Page 11 of Baking it Merry

“Mm-hmm…”

“Oh, don’t do that,” he said wearily.

“Do what?All I said wasmm-hmm.”

“It was the tone,” he argued.“And you know exactly what that meant.”

And yet another shrug.

“Dammit, Faye!”

She moved in close to the desk and leaned down as if trying to intimidate him.“You need to go down to the lobby first thing tomorrow morning and apologize to Daphne and beg her to help you.If you let your poor mother down, it will devastate her.And with everything going on with your grandmother…”

“Wait, how do you know about that?”

“Your mother and I talk at least three times a week.I know all the family news.”Straightening, she smiled sweetly.“I think Alan and Suzie are going to do a wonderful job with the country club event, don’t you?”

“I’m not going to apologize to that woman,” he stated firmly.“I didn’t do anything wrong.I think those booths are an eyesore and she picked a fight with me for no reason.All I tried to do was help her by volunteering to bring the muffins up here so she wouldn’t have to be away from her gingerbread house.”

Faye didn’t even blink as she simply stared at him.

“It was the logical thing to do.I was already heading up here and the muffins were for my meeting.”

More staring.

“Okay, fine.I was going to get off on the twenty-seventh floor and throw them out and then come up here and remind you of how I didn’t want to support her business!She knew I was up to something, but she was still unreasonable, and I’m not hiring her!”He was breathless by the time he was done, but he didn’t care.

“That’s your prerogative, Tristan.I’m sure you can reach out to the local grocery stores and see if their bakery departments can help you.”

Dammit.

“Or maybe you can bake some cookies yourself?That would be fun!”

They each grew quiet until it got awkward.

“I just don’t understand what you have against the vendors,” Faye said with exasperation.“They’ve been doing this sort of thing for three years, Tristan!Everyone in the building enjoys having them here.No one’s asking you to gush over them or spend all your money on them, but you really need to grow up and stop acting like a brat.”

“Now I’m a brat?Seriously?”

“Yes, you are.If Daphne or any of those ladies were mean or unpleasant, I could understand.But they’re not.If anything, Daphne’s the friendliest person I’ve ever met.”

“And you don’t think that’s strange?I mean, why is she so damn happy?You say she works two jobs, so what’s she so happy about?Most people hate having one job, let alone two!”

“Tristan…”

“It has to be an act,” he concluded.“No one’s that happy all the time.It’s not possible.”

“Do you even hear yourself?Maybe she is a little overly cheery, but that’s the way it is in retail.Are you going to sit here and tell me you’ve never schmoozed with a client or praised them, hoping to gain an account?”

“I have, but…”

“Then you should know that it’s the same for everyone in business.It goes with the territory.”She studied him for another moment.“You and your whole family normally embrace the holidays.Why are you so grumpy this year?”

“Because nothing’s going right!”he snapped without thinking.

Faye’s shoulders sagged.“Oh, Tristan, that’s not true.Business is thriving.We’ve had our best year since you opened this office.Why would you even think that nothing’s going right?”

“Faye, you know better than anyone what I’m working toward.”

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