Page 130 of The Merry Matchmaker

“I’m so happy this is happening for you,” Adele said to Frankie.

“Same here. After all my balking and stumbling around... Well, I know it’s right.” Frankie turned to her sister. “I bet you won’t be far behind.”

“It’s still too soon to tell, but we do have a date tonight. Hamburgers with his son.”

“I’m surprised he’s introducing you to his son already,” said Frankie.

“Only as a friend of Santa’s.”

“That should be interesting,” said Adele. “By the way, I had a dream last night.”

“Oh no,” groaned the other three in unison.

“It was a good one,” Adele said. “We were all on a cruise ship, and our men were with us. It was someplace tropical, but we were all wearing Santa hats. Then suddenly, we were jumping overboard and swimming to some island, and Santa was there, waiting for us and waving. What do you think it means?”

“That we all go on a cruise,” said Stef. “Christmas in July!”

“I like the sound of that,” said Frankie.

“Me, too,” said Natalie. “We’ll start saving now. Except it will have to be Alaska since I won’t be able to fly come July.”

“We can pretend we’re at the North Pole,” quipped Stef.

“So, that confirms it. We’re supposed to take a family cruise,” said Adele. “For Mario’s and my honeymoon.”

Frankie laughed.

“Oh yeah, he’ll be all over that,” said Stef.

“He’ll do whatever I want,” Adele said.

“Poor man,” said Stef.

“I don’t know about the cruise, but I do think Mom’s dream means that we’re all going to be happy in the new year,” Frankie said.

Stef didn’t have to wait for the new year. She was already happy.

“We’re going to Frank’s Good and Fast,” Corky informed her after Griff introduced them. Corky took her hand as they walked her from her door to Griff’s car.

“That sounds great,” she said, smiling down at him. “Thanks for letting me join you.”

“They have Grinch milkshakes,” Corky informed her.

“Green chocolate chip mint,” Griff explained.

“I love Grinch milkshakes,” Stef said to the boy. “And candy canes.” She produced one from her coat pocket for Corky, who happily snatched it.

“Not until after dinner, little dude,” Griff said to him, and Corky’s lower lip jutted out.

Griff held out a hand. “I’ll keep it for you until then.”

Way to go, Stef chided herself. “I should have asked,” she said to Griff.

“It’s fine,” he assured her. “That was nice of you. What do you say?” he prompted his son.

Corky started jumping his way to the car. “Thank you!”

“He’s so cute,” Stef said to Griff. Just the kind of little boy she’d loved to have had. First she’d fallen for the man, and now she was falling for the son. What if this didn’t work out? She already knew. She’d be crushed.

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