Page 91 of The Merry Matchmaker

“Congratulations. We knew you could do it,” Frankie said to Elinor when she joined the team, which Frankie made sure included William.

“It was probably a vote for you and Holiday Happiness more than it was for me,” Elinor said humbly.

“You’re part of Holiday Happiness, and everyone loves you,” Frankie said, then hurried to fetch Elinor’s house.

Meanwhile, the mayor had the microphone and was saying all the proper mayoral things required on such an occasion, praising the stores, the committee and their Mrs. Claus contestants while committee members gathered the houses and brought them up to a table set up onstage.

The bidding began, starting with Mrs. Myrtle’s gingerbread school. The bidding among her former students was fast and furious, and she was delighted when it went for a hundred dollars. Becky Gorton’s church also raised a hundred dollars for the Santa fund, and Sandra Jackson’s castle went for two hundred.

A gingerbread log cabin came next, and that also did well. So did the others.

But the star of the show was Elinor’s dinosaur disaster house, with William Sharp, Mitch and the mother of the two little boys bidding like crazy, the boys bouncing up and down in excitement. The mom dropped out after fifty dollars, shaking her head sadly. Mitch and William stayed locked in a battle until finally, Mitch called out, “Five hundred dollars.” William gave up.

Everyone applauded after Mitch called out instructions to give it to the mother of the two boys, and Frankie could see Natalie hurrying over to warn the woman that their prize was not edible.

“I wanted to buy your house,” William told Elinor as her supporters gathered around her once the bidding was over.

“It was awfully nice of you to try,” she told him.

He cleared his throat. “It was for a good cause.”

Oh, good grief, what kind of romantic response was that? “And anything for Elinor, right?” Frankie prompted him.

“Of course,” he said.

The admiration in his eyes was certainly plain to see, although Elinor didn’t. She was looking worshipfully at Mitch, the big spender. “That was such a generous bid,” she said to him.

“I appreciate creativity, and how you saved your house was very creative,” he said to her.

Frankie expected Elinor to inform him that the dinosaur theme had been Frankie’s idea, but Elinor kept quiet.

Which was odd considering how much she’d just praised her employer onstage.

Oh, well, Frankie thought, and kept her mouth shut. No way did she want to spoil Elinor’s moment of triumph. And she also didn’t want to take away from the hero worship that Mitch was enjoying.

But something shifted in her when Elinor said, “I can hardly wait to spend the day with you tomorrow, Santa.”

It was the polite thing to say, but the delivery... Was Elinor flirting with Mitch? The thought pulled down the corners of Frankie’s mouth. Somehow, Elinor flirting with Mitch felt like friendship trespassing. She was imagining things, of course. Elinor and William were a match. Elinor belonged with William. She didn’t have any interest in Mitch.

So there was no reason for the little Grinch poke to Frankie’s heart when Mitch smiled at Elinor and said, “You’re gonna be a great Mrs. Claus.”

Elinor would be a lovely Mrs. Claus, for sure, and Frankie wanted her to enjoy the experience. Really. But Frankie was Mrs. Claus. Elinor was understudy Mrs. Claus. She would be fine, but she wouldn’t be great.

Stop this right now, her better self scolded.

Elinor turned to Frankie. “I couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you for how supportive and wonderful you’ve been to me.”

“You’re welcome,” Frankie said. Elinor was so happy, and Frankie knew the fun of getting to play Mrs. Claus would be a huge confidence builder. How could she begrudge her employee that thrill?

People were leaving, and the committee was starting to take down tables and put away chairs. Time to get to work.

“I’ll be ready to take you home in a few minutes,” Frankie told Elinor. She got to work collapsing folding chairs and stowing them away.

She half expected to see Mitch helping with cleanup, but instead, only a few minutes later, he and Elinor were leaving the hall together. Her phone dinged with a text from Mitch.

Running Elinor home.

William should have been running Elinor home, but there he stood, watching them go. William definitely needed some serious coaching on how to win over a woman. Frankie was just about to abandon her chore, hurry over and give him some pointers when Mrs. White, one of her regulars, stopped to talk.

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