Page 34 of The Plus One Professional

“Um…” Three days. The weekend. I never went away for work. Or for pleasure, for that matter. Not since Sara had her first seizure.

“The wedding is on Saturday, so I don’t know how that works. If you would just come up for the day, or if you would want to come up on Thursday and stay the weekend? If you are even available and want to go. I mean, I totally understand if not.”

My head was spinning with the information I was hearing. She wanted me to be her plus one. She wanted me to go away with her. She was working and attending her ex’s wedding. It was a lot to take in. I was trying to gather my thoughts when I heard a familiar voice.

“Well, hello there, young lady.”

I turned my head and saw Arthur walking up, carrying several bags of groceries.

“Hi.” Bailey smiled sweetly and moved off the porch steps.

“Arthur Reynolds, this is Bailey Bliss,” I said by way of introduction.

“Hi, Mr. Reynolds.”

“Well, hello, Bailey Bliss. Bliss. Huh?” He tilted his head to the side. “Now, you wouldn’t by chance be related to William Bliss, would’ya?”

Her face lit up at the mention of the name. “Yes, I am. I’m his granddaughter.”

“Oh, well, looky there. I served with your granddad in Vietnam. How’s old Willy doin’?”

“He passed away about ten years ago.”

“Ah,” Arthur didn’t’ seem surprised by the news. “Last I heard about him, he was fixin’ to propose to a pretty thing with red hair. I think her name was…”

“Betty, yeah, my grandmother. They were together for over sixty years.”

Arthur smiled. “He kept a photo of her in a locket.”

Bailey put her hand in her large black purse, pulled out a gold locket, and opened it. In it, there was an old black-and-white photo of a woman who looked like a Hollywood starlet.

“That’s it. Wow.” Arthur pointed at the photo. “I can’t believe it. You’re Willy’s granddaughter. It really is a small world.”

“Yes sir, it is.” She smiled and put the photo away.

“Well, I better get this ice cream inside. I don’t want it leakin’ all over.”

Bailey moved to the side.

“Do you need help up?” I offered as I hurried in front of him and opened the door, not that I wanted to leave Bailey; even for the few minutes it would take me to carry up the bags. But Arthur lived on the sixth floor, and like Sara, I worried about him on the stairs.

“Oh, no. I’m just fine. This is my workout for the day.” Arthur lifted the bags in a bicep curl as he walked inside. “Nice meeting you, young lady.”

“You, too, Mr. Reynolds.”

Once the door shut, I turned back to Bailey, unsure what to say. “How did you know where I lived?”

I was buying myself time, but I was also curious. It couldn’t have been from my app because I was careful not to have anything on there of any personal nature.

“Oh, right.” She dug into her bag once more and pulled out the order slip that had been on the cake with my name, address, and phone number and handed it back to me. “You dropped this.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I’m so sorry I just showed up like this. I just, I don’t know, I was just nervous, and I guess most people, well, they’d probably just text or use your app because doing this in person would be worse. And I thought about that, but then I thought, if I texted you or used your app, I would have to wait for your reply, and that would be torture. Also, I didn’t think I’d actually go through with it if I didn’t do it face-to-face. I can’t tell you how many times I picked up my phone to call, text or message you on your app, but then I chickened out. And I asked myself, what would Olivia do? She’s my best friend and a total badass. Anyway, I thought she would just face her fear head-on and ask. So here I am.”

I couldn’t believe this angelic creature actually seemed nervous about asking me out. Although she wasn’t really asking me out. She was asking if she could hire me as her plus one. There was a difference.

“But now that I’m here, I realize that I put you on the spot. Which is rude. So, yeah, I clearly haven’t thought this through.” She pulled out a pen from her purse.

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