Page 107 of The Merry Matchmaker

“You were busy. How did you like being Mrs. Claus?” Adele asked Elinor.

Elinor beamed. “It was wonderful. Mitch is wonderful.”

Okay, enough already. Elinor needed to be reminded of who she was supposed to be with. “Now, how would William Sharp feel if he heard you raving about Mitch?” Frankie said, keeping her voice light.

Elinor looked at her, puzzled. “I don’t know. Why would that matter?”

“Elinor, we’ve talked about that special someone you were interested in,” Frankie reminded her.

Elinor’s rosy cheeks turned scarlet. “Yes. And I hope he’s interested, too. Mitch is the sweetest man in Carol.”

“But what about William?” Frankie pressed.William’s your man.

“He’s nice,” Elinor said with a shrug, “but I was never into him. I’d better get my apron on and get to work.” She hurried to the back room to shed her coat.

Shocked, Frankie looked to her mother.

Adele merely shrugged. “Looks like you’ve succeeded in finding a match for Mitch.”

A match for Mitch—it sounded like a bad book title. Frankie had to force the scowl from her face when a customer walked through the door.

She spent the whole day fighting off that scowl and was glad when the day was over and she could finally turn the sign on the door to Closed. Spending time with her family for their usual Sunday get-together would, hopefully, improve her mood.

“I’m off to heat up the lasagna. See you in an hour,” Adele said to Frankie. “What are you up to, Elinor?”

“I’m going to go home and bake. I have my grandmother’s brownie recipe.”

“Sounds good. I hope you’ll share some,” Adele said.

“I’ll make another batch and bring it in on Tuesday,” Elinor promised, then hurried out the door.

“At least you know she’s not with Mitch if she’s home baking brownies,” Adele said to Frankie. “See you at the house.”

And then she was gone.

Frankie locked the door and slowly made her way to her car. The temperature was dropping, and the streets were turning icy. If it kept up, she’d have to throw out a ton of rock salt when she came back in on Tuesday.

She drove home, avoiding the occasional parked car stranded at an angle on the street. Even though snow was becoming more common, people in the Pacific Northwest still hadn’t figured out how to drive in it.

She changed into her favorite leggings and comfy red sweatshirt. She took the garlic bread she’d bought to take to her mother’s from the pantry, along with the bag of her daughter’s chocolates, then she pulled on her coat and her snow boots and made her way down the street.

Surprise, surprise, Mr. Bellagamba’s car was parked out front right along with Stef’s, and Frankie entered to find everyone already celebrating with eggnog. A nice bit of bling was glinting from Adele’s finger, proof that she’d decided not to wait until Christmas Eve to make her big announcement.

“Did you know about this?” Stef greeted Frankie.

Adele’s warning look informed Frankie that she was not to blab how she’d learned about the new man in their mother’s life. “Wow, really?” she said, doing an excellent job of faking surprise. “Congratulations, you two.” She set down her goodies and went to take hold of her mother’s hand for a closer look. “That’s gorgeous. And what a great Christmas surprise.” She hugged her mom and future stepfather.

“Natalie’s going to be mad that she missed out on this,” Stef predicted.

“She’ll learn soon enough,” said Adele.

“When’s the wedding, Mr. B?” Frankie asked.

“Call me Mario,” he said before adding, “Soon, I hope.”

“Fourth of July,” Adele decided. “That way, no matter how senile we get, we’ll never forget our anniversary. Plus, we’ll always have fireworks.”

“Good idea,” he said approvingly, and grinned.

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