Chapter Nineteen
Xander
“Hi!” she answered after a couple rings. She sounded breathless.
“Am I interrupting?”
“You know me. Elbow deep in batter, keeping an eye on the oven, and so on.” I liked hearing her tell me mundane things about her day. It made me feel like I was part of it. “Why are you calling?”
I couldn’t believe that I’d lost track of my thoughts just because she’d told me some details. I just laughed to myself, then asked, “What are you doing on the ninth of December?”
“Is it a weekday?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’ll be here.”
“There’s nothing on the schedule you sent me, so you don’t have any delivery plans, but do you have anything going on personally?”
“I don’t know. Why?” Her tone was flirty. I liked it. It was so easy to be with her and talk to her.
“Would you like to go to the LUNA Ball together?”
She gasped. “Are you serious? I would love it. Do they want pralines?”
It took me a second to realize what she meant. “I meant just us. We’ll attend the ball together.”
“Don’t you need invitations?”
“I think they sell tickets for the public, but I actually have VIP tickets.”
“And you want me to go with you?”
“Yes, I want you to be my date.”
She gasped again, but it was softer this time. Then I heard a huge clang.
I jumped to my feet. “Bailey, are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”
“Damn it, I just dropped a bowl straight onto my foot! That took me by surprise.”
“What? That I want to go on a date with you? We went to the restaurant on a date.” Did she have a different idea of what this was than I did? Maybe I needed to be clearer, like I was when discussing business.
“I know, but this is different.”
“I want to have you on my arm as my date,” I assured her. “We’re dating.”
“Oh! Okay, I don’t even really need more details. I know all about the LUNA Ball. I’ve always wanted to go, but somehow I have my hands full every season.”
I chuckled. “That sounds unlike you, missing something Christmas related.”
“Well, it’s true. I’ve skipped one or two Christmas events over the years, especially since I started working at the confectionery.”
“I haven’t been to anything in years,” I told her, “so this will be a long time coming for the both of us.”
“This is the first year you‘ve received invitations?”
“No, I always get them.”
“And you turn them down?” she almost shrieked.
“I usually tell my assistant to just not RSVP to any of the Christmas invitations I get.”
“Xander! That’s a scandal. Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I’m not. I simply don’t have time for these things.”
“I bet they’re mostly in the evening. You don’t spend your evenings at the office, do you?”
“No,” I admitted, “but I typically have better—”
“Ugh,” she said, and I burst out laughing for real.
“For my own sake, I won’t finish that sentence.”
“You’ve got very good self-preservation skills. Well, I’ve got a mess to clean and then an outfit to visualize for the ball, so I should go.”
“Sure. Can’t wait.”
This day was getting better and better.
After hanging up, I started to look at my to-do list in earnest. I had a lot of ground to cover and got to it. I was extremely productive until about three o’clock when my phone rang. Isabeau. I usually didn’t like answering phone calls during work hours unless it was absolutely necessary, but my grandmothers were always the exception.
“Hello,” I said enthusiastically.
“Hi, Xander darling. Am I interrupting anything?”
“No, or I wouldn’t have answered.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“Can I help you with anything?”
“I was wondering if you’ve made a decision yet about the confectionery.”
I frowned, leaning back in my chair. Then I got up, stretching my legs a bit as I walked through the office. “No. I told you I wouldn’t decide until after Christmas.”
“But I’m sure you’re already leaning one way or the other.”
“No, I’m not.” I put a hand in my pocket, looking outside. Even from this floor, I could still see the Christmas decorations throughout the city. I made a mental note to bring Bailey here. She’d absolutely love it.
“Right,” she said.
“Isabeau, what is it? It’s not like you to call under pretense.”
“Who says I did?”
“I do.” After a bit, I added, “Am I wrong?”
“No. My real question was what’s happening with Bailey?”
Nothing could’ve shocked me more.
“Let’s start another way. What do you know?”
“Xander, that’s not how this works.”
“I’m a grown-ass man, Isabeau—sorry for the language. You don’t get to just question me about relationship matters.”
“I usually wouldn’t. You know for a fact that I’ve never asked what you do with your personal life.”
“That’s right.”
“But I care about Bailey.”
That shocked me yet again. “Okaaay,” I said.
“She and her sister have been doing marvelously with the confectionery over the years. I don’t know who else would give that business such love and devotion. I’m very fond of Avery and Bailey, and I wouldn’t want them to get hurt.”
I realized a split second later that my own grandmother was warning me. “I don’t plan to hurt either of them.”
“Sometimes in business decisions, you have collateral damage. And now you’re mixing business with personal, as far as I’ve heard.”
“Which comes back to my question. What do you know?” She was fishing for information. Someone must have told her something.
“I knew something was going on at the open house. She was red in the face half the evening, and it was definitely not from the nonalcoholic eggnog. You two were constantly looking at each other throughout the event. I kept waiting for someone to tell me what was going on.”
“And now you’ve lost your patience.” I finally understood.
“I wanted to be sure, but I couldn’t be. And I wanted to have this conversation with you. Bailey is a wonderful woman, but if you plan to go ahead with a sale or closing down the operation, then be careful not to hurt her. She cares a lot about the business.”
“I know.”
“How do you feel about Bailey?”
I scoffed. “Way to put me on the spot.”
“You and I are very much alike, Xander. We call things like we see them.”
“True.” A trait I was passing on to Bella. It was one of my finest achievements. “I don’t actually know how to answer that.”
It was the truth.
“This is wonderful,” Isabeau exclaimed.
I frowned. “Did you hear what I just said?” Maybe she’d misunderstood.
“Yes. This is so unlike you. Oh, Xander, you’re young, and I can’t possibly explain to you.”
Ah, now I get it. There was the reasonable side to Isabeau, and then there was the other side, the one that insisted her perfumes had powers. I had an inkling that the other side had come out for this call.
“Some things in life aren’t straightforward,” she continued. “You can’t see where the path ends unless you actually walk down it. Anyway, I won’t keep bothering you. I’m sure you’ve got a million things to do, and I’ve got all the information I need.”
That was alarming because I hadn’t really shared much with her.
“Isabeau, are you sure you’re not imagining things?” I double-checked.
“Xander, don’t insult me. When have I ever done that?”
That was a fair question. The answer was never, but still...
“Right. Have a great day, Isabeau.”
“And you.”
After we finished talking, I played our conversation over in my mind. I still couldn’t really tell what she was so excited about. But Isabeau and Celine had their own unique ways of looking at things. One of these days, maybe I’d understand their point of view, but today was not the day.