Page 71 of The Grump

“Right. Have a great day, Isabeau.”

“And you.”

After we finished talking, I played our conversation over in my mind. I still couldn’t really tell what she was so excited about. But Isabeau and Celine had their own unique ways of looking at things. One of these days, maybe I’d understand their point of view, but today was not the day.

Chapter Twenty

Bailey

Even though I had my hands full the entire week, I’d been googling the LUNA Ball every chance I got. I’d mostly found pictures of models, which wasn’t very helpful, as I wanted to see what the guests were wearing, but it didn’t matter. I had a few amazing dresses and planned to bring my favorite one out to play. Oh, I was so excited.

Bailey, focus. You’ve still got deliveries to do today, and you don’t want to get your addresses mixed up.

That wasn’t really possible, though, as I only had two, and both were in the French Quarter. One was Julian’s bar, a place I really enjoyed delivering to. I was surprised the first year I’d seen the bar on the list, but Julian himself had assured me that our pralines were a big draw during the Christmas season. People specifically came for the pralines at Christmastime, not for the Sazerac, as usual.

The other delivery was at Isabeau and Celine’s fragrance shop.

“This is strange. They’ve never asked for a delivery,” I told Avery.

“Isabeau called me this morning and said they’re dying for some pralines. I figured since you’ll be in the Quarter anyway, you can take some to them. Do you mind? I can do it if it’s too much.”

“I was just surprised, that’s all. Did she tell you what she wants?”

“No, and I didn’t have time to ask.”

“Don’t worry. I will.”

Since I was on a break anyway, I decided to do it right now. I was done with the batter and only had to wrap up the batchthat was currently cooling. I made a mental note of everything we had. We did have their cherry favorites, but not the pistachio.

I hesitated for a split second. In the past, I’d never had any qualms about calling Isabeau.But you weren’t sleeping with her grandson back then,a voice said in the back of my mind. That was the crux of it. But Isabeau was oblivious to that, and this was simply about pralines. I’d talked to her about them a million times. I was pleased when she answered.

“Bailey, my girl, nice to hear from you.”

“Hey, Isabeau. My sister tells me you’re in the mood for some pralines.”

“We’ve been craving them for quite some time, but we didn’t want to bust into anyone else’s stash.”

That made me laugh. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. We have cherry pralines but no pistachios. What else do you want? There is nougat, too, and strawberry.”

“Just mix and match. It doesn’t even matter.”

Doesn’t even matter?That was unlike Isabeau. She usually had very specific requests for her pralines, and she’d once explained why: “If I take on calories, I intend to make every single one count.”

“Then I’ll just make you a nice mix. How long are you at the shop?”

“We don’t close very early. It’s best if you come after you drop by Julian’s.”

Now I was downright suspicious. She sounded sneaky, but I knew Isabeau well enough to realize that I wasn’t going to get to the bottom of this anytime soon.

“I’ll see you later, then.”

“Sure. Can’t wait.”

I didn’t have too much time to mull it over, as I needed to start packing the cooled pralines. The next batch would have towait until tomorrow morning. Or maybe Avery could wrap them before leaving.

My sister popped into the kitchen just as I finished packing up everything. “Need help bringing this to the car?”

“I’m good. They’re not so heavy. If you can get to those this evening, that’s fine.” I pointed to the tray that was still cooling. “If not, I’ll do them in the morning.”

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