Page 65 of The Merry Matchmaker

“I’ll pass and have my usual,” said Stef.

“One Hail Caesar,” said Angie, not bothering to write down the order. “How about you, Natalie?”

“The same,” said Natalie, so Angie nodded and moved on to see if any other customers wanted to share their day with her. “I don’t need to eat anything hot. I’m already steamed,” Natalie told Stef, once Angie was out of hearing distance.

“Okay, what’s your mom done that’s so bad?” Stef asked.

“Tried to get me a job,” Natalie said, looking none too happy about it.

“Okay.” That didn’t sound too bad.

“Full time at Mountain High Candy. With a forty-minute commute.”

“Working at a candy company doesn’t sound too bad,” Stef ventured.

“Except I don’t want to work full-time right now, and I never said I did. I’m happy making candy when I can and helping out at the shop. And I want time for my family. And...we’re going to have a baby,” Natalie added.

Stef blinked. “OMG, seriously?”

Natalie seemed to forget she was angry and grinned and nodded. She pulled a holiday-wrapped package from her purse and slid it across the table. “Don’t open it here. I had one made for Mom and Gram Gram, too.”

“So you haven’t told your mom yet?”

Angie arrived with their drinks and a bowl of herbed biscuits just in time to hear this. “Tell your mom what? Are you okay, Natalie?”

“Natalie’s working on a new candy,” Stef improvised, ditching the bag. “Don’t tell Frankie. It’s top secret.”

Angie nodded, her eyes alight with the thrill of being in on the secret. “My lips are sealed.”

For about two seconds.

“Hey, Ang,” called a man two tables down. “We need more bread here.”

Angie left, and Natalie continued. “I was going to tell her on Sunday. Am going to,” she corrected herself. “I should be over being mad at her by then.”

“If she’d known, she probably wouldn’t have...”

“Interfered?”

“Helped. She’s been worried about you guys.”

“I know. I get that. And I love Mom.”

“Of course you do. We all do.”

“But why does she think she needs to run everybody’s life?”

“Habit.”

“It’s a bad habit. I’m not twelve.”

“She knows that. She only wants to help.” Natalie’s thundercloud expression returned, and Stef felt the need to explain. “Your mom feels things deeply, and she always wants to make things right for people. It started way back when our dad died. Your grandma had a rough time for a while. She sort of...wasn’t there.”

Natalie looked perplexed. “I’ve never heard about this.”

“It’s way in the past and doesn’t matter anymore. Your grandma’s a strong woman, and she eventually pulled herself together. But it didn’t happen right away.”

“I guess I never really stopped to think about Gram Gram’s life when she was younger.”

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