Page 102 of The Merry Matchmaker

Or get proactive.

“You can give it back to me tomorrow,” she said to Elinor. “Good job today, by the way. You must be pooped. You don’t have to keep up with the Mrs. Claus thing.”Go home.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Elinor said breezily. “I’m having so much fun.” She smiled, not at Frankie, the one who’d been behind her success, but at Mitch. “It’s been a wonderful day. Mitch is the best.”

Mitch, the big fathead, smiled like a golden retriever who’d just been patted on the head and told he was a good dog. “You did a great job,” he said to Elinor. He caught Frankie’s frown and added, “Of course, you were following in some impressive footsteps.”

That was better. Frankie rewarded him with a smile. “I’m glad the event was a success.”

“Never doubted it would be,” he said.

At that moment Stef arrived and plopped onto the last vacant seat at the table. “I need a peppermint martini,” she announced. “What a day.”

“It was a good day,” said Elinor.

“For you, maybe,” Stef said. “I had to deal with Scrooge the Second. Plus, a kid barfed all over me when I was doing an interview.”

“Should have gotten a picture of that for the paper,” Mitch teased.

Stef was not amused. “Ha ha,” she said with a frown. She stuck out her arm to summon a passing waiter. “Peppermint martini, Cam, ASAP. I’m dyin’ here.”

“You don’t look bad for a dying woman,” he joked, and gave her a wink.

“Future husband?” suggested Mitch as the server headed for the bar to put in her order.

“He still lives with his mom. Yeah, he’s at the top of my list,” Stef replied. “I swear, there’s not a decent single man left in this whole town.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Elinor. “Mitch is pretty amazing.”

Frankie frowned.Gag.Although she’d been about to say the same thing. Elinor had beaten her to the punch. Since when did Elinor throw flattery around like confetti?

Mitch grinned. Frankie wanted to kick him.

“That goes without saying,” said Stef. “Mitch, how come you’ve never asked me out on a date?”

“He’s holding out for Mrs. Claus,” Frankie answered, and smiled at Mitch, sure he would remember his comment in the coffee shop earlier in the month.

“Might be,” he said, and Elinor preened.

Frankie sent her a psychic message.Not you!

Elinor laid a hand on Mitch’s arm. “Mitch, do you think we should make a couple more stops? I’m sure there are more people wanting to talk to Santa.”

“We’re not lacking for Santas tonight, in case you didn’t notice,” Frankie informed her. She sounded irritable. Hardly surprising, since she was feeling irritable.

Mitch looked apologetically at her, then said to Elinor, “Sure.” He pulled out enough money to pay for all their drinks, then stood. “I guess we’d better get over to Lulu’s.”

“We’ll catch up with you,” said Frankie.

“No worries if you don’t,” Elinor said airily. “You’re probably tired,” she added, using Frankie’s earlier tactic.

Tired of watching you try to take over my life.“I’m not that tired,” Frankie said, but Elinor was already leading the way out of the restaurant.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Mitch told Frankie, then followed her.

“Unbelievable,” Frankie said, frowning.

“That was kind of weird,” said Stef. “What’s going on?”

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