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Viola raised an eyebrow.
“What?” Frankie demanded.
“You are being way too picky. I think, when it comes right down to it, you’re having second thoughts. Admit it. You’re too attached to Mitch to share.”
“I am not,” Frankie insisted. “What about this one? She looks good.”
Wilhelmina Fritz proclaimed herself fit and fifty. Her profile picture showed a slender woman with brown shoulder-length hair and a pretty round face. She was on a hiking trail, posing surrounded by fir and maple trees, with a golden Labrador by her side.Love to hike, she wrote.
“Looks like you found a Mrs. Claus for Mitch,” said Viola. “Let’s start chatting.”
And so “Mitch” began a correspondence with Wilhelmina. By Wednesday, Wilhelmina was ready to drive on over from nearby Cedarwood and meet him for coffee at The Coffee Stop. They made a date for the following day.
“Now I just have to get him over there,” said Frankie when she called to report to Viola.
“What if he balks? Then it will be you wearing a Santa hat and meeting Wilhelmina.”
“I’ll make it happen,” Frankie said.
“Let me know how it goes.”
Hopefully, it would go smoothly.
Of course it would. If there was one thing Frankie was good at, it was organizing things—events, parties...meetups.
“Mind the shop, Mom,” she said to Adele when it was time for the big moment.
Adele looked up from the nativity set she was putting back into place after a young visitor had scattered the shepherds and wise men every which way. “Where are you going?”
Elinor was in another part of the shop, unpacking a shipment of ornaments, and Natalie was at the grade school, helping with the teacher appreciation luncheon. Adele hated being on her own at the cash register.
“Just a quick coffee with Mitch,” said Frankie.
“Santa Walk business?”
“Santa business,” Frankie replied vaguely.
“Make it quick and bring me back an eggnog latte, okay?” Adele requested.
“Sure.” As soon as she’d gotten Mitch and Wilhelmina squared away. Having to get coffee for her mom would make a good excuse to vacate the table. Her excuse for being at the table in the first place would be... Well, Frankie wasn’t sure what that would be.
“Coffee break time,” she greeted him as she poked her head in his office.
“Rain check?” he replied. He held up a sheaf of invoices. “I’m up to my eyeballs here.”
“All the more reason you should take a break,” she insisted. “Your eyeballs will thank you.” He was about to say no, she knew it. “Come on. Just a few minutes. I need your advice on something.”
That hadn’t been the wisest thing to say. What on earth did she need advice on?
“Okay, then, a quick break,” he said, and grabbed his Handy’s Hardware windbreaker from a hook on the wall. “Brock, can you hold down the fort?” he called as they started out.
“I’m on it,” came a disembodied voice from the other end of the store.
“Who’s Brock?” asked Frankie. She knew everyone who worked for Mitch. She’d drafted all of them to help build Santa’s sleigh for the first year’s Santa Walk parade. “Oh, wait. Your new manager?”
“Yep. Just got here last week from California.”
“You never said. Did he bring a family with him?”
