A/N: I don't own any characters from Justified. I own Laylah, Ronnie, Brian, Brandon, and Betty.
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Laylah pulled into her usual parking space beside the shop she and Ronnie, her best friend in the world, owned. Ronnie was already there, but it was Laylah's turn to close the shop so she'd slept in and she didn't feel bad about it. She stepped out of her car and pulled her caramel colored trench coat around her a little tighter before grabbing her purse and craft bag out of the back seat. She headed to the sidewalk, distracted by the day ahead of her.
She was about to step onto the sidewalk from the parking lot when a man blew past her at top speed. Man, if she'd been in his way, he'd have knocked her down for sure.
"Rude," she muttered under her breath as she stepped around the corner of the building onto the sidewalk. She collided with what felt like a rock wall and would have fallen unceremoniously on her backside, but strong arms reached out and grabbed her just above the elbows.
Laylah looked up and realized the rock wall had blue eyes. "Sorry, miss," he said as he released her. "You alright?"
Laylah realized he had a badge and a gun on his hip and he was in a hurry to continue chasing the first man. "I'm fine," she nodded.
"You sure?" He asked as he took a couple of quick steps around her.
"Yes," Laylah nodded toward the back of the man disappearing down the street.
He took off like a light but Laylah was sure she'd allowed his subject to get away. She shook herself and headed toward her pride and joy. "Handmade."
She entered and was immediately assaulted by the smell of fall. Cinnamon spiced tea was brewing behind the counter, allowing the aroma to permeate through the small store in the most tantalizing way. Right now they were offering just the tea and salted caramel chocolate chip cookies, but after Thanksgiving they'd add hot chocolate and replace the chocolate chip cookies with gingerbread cookies. She couldn't wait.
On top of the smell was the sound of relaxing piano music that was just loud enough to not be background noise. It wasn't a big shop, but as far as Laylah was concerned, it was a little slice of heaven.
Laylah always entered the store with a critical eye. If anything was out of place, she wanted to see it immediately so that she could fix it. The holiday section was immediately to her left and she made a mental note to come back and rearrange a couple of displays to eliminate the empty spots where items had sold. The baby area and wedding area seemed alright, but the handmade gift cards needed some attention as well. Ronnie was already busy straightening the craft supplies.
"Hi," Ronnie said as she blew her strawberry blonde curls out of her face. Ronnie, or Veronica, was as perky as she was petite with enough energy to take on several projects at once and complete them all with amazing results. She usually headed up several charity drives each year while teaching quilting and baking classes and running the store. Since she'd opened today, Ronnie had made the cookies and if they ran low today, Laylah would have to spend a couple of hours replenishing them tonight.
"Good morning," Laylah set her stuff behind the counter and took off her coat. "Slow morning?"
"It is now," Ronnie said. "But I had five customers in here at once about twenty minutes ago."
Laylah nodded as she headed toward the front of the store, running her fingers through her hair as she did. She began in the window of the holiday section. This close to Thanksgiving, the fall and harvest selection was dwindling and the Christmas selection was growing but Laylah kept a definite line between the two. She pulled several items out of the window and looked up as two men walked by.
One man was in handcuffs being pushed forward by the other. Laylah was certainly surprised. She'd assumed that her collision with the Marshal had given his prey ample time to get away. The man in handcuffs was glowering at the ground, but the Marshall turned toward the window and grinned at her as he passed. Laylah found herself smiling in return. She told herself it was because one more bad guy was off the streets, at least for now, and not the pair of crystal blue eyes above the smile. She shook her head and returned to rearranging the window display.
Forty-five minutes later, Laylah and Ronnie were both making Christmas cards when the bell above the door jingled. Laylah was in the middle of glittering up a stamped Christmas tree so she didn't look up right away.
"Hello," she said, "please let us know if we can help you find anything." She looked up to see the Marshal walking toward the counter. "Oh, hi," she said.
"Hi," he smiled. "I just wanted to make sure you were really okay, Miss...?"
"Rawlings, Laylah Rawlings," Laylah said and because her friend was eying them suspiciously, she introduced her. "This is my friend, Ronnie Harris."
"Ma'am," the marshal gave Ronnie a friendly nod. She gave him a friendly smile in return.
"And I'm fine," Laylah nodded. "Really."
He nodded too. "I just didn't feel right about not followin' up with you."
Laylah smiled. "I appreciate that," she said, "but really I'm fine."
"Okay," he produced a business card, "but if you find you're not, please contact me. The Marshal's service will handle any expenses."
Laylah took the card. "Thank you," she said.
The man nodded then nodded to Ronnie. "Ma'am," he said again. "Have a nice day," he looked at each of them in turn.
"You too," Ronnie called after him as he headed for the door. As soon as it was closed behind him, Ronnie leaned against the counter, careful of her supplies. "Alright, spill it."
"Spill what?" Laylah tried to look innocent.
"Don't play that way with me, I wasn't born yesterday," Ronnie leaned toward Laylah. "A cute guy with a badge waltzes in here and gives you his phone number. What's up?"
Laylah relayed the events from earlier before looking down at the card. Deputy US Marshal Tim Gutterson.