Page 73 of The Merry Matchmaker

“I worry about your sister,” Adele said when it was only her and Stef sitting at the kitchen bar.

“She’s fine, Mom. She’s tough.”

“I worry about you, too, kidlet.”

“I’m tough, too,” said Stef. Well, she was getting there.

“I want you both to be happy.”

“We’re not exactly miserable now, Mom.”

“No, I mean really happy. Settled, with someone special in your life who cares. You both deserve that.”

Stef remembered her miserable years with Richard. “I guess we don’t always get what we deserve.”

“I think we do eventually. Be on the watch. Your time will come.”

Stef thought back to when she was a kid and could hardly get to sleep on Christmas Eve. Even when she was struggling the hardest, Adele had managed to make sure her girls had presents under the tree. Later, Stef learned that Adele had had much-needed help—a grandpa assembling a bicycle on Christmas Eve, a grandma bringing over Christmas cookies and buying treats for the stockings. All Stef had known was that Santa was coming, and waiting for him had felt like a forever task.

“He’ll come, but not when you’re looking for him,” her grandmother had said. “Santa likes to surprise people.”

Stef may have been in charge of the Letters to Santa page, but she was long past waiting for Santa to surprise her.

Except Monday morning, she was in The Coffee Stop making a midmorning coffee run when the big-girl equivalent of a perfect gift from Santa walked in.

He was tall and trim and broad-shouldered, with short red hair, wearing a coat over a gray suit and tie. He had a mouth that could probably work devastation on a woman if he smiled, but he wasn’t smiling. A person shouldn’t look so sober and serious in a coffee shop.

Carol was no longer a small town, but it was hardly the big city. Why hadn’t Stef seen this man before? Had he fallen off Santa’s sleigh somewhere on the way to Seattle? Who was he?

The moment of excitement died practically at birth. He was with another man, equally well-dressed and a little older, listening as the redheaded man talked. Were they a couple? It always seemed like the best ones were taken.

The Santa surprise took off his gloves. No ring on either hand. The older guy was checking out a younger woman who’d come into the coffee shop. Maybe they weren’t a couple.

She texted Frankie.We know every single man in Carol, right?She was sure she’d dated every one.

No. Why?

Just wondering, Stef texted.

Where are you?Frankie wanted to know.

Coffee Stop.

See someone interesting?

He’s with someone. I don’t think they’re together, though.

Say hi and find out, Frankie suggested, and added a wink.

Richard awoke from his slumbers in Stef’s subconscious.Go ahead and make a fool of yourself.

Shut up, she commanded him.Maybe I feel like paying it forward, she texted Frankie.

Good idea, her sister approved.

After placing her order and paying, Stef handed over an extra twenty to Suzie the barista. “Whatever they want is on me and keep the change.”

She pretended not to listen as Suzie told Mr. Just What Stef Needs for Christmas that the woman ahead of him had paid for their drinks.

---