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“I would like to let you know that I’ve gone insane.”
“Oh? As opposed to…?”
“Ha ha. Look, what’s up with that Kro person? You know that orc?”
“Of course I know that orc. What about him?”
I cringed. “Don’t judge me, but I sort of invited him to go to my family’s holiday dinner this weekend.”
“Why would I judge you? He’s a perfectly wonderful person?” Cherry’s voice shifted. “And I didn’t realize you were interested in him? And what happened with Malcolm?”
I gave her the short version of my fall out with Malcolm.
“That stinks, I’m sorry Plum. But hey, way to get back on the horse with Kro!”
I cringed even more. “Yeah, about that. I didn’t so much as ask him-ask him so much as…hired him to be my date.”
The silence that followed was deafening.
“Cherry? Are you still on?” I looked at the phone connection, saw that we were still connected and the signal was high. “Cherry?”
“Wait. Let me get this straight? You…hired him to be a date?”
“Yeah–”
“You would rather hire someone than go to that dinner alone?”
“Okay, spooky, you sound just like Honey.”
“Good! That means I sound perfectly logical.”
“Ugh, if I wanted to be beat up, I’d just go straight to my family. Anyway! I just wanted to see what you thought about him, that’s all!”
“He’s a great person, funny, and kind. Oh! And he likes action movies. And your pastries.”
“Yeah, I know, I’m paying him in profiteroles.”
“Ooh, if you happen to make any extra–”
“I’ll make sure to stash some for Daria.” Dean’s little sister loves the pastries, and Cherry buys her love and loyalty with pastry currency.
Must be a common theme.
“Look, I really don’t think you should think about it as a hiring situation, because you’ll just do this whole awkward thing. Just treat him like a friend you invited–that you didn’t have to bribe–and you’ll feel better. So how in the world did you end up asking him? And when? I was there closing down, too?”
“Oh, he heard us in the kitchens. Honey and me. I think he was sniffing after more pastries. Anyway, he heard me talking about the dinner, and he was all, ‘I’ll go with you.’ He was just being nice–are you laughing?”
“Oh Plum! Here I thought you asked him when he asked you. That’s a whole different scenario.”
“Oh no, why?”
“Orcs are pretty straightforward. If he volunteered to go to dinner with you, he wanted to go.”
It was my turn to respond with silence. “But…why would he want to go to a family dinner with me?”
“I’ll let you figure that out on your own.”
An hour later, Kro arrived to pick me up. He insisted on driving since the weather threatened to turn to the worst this weekend. Being in the Midwest, it was part of the territory. I packed a small overnight bag, which I slung over my shoulder, and grabbed my purse and keys.
