Page 23 of The Merry Matchmaker

“He might have been if you’d gotten in touch with your inner Sugar Plum Fairy instead of acting like the Grinch in drag,” snapped Frankie.

“Okay, so I got a little sour.”

“A little?”

“But really, watching you two flirting was enough to sour anyone.”

“I was not flirting!”

Stef talked right over her. “It was obvious he wasn’t into me, and I refuse to grovel for a man’s attention. I’m through bending over backward for men. You can have him.”

“I don’t want him,” Frankie protested.

“Well, he wants you.”

“Oh please. He does not. He’s way too young. I could have been his babysitter, for crying out loud.”

“He’s no baby now. Honestly, Frankie, if you were trying to set us up, you could at least stay out of the way. You and your peppermint pie,” Stef grumbled.

“You love my peppermint pie!” Frankie protested.

This was met with an exasperated exhale. “I do. And I love you. But right now, I’m pissed at you, and I need to get some work done on the Letters to Santa page. So good night and ho, ho, ho.” With that, Stef ended the call.

The Letters to Santa page on the newspaper’s website had been Frankie’s idea. She’d suggested it to Stef’s editor the year before, putting in a good word for Stef (just a little nepotism). Camille had liked the idea and offered Stef the chance to run the page. It had been a big hit, and Frankie had been delighted. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for her sister.

Including making sure Stef found a truly good man this second time around. Brock and Stef could be good together. He just needed a nudge in the right direction, and if there was one thing Frankie was good at, it was nudging.

“Thank you again for last night,” Elinor said to Frankie the next morning as they got to work in the shop.

“I’m glad you could come,” Frankie said. She opened a box of blown-glass ornaments to add to their blue-and-silver artificial tree and got to work. People loved the blue-and-silver combination, and the decorations on that tree went as fast as she could put them up. “I hope you had fun.” Frankie seriously doubted Elinor had, so that was a silly thing to say. Still, she wanted Elinor to understand that she’d had her best interests at heart when she’d invited her.

“It was nice. I guess I’m not much of a party person,” Elinor added.

“Everyone’s a party person,” said Frankie. “Although we all have a different definition of what that looks like.”

“It’s not that I don’t like people,” Elinor said. “I love working here. It’s just that I seem to...disappear in groups.”

“I think you need to advertise more,” said Frankie.

“Advertise?”

“You know, add a little window dressing.”

“Window dressing.” Elinor frowned. She obviously wasn’t getting the message.

“These days, whether it’s a product or a person, we have to do things to stand out,” Frankie explained. “You really have a nice face, but with the right makeup you could be...” not stunning. She wasn’t that pretty, but “...really lovely. Eye-catching. I bet there’s someone whose eye you’d like to catch, someone you’ve taken an interest in.”

“Well, there is someone,” Elinor admitted.

So Brock had made an impression on her. She hadn’t made one on him, though. At the rate she was going, Elinor was never going to make an impression on anyone. Still, she had potential.

“Why not let me treat you with a makeover? We could go shopping, check out the makeup counter at Macy’s in the mall. Have lunch.”

“That’s really kind of you. Thanks.” Frankie was about to suggest a day when Elinor added, “I’ll think about it.”

“Thinking and doing are not the same,” Frankie cautioned.

At that moment William Sharp, who owned Carol Reads, the bookstore around the corner, came in, ending the conversation. He’d become a regular visitor over the last several weeks, popping in to buy presents for his mother or his sister or his little niece. So far, he’d bought a glass pumpkin, two Fitz and Floyd candlesticks shaped like turkeys, an illuminated hand-painted cornucopia and three blown-glass tree ornaments shaped like pilgrims. One purchase at a time, which added up to quite a few visits.

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