Chapter Twenty-Three
Xander
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“Fucking hell, everyone is incompetent today,” I exclaimed on Friday evening, one week after having Bailey at my house. I’d been on edge ever since, wanting more and more of her. My temperament was insufferable.
My assistant poked her head in. “Xander, I heard you talking. Do you need something?”
“No, I was just talking to myself. Everyone sent me spreadsheets done incorrectly today. Three different people. What are the odds?”
She looked like she was about to burst out laughing.
“You know something, Lydia?”
“It might be because it’s Friday afternoon and a week away from Christmas.” She smiled apologetically. “I don’t think people are taking work too seriously.”
“Things still need to get done.”
“Well, I was actually about to tell you that I’m gone for the day unless you need something from me.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to say, “It’s not even that late yet,” but then I noticed the time. It was five o’clock.
“Sure, have a great weekend.”
“You, too, Xander.” She started to leave and then turned around. “Um. Maybe a word of advice...”
“You know I’m always open to advice.”
“Don’t call or send people any more emails tonight. You’ll just get more frustrated. I really don’t think anyone else, even in the Orleans Conglomerate, is working.”
I couldn’t argue with that, because I’d sent three emails in the past half hour and didn’t get a single reply. Who stopped working at four thirty on a Friday?
I could only imagine what Bailey would have to say about it. Just thinking about her made me laugh at myself. She might have a point. I truly was a fucking Grinch, and I never thought I’d say that about myself. It was the last Friday before Christmas. Of course people probably had other things to do.
In fact, I no longer wanted to stay at the office either. Those spreadsheets needed fixing, but not tonight.
Speaking of spreadsheets, I opened the one Bailey sent me with her schedule. Bingo. I knew she had an event tonight. The note only said “children’s hospital,” but there was no hour listed, just “afternoon.” I was babysitting Bella, but only later, at eight o’clock. I wondered if Bailey was still there, and I decided to call her. She answered after five rings.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“Hi, Bailey.”
“Listen, I’m at the—”
“Children’s hospital,” I finished for her.
“How do you...? Oh, the spreadsheet.”
“Are you going to be there for long?”
“Yes. Tim is actually reading to us from his favorite storybook. It’s going to take a while until we make the rounds.”
“Mind if I join you?”
“At the hospital?”
“Yes. You’re delivering pralines to the kids, right?”
“Yes, and the staff.”
“Could you use another pair of hands?”
“Definitely.” She sounded relieved. “It’s only me and Avery tonight. Gustav was supposed to come, too, but he was coming down with a cold, and I didn’t want him to get anyone sick. But wait, aren’t you spending the evening with Bella?”
“Later. I’ll be there as soon as possible. Where can I find you?”
“Just text me when you’re here. I don’t know if we’ll have moved on by then.”
“Sure.”
As soon as I hung up, I grabbed my coat and headed down to my car, aiming to get the children’s hospital as quickly as possible.
Another crazy thing about the last Friday before Christmas? Traffic. It took me a whole fucking forty-five minutes to get there. I kept texting Bailey on the way, and she assured me that they were still there. Just as I arrived, she told me they’d moved on to the second floor, and I went straight there.
When I stepped on the second level, I heard Bailey’s and Avery’s voices coming from one of the rooms. Following the sound, I stepped inside a room with five kids. Three had their parents next to them, but two were alone. Bailey was sitting on one of their beds, Avery on the other one.
“You’re here,” Bailey said, smiling at me. “We were just telling stories about you.”
“Yeah, you’re Mr. Grinch,” the boy next to Bailey said. He looked pale and had dark circles under his eyes.
“The Grinch who stole Christmas,” another one of the kids said.
Ordinarily, I’d pretend to at least be mad about this, but these kids seemed to enjoy meeting the Grinch.
“Yep. Here I am, the Grinch at your disposal. How might I ruin Christmas this year?”
Bailey’s eyes flew open. Even Avery gave me an appreciative smile. I had no idea where that came from, but clearly it did the trick, because all the kids were clapping and laughing.
“We’ve never met the Grinch before. Please don’t steal Christmas this year, please, please,” a girl said. “I need it more than ever. I told Santa to bring Mom and Dad some money so we can pay for the food.”
My whole body felt like I’d been punched by a professional boxer. Avery’s smile faded. Bailey simply glanced down at her hands.
“All right. Because you asked me, I will not steal Christmas this year.”
“Yes!” All the kids clapped again.
“But I make no promises for next year.”
She wanted money for fucking Christmas dinner. Not only that, but she was in the damn hospital a week before, and for all I knew, she may not even make it home for the festivities.
One thing I knew for fucking sure was that I was going to pay for everything. I’d find out her name and be an angel donor.
Damn, that broke my heart.
“What do you all think about the pralines?” I asked. “Really good, right?”
The girl held up a small bag as if it was her most prized possession. “Bailey made my favorites with banana.”
How did Bailey know her favorites?
I looked at my woman, who said, “Andrea has an autoimmune condition, and she makes a lot of trips here.” She turned to face the kids. “I promise everyone will get their favorites delivered to their home next week.”
Two of the kids jumped out of bed and went over to Bailey, hugging her.
I swallowed hard. The scene was impacting me in a way I couldn’t explain. Damn, they all seemed attached to Bailey.
After each kid reiterated their favorites, making sure she knew them, we moved on to the next room. I carried the baskets that Avery and Bailey had brought with them.
“Thanks so much for being here and helping,” Bailey said.
“I haven’t helped at all yet.”
“Oh, that joke with the Grinch was excellent,” Avery exclaimed.
“Are those kids permanently in the hospital or something?”
“Oh no, nothing like that. Most of them are here for the first time.”
“So, how can you possibly know their favorites, then?”
Bailey smiled sheepishly. For some reason, Avery was looking at me intently.
“We call up the morning before we come and ask the nurses if they can ask the kids what their favorite candies are, or what they usually like to eat. That gives us an idea. Then we make a lot of packages with everyone’s favorites and mark them according to flavors. Then, when someone says they like cherry, we take the right package from the basket.”
“They think we can do magic,” Avery informed me.
For the next hour, we went from room to room, but we didn’t have many left. The two of them had been here since midday, as I found out. In the last room, I didn’t play the Grinch again but the Nutcracker. A girl said it was her favorite, and I immediately started doing a robotic walk—completely wrong interpretation, the girl assured me, but all the kids laughed anyway.
After we exited the final room, there were still some pralines left.
“I think we should leave these with the staff and call it an evening,” Bailey said.
“Yep,” Avery said. “I think so too.”
“I’ll take the baskets. I know where the head nurse is.”
“I’ll come with you,” I offered.
“Not necessary. They’re super easy to carry compared to when we arrived.”
Bailey sauntered down the corridor while Avery and I waited by the elevator.
“It was nice of you showing up here,” Avery said quietly.
“I wanted to catch up with Bailey.”
“She lit up when you told her you were coming.”
“I’m glad. You made a lot of kids happy.”
“It’s what we do.”
“What are you not saying, Avery? You sound like you want to add something to that.”
She sighed. “If you sell the confectionery, things like this would get lost.”
I liked Avery. I appreciated her honesty and the way she faced everything.
“The charitable part could be easily done on the side,” I countered, though I knew now that it wouldn’t really be the same.
She pressed her lips together but didn’t reply. I’d always considered the production side different from the charitable part, but for the first time, I was starting to have doubts. Bailey and Avery had called the hospital, asked about everyone’s favorites, and then got to work. That simply wasn’t something that happened in a for-profit company. Not ever.
I’d been to enough charity events to know how an evening like this would look. Someone would show up and deliver generic pralines. Or they’d employ clowns or other forms of entertainment, which wasn’t bad per se. It was just that what Bailey and Avery did was different, deeper.
I was certain that those kids would remember this for quite some time. Bailey and Avery were involved in every aspect. Before tonight, I’d have seen that as a negative. But now I was starting to see the importance of such things. What these two had created was completely unique. There was a reason the LeBlanc I assumed the visiting hours were over. “I thought about you a lot at the office.”
“How come?”
I straightened up, tracing her jaw with my fingers. “Well, I was up in arms because everyone seemed to have taken off early. Then I imagined how much you’d make fun of me for thinking that.”
Bailey burst out laughing, putting her arms around my neck. “Oh yes, I would. But you’re forgiven because you played the role of the Grinch perfectly. I didn’t even know you had it in you.”
“Neither did I, but you’re bringing out the playful side in me.”
It was easy to let my guard down around Bailey. I wanted to impress her at every turn, and that was something totally new for me.
“Hey, would you wait here a second? I wanted to ask the nurses a couple of things.” I wanted to make sure that little girl’s bills were paid for, and I didn’t want Bailey to know the details—just in case things didn’t work out.
“Sure, I’ll head to the main entrance.”
A few minutes later, I caught back up with her as we headed out the door.
“What time do you have to be at your brother’s house?” Bailey asked.
“About half an hour. If we hurry, we can even surprise Bella with beignets. Although, ‘surprise’ is probably the wrong choice of words. If I show my face there without them, I will never be invited again.”
“Can you double-check with him if it’s really okay that I come?” For some insane reason, she sounded apprehensive.
“My brother will have nothing against it,” I assured her, but I texted him anyway.
Chad answered before we even got to the car, and I showed it to her.
Chad: Bella will probably be ecstatic that yet another uncle bit the dust.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bailey inquired as we got in.
“Bella always complained that she wanted more women in the family. Both the grandmothers and my mom more than make up for it, but she’s got a logic of her own.”
“Kids usually do,” she said in a soft voice.
“You really like kids, huh?” I asked as I sped toward Café du Monde.
“Yes. I hope to have three, maybe four.”
“That’s an overwhelming number,” I said earnestly. I mean, I’d always assumed that I’d eventually have a family, but I never actively pursued it or thought about it too closely. But right now, I could see myself and Bailey surrounded by a few kids.
“You have five brothers.”
“Hence why I know it’s overwhelming. Though, I will say, the problem was that all of us were boys. It was a madhouse. Not sure how my parents and grandparents survived it. It took all six of them to keep up with all six of us, and we didn’t even all come at once. Would you want boys and girls?”
I was genuinely interested in her answer.
“Hmm. A mix maybe. I’d definitely teach them how to make pralines, though, and I think girls would more likely love doing that.”
“What exactly is it that you like about the process?”
“It’s soothing. I mix ingredients and know something delicious will come out, and it’ll make people happy. And me as well. Of course, kids have an interesting relationship with sweets. Best to operate with caution before introducing them to pralines too early. But I could imagine them sitting around me at the table at the confectionery. I’d give them small pieces of dough and let them play around with it.”
“You’re a very special soul, Bailey,” I said quietly.
One I was quite attached to.