Page 125 of The Merry Matchmaker

“You weren’t about to lose anything. I like Elinor, and I was being nice, but there’s only one Mrs. Claus I want to be with.”

“Oh, Mitch,” she said, feeling suddenly all teary.

“We are going to have a great life together,” he assured her. “I can promise you that. I’ll make sure of it.”

She studied his face—that strong chin, the easy smile, the eyes with the deep laugh lines at the corners, and that lopsided grin. This man had been a friend to her for years, and it had been a good friendship. Now it was more, and suddenly her life was more because of it.

“Kiss me again,” she murmured.

He smiled and did, cradling her face in his big hands. It was a tender kiss, filled with promise and warmth. She could have gone on kissing him forever.

She pulled away and blinked.

“What?” he asked, puzzled. “You can’t have changed your mind already.”

“No. Kissing you... I felt the same way the first time I kissed Ike.” She smiled. “And that’s how I know this is right. It’s like...a sign.”

His grin took over his whole face. “Well, Happy New Year.”

She could almost hear her husband, whispering approvingly,And Merry Christmas, Frankie.

Stef and Griff sat side by side in a booth at The Salad Bowl, dodging the ferny fingers of one of the plants behind the booth. “Feed me, Seymour,” she quoted fromLittle Shop of Horrors.

“Feed it. I’m gonna croak it,” he said, and gave the thing a shove.

“Ow,” she said in a tiny voice, and he laughed.

“My wife would have loved you,” he said.

Maybe Stef should have felt jealous but instead she felt complimented. “I bet I’d have loved her, too.”

“My sister’s ready to adopt you.”

“And how about you?”

“I don’t want to adopt you. That’d be pervy,” he said, and she snickered. “I gotta say, I was really mad at Jenn for constantly nagging me to get out there and meet someone. Did you know that she had a talk with your sister in that shop of hers before the Santa Walk?”

“No,” Stef said in surprise. “I didn’t.”

“Yeah. She kept getting on me about taking Corky to see Santa. Of course, Corky was on me to take him, too, so I just thought she was backing him up.”

“Maybe she was.”

“In a way. But she had a hidden agenda. She was hoping we’d meet like in some sappy holiday movie.”

“I love sappy holiday movies,” said Stef.

“So does my sister. She thinks life should be like those movies.” He took a sip of his coffee. “It’s hard when your life’s gone to shit to see anything good coming out of it.”

Stef nodded. “I get that. My marriage was a mess and so was my self-esteem for a while there. And dating? Don’t even get me started. But you know what my mom says? Shit happens, but you need fertilizer to make good things grow.”

“Your mom sounds like a pretty smart woman,” he said.

“She is. She’d get what you’ve been going through. My dad died when I was young, and she had to do the single parent thing. It can’t be easy.”

“It has its challenges.”

“But at least you’ve got your son.” Okay, what kind of thing was that to say? Feeling foolish and at a loss, Stef focused on breaking off a piece of her roll. “That was probably a stupid thing to say. It makes your boy sound like a consolation prize in some sick game.”

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