Page 68 of The Grump

“We’ll stay in touch,” he said before hanging up.

After the conversation ended, I instructed Lydia to send him whatever he needed and then immediately called Bailey.

Surprising her wasn’t fair. She’d probably need time to prepare for the ball, or maybe she even had some other plans, since she wasn’t going to a different event that evening.

I debated bringing up the potential sale, but nothing was set in stone yet. There was no point upsetting her.

Chapter Nineteen

Xander

“Hi!” she answered after a couple rings. She sounded breathless.

“Am I interrupting?”

“You know me. Elbow deep in batter, keeping an eye on the oven, and so on.” I liked hearing her tell me mundane things about her day. It made me feel like I was part of it. “Why are you calling?”

I couldn’t believe that I’d lost track of my thoughts just because she’d told me some details. I just laughed to myself, then asked, “What are you doing on the ninth of December?”

“Is it a weekday?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll be here.”

“There’s nothing on the schedule you sent me, so you don’t have any delivery plans, but do you have anything going on personally?”

“I don’t know. Why?” Her tone was flirty. I liked it. It was so easy to be with her and talk to her.

“Would you like to go to the LUNA Ball together?”

She gasped. “Are you serious? I would love it. Do they want pralines?”

It took me a second to realize what she meant. “I meant just us. We’ll attend the ball together.”

“Don’t you need invitations?”

“I think they sell tickets for the public, but I actually have VIP tickets.”

“And you want me to go with you?”

“Yes, I want you to be my date.”

She gasped again, but it was softer this time. Then I heard a huge clang.

I jumped to my feet. “Bailey, are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”

“Damn it, I just dropped a bowl straight onto my foot! That took me by surprise.”

“What? That I want to go on a date with you? We went to the restaurant on a date.” Did she have a different idea of what this was than I did? Maybe I needed to be clearer, like I was when discussing business.

“I know, but this is different.”

“I want to have you on my arm as my date,” I assured her. “We’re dating.”

“Oh! Okay, I don’t even really need more details. I know all about the LUNA Ball. I’ve always wanted to go, but somehow I have my hands full every season.”

I chuckled. “That sounds unlike you, missing something Christmas related.”

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