Page 128 of The Merry Matchmaker

“I...don’t understand. When?”

“Elinor, he and I have always been close,” Frankie said gently.

“But he and I... I mean, I thought...” Tears began to rise to high tide.

Frankie put a hand to Elinor’s arm. “I think you might have misread some of his actions.”

Two tears spilled, and Elinor’s lips did a wobbly frown. “No,” she protested.

“We were just out together.”

Elinor began shaking her head in disbelief.

“I know he’d never lead you on intentionally,” Frankie hurried to add.

Elinor said nothing. Instead, she pressed her lips firmly together, and her eyes narrowed.

Frankie now officially qualified for the role of new Disney villain. “You know, when things don’t work out with a person, maybe it means someone better is waiting in the wings. You can love more than one person in a lifetime.”

If looks were daggers, Frankie would have been dead from multiple stab wounds. “That’s easy for you to say,” Elinor said.

Frankie thought of how hard her life had been for the last few years, thought of how many times she’d cried herself to sleep in those early days after losing Ike. She bagged the consoling smile. “Actually, it is. Now. But it took me a long time to get here.”

Elinor knew she was a widow. It didn’t take her long to understand what Frankie was saying, and she immediately backpedaled. “I’m sorry,” she said. “That was unkind. It’s just that, well, I thought you two were only friends,” she finished, her tone accusing. A tear trickled down one cheek.

“We were, but there’s always been something there. I was simply too afraid to acknowledge it. I had my stumbles,” she added, thinking of Brock, “but really, my heart’s belonged to Mitch for a long time. I just had to have my eyes opened.”

“Who opened them?”

You.No way was Frankie going to complicate things by saying that. She shrugged. “I had an aha moment. You’ll have one, too.”

Elinor fiddled with an ornament. “I doubt it.”

“Don’t. It will come. You know, at Christmas there are a lot of presents under the tree, and there’s always one for each of us. Keep your eyes peeled, Elinor. You’ll have your aha moment and find your perfect man.”

Elinor nodded glumly, swiped away fresh tears and stared at the little ornament.

“You will. I promise,” Frankie said, giving her arm a comforting rub.

Elinor gave another nod, then turned her back on Frankie and returned to pricing the ornaments.

Frankie left her to deal with her emotions, dealing with a few of her own as she went to join her mother. The shop was empty. No customers to talk and drown out their voices.

Adele lowered hers and asked, “How did it go?”

“She’s miserable,” Frankie whispered. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Hopefully, you won’t think of something. You need to take a break from helping everyone,” Adele informed her.

Frankie sighed. But Elinor needed help. If only she could get Elinor to see that the perfect man for her was right under her nose. Frankie herself was walking proof that those good things under your nose tended to be invisible.

William Sharp was the Invisible Man.

Frankie was going to find a way to make him visible by New Year’s Eve.

If only she had some idea how to do that.

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