Page 50 of The Grump

“Fancy seeing you already here, brother,” Zachary said. He looked between me and Bailey, and I knew he’d already figured it out. My brother was intuitive that way. “Avery already instructed us on cleaning this place as well as possible.”

“We’ll do our very best,” Beckett added.

“It’s not my strong suit,” Anthony confessed. “But as my brother pointed out, we LeBlancs always give our best.”

Zachary looked at the two of them. “When you clean, steer clear of any shards or sharp edges.”

I was glad he was here. Zachary was really good in emergencies.

Once everyone had a designated task, we jumped into the fray. Thankfully, with all of us helping, we finished much quicker than I’d thought.

“Zachary, you’ve got mad organizational skills,” Avery said a few hours later, once the room looked decent again.

“Thanks. The joke in the family is that when there’s an emergency, everyone wants me in charge.”

“That’s something we always say to each other. I didn’t know you actually knew,” I told him.

“Unlike you, brother,” Beckett cut in, “the rest of us don’t keep secrets from one another. We say exactly what we think.”

Beckett and Anthony always marched to the beat of their own drum.

“Your kitchen and ovens are untouched, right?” Beckett asked, slipping into business mode as he addressed Bailey and Avery.

“I believe so,” Bailey replied.

“Well, if not, we can always try and accommodate everything in our bakeries,” Beckett went on. “My team can contact you tomorrow.”

That gave me an idea. Beckett was running the bakeries section of the Orleans Conglomerate. They could take over the praline business too. I would have to actually run some numbers before I brought the idea to my brother, though. But it had merits.

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t think it’s necessary,” Bailey told him.

“It’s best if we just call it a night, don’t you think?” Avery said.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Bailey agreed. “Guys, how can we thank you?”

“I want pralines,” Anthony said. Zachary and Beckett nodded too.

Bailey grabbed boxes from the untouched shelves, handing one to each of them.

Anthony immediately ate two. “I always forget how good these are.” Then he pointed at me and said, “Don’t you dare shut this down. I don’t want LeBlanc & Broussard pralines to stop existing.”

The mood instantly changed. Anthony usually had the best sense of humor, but clearly he was exhausted. He looked once around the room and cleared his throat. “I saw this joke going differently. I take it back.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to work,” Beckett replied. Uncharacteristically for him, he sounded a bit pissed.

“We’re all tired,” Zachary concluded. “I think it’s best that we leave before someone makes things even more awkward.” He looked pointedly at Anthony. Whenever Zachary was present, he read the room and took care of things. Most of the time, I didn’t even have to pull out the big brother card.

“All right, everyone, let’s move,” I said.

As we all prepared to leave the building, Avery told Bailey, “I’ll drop you off.” Glancing at me, she added, “We came with one car today.”

“I’ll take Bailey home,” I said without further ado.

Both sisters looked at me in unison.

“You will?” Bailey asked in wonder. Thankfully, my brothers were far enough away that they couldn’t hear the conversation.

Avery just laughed and said, “Hey, it’s your call. But your house really is out of my way.” Clearly she was fighting laughter.

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