, we’re going to go right now and put a restraining order on you. What that means is that you can’t come into the bakery and stare at us for hours. And it means that you can’t stand across the street and stalk us. You need to move on and let this go Landon,” she said, feeling upset and sick at having to say those things to her own father.

  Landon slammed his hand down on the metal table and scowled at her and her sisters. “Just sell the dang bakery and give me my money. I looked you girls up. I did my homework. You’re just a social worker, not a baker. A
nd you, you’re just some wannabe painter who can’t sell a painting to save her life. And you, what was it? Some college student or something. You don’t even know what you’re doing. Alex says he can get me a great deal. We’ll all be sitting pretty. You can each go back to your own lives and I can restart my life with money that should have come to me in the first place.”

  Layla glanced at Kit’s shattered expression and felt a lick of anger slip in. “We know exactly what we’re doing and we’re doing a good job of it. But even if we weren’t, we still wouldn’t sell and give you the money. We’d just change to a different business. Whatever it takes, we’re keeping the house. Do you want to know why? Because we love each other. We love being together and working together and laughing together. In spite of you, we’re a family. You chose not to be a part of that. And just so you know, that was your mother’s legacy. It’s not money and it’s not cookies and cakes. It’s not even the property. Its love,” she said and stood up.

  Michael immediately came to her side and put his arm around her shoulder as they walked to the door being held open by Officer Jensen.

  “You know, you really missed out Dad. In spite of you, we’re three amazing women. And all you can see when you look at us is dollar signs. It’s too bad you can’t look at us and see your daughters,” Kit said bitterly and brushed past Layla and Michael as she hurried out of the room.

  Layla winced and looked at Jane who was standing alone in front of their father. She moved to go to her, but Michael held her firmly by the arms. He leaned down and whispered into her ear. “Let her say what she needs to.” Layla nodded but stared at her sister’s pale sad face. She hated that this man still had the ability to hurt her sisters.

  “Hi Dad,” she said softly.

  Landon looked at her in surprise and squirmed a little in his seat. He shrugged his shoulders in a twitchy way. “Uh, hi,” he said looking away immediately.

  “I just always wanted to say that. I never had the chance growing up. I guess I was a little silly. I knew you had run off and left us, but in my mind it was because you’d gotten sick or something or you had amnesia. My favorite one was where you were kidnapped and me and Layla and Kit would find the ransom note and we’d go rescue you. You’d be so happy that we’d found you that you’d pick us all up one by one and kiss us and hug us and promise us that you’d never leave us ever again,” she said softly, staring at the reality of her father.

  Landon smirked and shook his head. “That’s dumb,” he muttered.

  Jane nodded her head slowly. “You’re right. It was. But I want to thank you. You did me a favor leaving when you did. Because I have to say, my day dreams of my father are way better than you,” Jane said sadly and walked out the door, whisking tears off her cheeks, unashamed of her pain.

  Layla moved to follow Jane but paused. “Do yourself a favor and get some help. You’re obviously on drugs you’re so twitchy. Get clean and get some counseling. Come back when you’re a real person and not a walking addiction,” she said and walked out the door.

  Michael held her hand as they walked into the reception area of the police station. Jane was talking to Tate and Kit was standing by the large front window, leaning her head silently against the glass. Layla sighed, emotionally exhausted. They spent the next half hour filling out the forms for the restraining order. They decided not to press charges against their father if he returned the binder and then they went home.

  Michael had to hurry home to Stella, but kissed her gently and promised to come by the next day. The three sisters trudged up the stairs and sat in their small family room on the couch and stared at each other.

  “Well, I didn’t see that coming,” Jane said with a sad smile.

  Layla laughed and leaned her head back on the couch, closing her eyes and pulling her legs up. “No one did Jane. Tomorrow, I’m going to do a little digging and see what I can come up with about our grandmother and her frame of mind before she died. If Alex Foster is going to back our father so he can get his hands on this property, we need to be prepared. Alex could get a lawyer for Landon and they could have the will contested easily.”

  Kit ran her hands through her red hair and shook her head. “I’m so furious I could just scream. He doesn’t even love us,” she whispered. “I could tell. I was watching and looking at his eyes and I could tell he doesn’t care about us at all,” she said, covering her mouth.

  Layla sat up and hugged Kit hard. “Listen, I think he’s on drugs. I was watching him and the way he was acting, desperate, twitchy, red eyes, all of it. Classic signs he’s on some kind of drug. Addicts don’t love anyone. They just love their addiction. Maybe if he gets clean, he’ll come back to himself. But you know it’s got nothing to do with you right? His problems are his problems. You’re right Kit, we are amazing. Knowing what our father is like, in no way changes that.”

  Kit nodded, “I get that. I understand it, but it sure feels like I just wasn’t good enough. If I’d been better, he would have loved me. If I’d been prettier, he would have stayed. If I’d cleaned up my room and not talked back, mom wouldn’t have been so sad,” she said, covering her eyes with her hands.

  Jane and Layla hugged Kit for a moment as her shoulders shook under the weight of her emotions.

  Jane rubbed her hand over her sister’s hair and sighed. “You know what I really wanted to see when he looked at us? Regret. It wasn’t there.”

  Layla nodded her head. “Well, just because it wasn’t there today, doesn’t mean it won’t be there someday in the future. You never know, he could clean up his act, get sober and he might someday want to have a relationship with us.”

  Jane sat back and pulled her legs up under her as she looked across Kit’s back to Layla. “If he did Layla, if he got cleaned up and changed and everything, and decided one day to be the perfect father . . ., should we consider giving him a percentage of the bakery?”

  Layla licked her lips as Kit sat up and wiped her eyes. Kit turned and looked at Layla with haunted eyes. “Don’t you dare even think about it. There has to be justice for everything he put our mother through. He shouldn’t get to live off of his mother’s hard work or ours when he ran out on us and doesn’t even have the grace to feel even a little bit bad about it,” she said angrily.

  Layla glanced at Jane before answering Kit. “Kit, our emotions are high right now. We’re remembering every rotten thing he did and every good thing he never got around to. We’re seeing this man at his worst. He’s desperate. Let’s agree to not worry about it for now. He has a long way to go. But Kit, if this man was just a stranger off the street, would we give him food to eat? Would we try and help him on his way?” she asked softly.

  Jane grabbed Kit’s hand. “Kit, don’t be so mad. Don’t let it eat you up,” she begged.

  Kit pulled her hand away and walked toward the door. “I’m going to take Bubba on a walk,” she said and disappeared.

  Layla frowned after her sister, “She’ll be okay. I’m going to call a therapist I know tomorrow. We could all use someone to talk us through this. Kit needs an outlet for all that anger or she’s going to burst open.”

  “Why do you think she paints?” Jane said and stood up too.

  Layla smiled sadly and stretched her legs out on the couch. “True. What do you do Jane?”

  Jane shrugged. “I read to escape. It gave me an escape that was safe, healthy and broadened my intellect. But these days I’m too busy living life to want to escape. What about you Layla? How did you deal with the anger and disappointment?”

  Layla closed her eyes for a moment and frowned. “I helped people. I helped little girls and boys because I know what it’s like. At least I used to help people,” she said feeling the familiar pain encompass her heart as she thought of all the children she wouldn’t be helping now.

  Jane walked over and leaned down and kissed her cheek. “You did good Layla. Now it’s time to let it go and just be happy.”

  Layla kept her eyes closed as she listened
to Jane walk out of the room and felt one tear slip out. She reached up to wipe the tear with her finger and smiled. Maybe Jane was right.

  Chapter 21 – Lies and Lawyers

  Michael stopped by the next morning and asked to take her to lunch. Kit and Jane accepted on her behalf for her before she could decline. Michael grinned at Kit and Jane before kissing her quickly.

  “I’ve got a walk through with a client so I have to run, but I’ll pick you up at 1 o’clock,” he said over his shoulder before rushing out the door.

  The rest of the morning was a rush but when things slowed down at eleven, Kit headed to the kitchen to work on their first birthday cake order. It was for a client’s 16th birthday. It would be three tiers, pink with large fondant polka dots and a miniature sculpture of her daughter dancing with Justin Bieber. Kit had plans to write all of Justin Beiber’s song titles on the cake. Layla couldn’t help noticing the excitement in Kit’s face. Kit was an amazing artist, so cake decorating was very different for her but the chance to create and make something beautiful had put a sparkle in her sister’s eyes.

  She and Jane worked steadily until Michael showed up. Kit came out from the kitchen right on time and so she took her apron off and allowed Michael to whisk her away to the Iron Skillet. When they arrived, Rob led them personally to the best table in the restaurant.

  “My favorite bakers will be treated like queens in my restaurant,” he said leaning over and kissing her on the cheek.

  Layla laughed as Michael’s eyes narrowed at Rob dangerously. Rob saw Michael’s reaction and grinned at his friend. “Everyone is raving about our new sourdough bread. I had a food critic come in last night and she was speechless. If I get a good review because of your bread, I’m going to throw a party in your honor.”

  Layla pumped her fist in the air. “I would love that Rob. But honestly, Kit should have all the credit. I don’t know if she told you or not, but our recipe binder was stolen last Saturday. All of our bread recipes were gone,” she said and by the look on Rob’s face he’d had no idea.