Page 84 of The Grump

She wanted money for fucking Christmas dinner. Not only that, but she was in the damn hospital a week before, and for all I knew, she may not even make it home for the festivities.

One thing I knew for fucking sure was that I was going to pay for everything. I’d find out her name and be an angel donor.

Damn, that broke my heart.

“What do you all think about the pralines?” I asked. “Really good, right?”

The girl held up a small bag as if it was her most prized possession. “Bailey made my favorites with banana.”

How did Bailey know her favorites?

I looked at my woman, who said, “Andrea has an autoimmune condition, and she makes a lot of trips here.” She turned to face the kids. “I promise everyone will get their favorites delivered to their home next week.”

Two of the kids jumped out of bed and went over to Bailey, hugging her.

I swallowed hard. The scene was impacting me in a way I couldn’t explain. Damn, they all seemed attached to Bailey.

After each kid reiterated their favorites, making sure she knew them, we moved on to the next room. I carried the baskets that Avery and Bailey had brought with them.

“Thanks so much for being here and helping,” Bailey said.

“I haven’t helped at all yet.”

“Oh, that joke with the Grinch was excellent,” Avery exclaimed.

“Are those kids permanently in the hospital or something?”

“Oh no, nothing like that. Most of them are here for the first time.”

“So, how can you possibly know their favorites, then?”

Bailey smiled sheepishly. For some reason, Avery was looking at me intently.

“We call up the morning before we come and ask the nurses if they can ask the kids what their favorite candies are, or what they usually like to eat. That gives us an idea. Then we make a lot of packages with everyone’s favorites and mark them according to flavors. Then, when someone says they like cherry, we take the right package from the basket.”

“They think we can do magic,” Avery informed me.

For the next hour, we went from room to room, but we didn’t have many left. The two of them had been here since midday, as I found out. In the last room, I didn’t play the Grinch again but the Nutcracker. A girl said it was her favorite, and I immediately started doing a robotic walk—completely wrong interpretation, the girl assured me, but all the kids laughed anyway.

After we exited the final room, there were still some pralines left.

“I think we should leave these with the staff and call it an evening,” Bailey said.

“Yep,” Avery said. “I think so too.”

“I’ll take the baskets. I know where the head nurse is.”

“I’ll come with you,” I offered.

“Not necessary. They’re super easy to carry compared to when we arrived.”

Bailey sauntered down the corridor while Avery and I waited by the elevator.

“It was nice of you showing up here,” Avery said quietly.

“I wanted to catch up with Bailey.”

“She lit up when you told her you were coming.”

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