Page 10 of Baking it Merry

“What about us?”his middle brother, Jacob, asked.“You know you can count on me and Rachel to host whatever you need.”

Kiss ass.

Tuning everything out, Tristan sat back and tried to think of how he was supposed to make all of these events happen.

And how he was going to need a new assistant because clearly Faye was doing her best to aggravate him.

No, she’s trying to piss me off…

“Maybe we should wait to move Grandma until after the holidays,” he blurted out and was met with wide-eyed silence.“I’m just saying, no one’s buying houses during the months of November and December, and wouldn’t it be nice for her to have one last Christmas in her own home?”

“That’s incredibly sweet of you to think of that,” his mother said with a sad smile, “but this was actually her idea.Your grandmother doesn’t feel up to one more season of decorating and being in the house.We all know she’s always welcome here with us or with any of her children or grandchildren, but she’s made up her mind and all we can do is support her.”

And that effectively put an end to Tristan attempting to get out of hosting anything.

But that didn’t mean he had to hire Daphne.There were plenty of bakers in Raleigh; surely one of them could meet all the requirements.

Even if he didn’t know what exactly they were, except that they weren’t Daphne.

All he knew was that come Monday morning, he was going to call every bakery in a fifty-mile radius and find the perfect one to cater these parties.

How hard could it be?

By Monday afternoon, he had his answer.

Very.

It was impossible to find a bakery to meet all the criteria his mother had set.

Raking both hands through his dark hair, Tristan let out a long breath before turning his chair so he could look out the window.How was it possible that he couldn’t find one reputable baker in a city of a half a million people?It defied reason!

“Hey, boss!”Faye said as she came into his office and put the mail down on his desk.She hadn’t mentioned anything about an appointment with Daphne and, as much as he knew he should be thankful, his curiosity got the better of him.

“I hear you set up an appointment for me and the lobby baker,” he said, sounding just shy of being hostile.

Smiling, she shook her head.“Oh, I wouldn’t do that to Daphne.Your mother asked me to do it, but…” She shrugged.“I knew you’d freak out and, like I said, I just refuse to do that to such a sweet girl.”

“What does…?”

“These are the physical contracts for the Blackstone building,” she went on.“There’s a cover letter stating that they purchased the adjacent property and want to schedule a time to talk to you about designing a structure for it as well.”Smiling, she stepped back.“Can I get you anything?”

“Yeah, how about an explanation?”

“Meaning…?”

Tristan’s gaze narrowed.“You know exactly what I mean.What is itexactlythat you won’t do to Daphne?”

“Ask her to work for you.”She paused.“Or to come up here for a meeting with you.After the way you behaved last week…” Making a tsking sound, she shook her head.“I’ve never seen you behave so poorly.Of course, I should have just been honest with your mother and told her it wouldn’t be possible to have you and Daphne work together, but…you know…that would have been awkward.”

“Okay, but…”

“And I knew you’d just call another bakery and have them do the parties, so no need to get Daphne’s hopes up.She already works so hard—she has another job beside the bakery.I just thought it would be wrong to make her think that maybe she wouldn’t have to work so hard.”Another shrug.“So?Who did you hire?”

For a moment, he didn’t want to respond.

“Youdidhire someone, didn’t you?I know you, Tristan, and I heard you on the phone all morning asking cake questions.Who did you end up going with?”

“Um…no one,” he murmured.

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