Page 8 of Baking it Merry

He didn’t look the least bit fazed.“You hit too many buttons.It’ll start again in a minute.”

“Ipushed too many buttons?I hit the same button,” she argued.“You’re the one who kept hitting random buttons.This is your fault.”Sure, she sounded fine, but her heart was racing, and she was starting to tremble.Small, enclosed spaces werenother favorite and she was beginning to panic that the elevator wasn’t going to start moving fast enough.

“Maybe you can use your joyful powers to get us out of here, Mary Poppins.I mean, according to you, yummy snacks and a smile are the answer to everything.Maybe whistle and some forest animals will come and save us.”

If she wasn’t internally freaking out, she’d be sorely tempted to seriously unleash on this guy, but that wasn’t who she was.

“Think what you want,” she said instead.“I may not be able to get this elevator moving, but I can guarantee that more people appreciate me treating them kindly than you being such a negative…jerk.”

Okay, so maybe she would unleash a little.

“Did you just call me a jerk?What are you, twelve?”

“Did you just mockingly call me Mary Poppins?”she asked sarcastically.Glancing at her smartwatch, she shook her head.“Why aren’t we moving yet?Can we call someone?”

Stepping in front of her, he pushed the help button on the panel.

“We see that you’re stuck between the twentieth and twenty-first floors,” someone said.“Are you okay?”

“This is Tristan Knight of Knight Architects,” he said calmly.“There are two of us in here and we’re fine, but do you know how long this will take?”

“It should only be a couple of minutes, Mr.Knight.Did someone lean against the panel?”

He gave her a challenging look, but ultimately replied, “There was some confusion on what floor to go to.We apologize.”

“No worries, sir.We should have you moving soon.”

“Thank you.”His smile was smug when he glanced at her.“Happy?”

As crazy as it seemed, his snarky attitude was a great distraction for her anxiety.“Soon is a little vague, but…” Shrugging casually, Daphne silently prayed that soon actually meantsoonbecause not only did she hate being stuck in such a small space, but she also hated being stuck with Grinchy…um…Tristan Knight even more.

After that, he didn’t even try to engage in conversation with her.Pulling out his phone, he called his office.“Faye,” he began firmly.“I’m on my way up, but I’m stuck in the elevator.”He paused.“Somewhere around the twentieth floor.”Another pause that had him looking at her.“Yeah, she’s in here too, and believe me, you and I are going to have a discussion about it.”

Daphne didn’t even try to hide her eye roll.

But as she wiped the sweat from her forehead, she began to silently pray she didn’t embarrass herself in front of him or worse, beg him to talk to her just for the sake of her sanity.

Fortunately, she was saved from having to say anything when the elevator moved.She let out a slow sigh of relief and when the doors opened on the twenty-eighth floor, she stepped out with her head held high and walked directly over to Faye’s desk.

“Oh, Daphne!I’m so sorry about the elevator!Are you okay?”

Honestly?No, but she kept that to herself.“I’m fine.Really.It wasn’t that long.”Placing the boxes on the desk, she smiled.“I added a few extra goodies for you, and here are some of my business cards.”

“Thank you again and I’m sorry for all the trouble this obviously caused.”Faye shot a look at Tristan before smiling at Daphne.“I know everyone’s going to love the muffins, and I’m going to stop by later on and place an order for some stuff for the weekend.We’ll set up the standing order then too, if that’s okay.”

“That sounds perfect, and I’ll see you then!In the meantime, have a fabulous day and enjoy!”

Tristan was standing to the side doing his best to look intimidating, but neither woman paid him any attention.

At least, not until Daphne walked past him on her way back to the elevator.“And I hope you have a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day!”

She giggled all the way down to the lobby.

For three days he’d had that damnMary Poppinssong in his head while fighting the urge to send Faye down to the lobby for more muffins.

But he refused to show weakness.The woman was a menace, and her perpetual cheeriness was annoying, so there was no way he was going to support keeping her in the building.Every morning, he walked by her ridiculous gingerbread house without looking at it and did the same when he left in the evening.Oh, he knew Faye was ordering stuff from her and so were half the people in his office, but Tristan refused to do the same.

No matter how much he craved a blueberry muffin.

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