Page 59 of The Merry Matchmaker

She could almost hear a little elf whispering,Let it go.

Okay, fine. She could be magnanimous. She didn’t need to be a spotlight hog. Maybe, somewhere in Carol, there was a woman who needed this honor, whose confidence and spirits needed a boost. And who could make gingerbread houses.

“Shall we take a vote?” asked Barbara. “All in favor?”

Everyone raised a hand and said, “Aye,” including Frankie. She could be a team player...even if she didn’t like the team captain.

“Good. Now, I’ve already contacted KZAM...”

“Before we even voted on this?” Frankie demanded.

Barbara shrugged. “I knew we’d all be in agreement.”

Unbelievable. Barbara wasn’t chairing the committee. She was ruling it.

Frankie fumed while the details regarding the newly minted Mrs. Claus pageant were hammered out and Hazel was put in charge of making it happen. Then the meeting was adjourned.

“Are you really okay with not being Mrs. Claus?” James asked Frankie once they stepped back out onto the sidewalk.

Magnanimous. You are magnanimous.She repeated the mantra to herself. “Of course I am,” she said. “I have to admit, at first, I was a little shocked. Just between you and me, I feel like the Santa Walk is being taken out of my hands.” So she was only semi-magnanimous. It was the best she could do at the moment.

“That’s what happens with a good idea. It grows, and soon it’s too big for just one person,” he said. “But we do all think of you as Mrs. Claus. This whole event was your idea.” He looked over his shoulder. “Barbara sort of steamrolled us into going along with this Mrs. Claus thing just now.”

“It’s okay, James. I’ll miss being Mrs. Claus, but if someone else really wants the job, it’s fine by me. The whole purpose of the event is to help our local businesses and bring the community together.”

And she needed to keep that in mind. Still, she felt grumpy. She needed an eggnog latte. Fast. And a listening ear.

She texted Mitch.Got time for coffee?

Sure, came the response.Meet you there.

Minutes later, Frankie and Mitch were ensconced at a table in The Coffee Stop, sipping on eggnog lattes. Frankie’s treat this time.

“It’s the least I can do considering the fact that I’m making you my personal shrink,” she told him.

“Now what’s Barbara done to piss you off?” he asked.

“She’s taken away my Mrs. Claus apron, that’s what she’s done. She convinced the committee that I’m too tired and overworked to be Mrs. Claus. IamMrs. Claus,” Frankie finished, and took a big gulp of her latte, burning her tongue in the process.Punishment for complaining, she thought as she set down her mug with a scowl.

“You’re just mad ’cause you can’t spend the day with me,” Mitch teased.

Come to think of it, she didn’t like the idea of someone else taking her place next to Mitch. They’d been doing this together since she first started the Santa Walk two years earlier. She’d assumed that would continue.

“It’s not right,” she grumbled.

“Well, cheer up. This way you can come see me and sit on my lap.”

“Ha ha.”

Sitting on Mitch’s lap—why did that kind of sound like a good idea? It shouldn’t. They were only buddies, and that was how it had to stay.

“I know I’m being immature about this,” she confessed, turning her attention away from thoughts of Mitch’s lap, “but darn it all, it hurts being dethroned. And I know Barbara manipulated all of this out of spite. That woman has never liked me.”

“She’s jealous. Take it as a compliment.”

“I would if she wasn’t acting on that jealousy.”

“It’s a done deal for this year. How are you going to cope?”

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