Page 11 of The Grump

“What?” Avery called.

“Jack is sick this week. I’m taking on the deliveries.”

“I can do it.”

“Nah, I’m fine. Besides, it’ll give me a chance to see how things have changed at the LeBlanc & Broussard restaurant since they brought on the new chef. You were there last Christmas, but I haven’t gone for eons.”

“Do you know she’s actually engaged to Chad LeBlanc?”

My eyes widened. “No, I didn’t know that. Wow, that’s something. And how do you know all the gossip?”

“Isabeau likes to talk about the family.”

My sister and I were very tight, but I couldn’t imagine how it would be to have such a big extended family as well. We’d only met our grandparents from our dad’s side a few times because they lived in Florida and were already elderly when we were born. Our parents toyed with the idea of sending us there for thesummer, but they were too frail to deal with two rambunctious girls. We’d been close to Mom’s parents, though.

I carefully checked all of my emails, and one in particular caught my attention. It was from Xander LeBlanc.

Title: Update Needed

Hi Bailey,

Thank you for taking your time to give me a tour. I’d like a spreadsheet with all the orders and all your production costs for this Christmas season. The one we have isn’t detailed enough, and it’s five years old, so it’s not adjusted for inflation.

My heart grew heavy. I’d been totally wrong. There was no winning him over.

I groaned.

“What is it?” Avery asked, running to me.

I pointed to the screen. “Read it for yourself.”

She leaned over my shoulder and narrowed her eyes at the screen, then half groaned, half laughed. “Told you! This guy isn’t going to be swayed by us.”

“That doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying.”

***

Xander

Numbers were my bread and butter. And I didn’t like the ones Bailey sent me at all. I’d done predictions adjusted for inflation from the information I had from five years ago, but this year, we were going to be even more in the red than usual.

Damn it, I should just close down the whole thing now. Why did I promise my grandmothers to keep it running for the Christmas season?

I glanced at the second spreadsheet she’d sent me. It was a schedule of some sort. At first I thought she’d included it by mistake, so I went over her email again.

Hi Xander,

Attached is the spreadsheet you asked for. I’m also sending you a list of all the places where we’re taking pralines this year. I hope to see you at some of those events. I won’t be everywhere in person, of course, but I marked the places where I will be.

I looked at the schedule again. They were delivering to LeBlanc & Broussard today at seven o’clock. I could make it there in time. She wasn’t the one bringing the pralines, which made sense. But it would serve me well to meet someone else on the team and see what exactly the delivery process was all about.

For the rest of the afternoon, I focused on more pressing matters, such as where we were on the profit and loss prediction so far. I insisted on being part of the planning in all of the Orleans Conglomerate businesses every year. It was a hellish amount of work. I liked to keep projections realistic, which was contrary to what everyone else was doing, but I hated setting unrealistic expectations and then simply pressing everyone around me to do more and more and more. It was bad for morale. In my opinion, it was simply not good business.

At six thirty, I left the office.

I arrived at the restaurant quickly enough and left my car in the parking lot they had for personnel in the back. Royal Street was insanely full. Then again, the holiday season in New Orleans was something else. Not quite as crowded as during Mardi Gras, but it was definitely the second-busiest season. LeBlanc & Broussard was filled to the brim, but my brother kept a contingency table in case anyone from the family showed up.

I stepped inside, and the guy behind the welcome desk immediately jumped to his feet. “Mr. LeBlanc, hello.”

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