Baskin later returned to Florida and worked at a Tampa department store, where she began a relationship with her boss Michael Murdock.[1] She moved in with him when she was 17, got married, and had a daughter.[6] To make money, she began breeding show cats;[6] she also began rescuing bobcats, and used llamas for a lawn trimming business.[2][6] In January 1981, she left Murdock and met her eventual second husband Don Lewis, later joining him in the real estate business.[4]