Page 114 of The Merry Matchmaker

“I bet not. That tongue of yours is probably a lethal weapon.”

“Not always. It has many uses,” she said, then felt herself blushing.Behave yourself, Stef.

He chuckled. “Are you always this funny?”

“Oh no. Sometimes I’m funnier.”

He sobered. “I really am sorry I lit into you like that.”

“I’m over it.” She cocked her head and studied him. “You’re kind of like the proverbial bear with a sore paw. Only in your case, you got your paw completely cut off.”

“More like my heart cut out,” he said. “My sister keeps telling me I need to move on for Corky’s sake.”

“Corky, that’s such a cute name.”

“He’s a cute kid. He deserves better.”

“He’s already got better than a lot of kids. He’s got a good dad and an aunt who cares.”

“And two sets of grandparents,” he added. “Hard to keep in touch with the in-laws. They’re in Arizona, and the last time we visited, it felt...” He shrugged.

“Uncomfortable?”

“Yeah. Hard to keep a conversation going, you know.”

“I don’t know, but I can imagine.”

“They want to talk about Kaitlyn, and every time they bring out the old pictures it nearly kills me.” He swore. “There I go again, spilling my guts to someone I just met. Maybe I need to see a shrink.”

“Or maybe you just need to get out more,” Stef suggested. “What do you like to do?”

“Besides feel sorry for myself? I don’t know.”

“Oh, come on, you must like to do something.”

“I used to ski. Before I got married. I like watching the Mariners. Kaitlyn and I played in a Jack-and-Jill softball league when we were first married. It was a lot of fun. You like sports?”

“I was never any good at softball, but I intend to go to every one of Warner’s Little League games. I don’t like football.”

“Who doesn’t like football?”

“Me. But I do like a good Super Bowl party. Does that count?”

He smiled. “Sure. What else?”

“Board games. My ex would never play them with me. He said they were childish.”

“Not into Monopoly, huh?”

She grinned. “Not into anything. He hated losing, and he lost a lot. Especially at Sequence. Nobody beats me at that.”

He cocked an eyebrow and smiled. “Yeah?”

“Oh yeah.”

“We might have to see about that,” he said, and his words coupled with that smile he was getting more accustomed to using made her heart do a little skip.

“Might we?” she said playfully.

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