“Good. Better than I expected. The kid can work. He does what he’s told, no attitude, no slacking off. I like him.”

Nicole raised her eyebrows. “That’s unusual.”

“Tell me about it. I think you should offer him a job. We need somebody like him in the off-hours. He goes to school and plays football, so he’d be available then. That’s when I could use him.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to him.”

Nicole stood and stretched. The ache in her knee was manageable and getting better.

Raoul was in the back, stacking sacks of flour. He set each one squarely on the bag below, making sure the piles wouldn’t lean and eventually topple.

“Nice work,” she said. “You impressed Phil and that’s not easy.”

“Thanks.”

“You want a real job? Part-time. We’d work around your school schedule and football. The pay isn’t bad.” She named an hourly rate slightly above what he would get working retail or even at a restaurant.

Raoul put the last bag in place, then wiped his hands on the apron Phil had found for him.

“I can’t,” he said, not looking at her.

“Okay.”

“I need the money. It’s not that.”

“Then what? It’s casting season for the new TV shows and your agent is going to want you to fly to L.A.?”

That earned her a slight smile that faded quickly. He seemed to collect his courage before looking at her. “You won’t want to hire me. Not yet. I’m going to be eighteen in a couple of weeks. When I’m an adult, I can petition to get my juvenile records sealed. Until then, I have a criminal record.”

She was a little surprised and disappointed. “What did you do?”

“I stole a car when I was twelve. To impress my friends. It was stupid and I got caught five minutes later. I didn’t do anything else before or since. Except the doughnuts and you know about that. I learned my lesson.” He dropped his gaze to the floor. “There’s no reason for you to believe me.”

There was one, she thought. Checking out his story would be easy, so he’d be an idiot to lie. And Raoul didn’t strike her as stupid.