Page 56 of The Merry Matchmaker

She nodded. “I’m fine.”

“Yes, you are,” he said with a smile.

The one she returned was weak.

“I’ll call you,” he said, and gave her another kiss, a quick reminder of the sample he’d given her in the bar.

Don’t bother.She kept the words inside her mouth. It would have come across as insulting.

Instead, she nodded and got in her car. He watched while she put on her seat belt and started the engine. Then he stepped back and lifted a hand.

She managed a small wave in return and pulled away. “What am I doing, Ike?”

Back in her house, she turned up the heat, grabbed a blanket and plopped on the couch with her phone. Viola’s husband, Terrill, would be patrolling the streets of Carol in the hopes of finding someone misbehaving so he’d have something to do, and Viola would be watching something on HGTV, waiting for Frankie to report in.

Viola answered with, “Why are you calling me so early? You should still be out getting into trouble with Brock.”

“I started to,” Frankie said.

“Yeah? Tell,” Viola commanded eagerly.

“He kissed me.”

“Oh, baby. Did he give you a buzz?”

Frankie sighed. “He did. It felt good to be kissed.”

“Then why are you home so early and calling me?”

“Because it doesn’t feel right.”

“What do you mean?”

“We don’t think on the same plane.”

“What?”

“You know, when I first kissed Ike...”

The memory flooded her, transporting her to that night when they’d parked out at the lake and he’d kissed her. She’d wanted him to go on kissing her and never stop. And he hadn’t. They’d only gone out a couple of times, but she’d known he was the one. She’d known from the first hello that they’d be together, and that kiss had been proof.

“I knew we were meant to be together. I felt it.”

“Well, you felt something when Brock kissed you, right?”

“Yeah, I felt turned on. But it didn’t feel like proof.”

“Proof,” Viola repeated, mystified.

“That this would work over the long haul.”

“You’re worrying about the age difference.”

“Yeah, but it’s more than that. We’re not a fit.”

“Maybe you could be if you gave it a chance,” Viola suggested. “He’s a nice guy, right?”

“He is. It’s just... He’s not...”

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