“What are you all doing here?” she finally asked them, irritated.
“Escaping the heat,” Rosa said.
The rest of them nodded, but kept their focus on their work.
Irritation spiked in Winnie. “Y’all—I don’t know what this is, but—”
“I had a baby in high school,” Nancy said casually.
“What?” Winnie’s eyes widened, as did everyone else’s.
“My first. We got married really quick and were very happy together, but you know how people were back then.” Nancy cut her yarn and pulled out a ball of a different color.
Winnie blinked. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because we’ve all been idiots,” Don said. He set his phone down on the table, and she realized he’d been reading an article about his grandson. “Getting mad at each other for keeping secrets, and suspecting each other of telling our secrets.”
Rosa placed her bookmark in her book and closed it. “Being at the wedding reminded me of what brought us all together in the first place. Amor.”
“And not just helping our grandchildren find love,” Polly added. “Our love for them. And for each other. I’ve missed you all.”
“Life has certainly been boring without our meetings and our matchmakings,” Walt said.
“And Rosa just finished the newest Allegra Winters novel, but we can’t talk about it without you,” Polly said to Winnie.
“I’ll read it too,” Nancy announced, and they gasped, because she was on record disliking historical romances. “I’m sorry I got angry on our text about it.”
“You don’t have to read it,” Don said. “We accept your apology.”
“Speak for yourself, Don,” Polly said, a twinkle in her eye. “I only conditionally accept her apology until she reads it.” She’d been trying to get Nancy to read them for years.
Winnie chuckled despite herself.
Harry leaned forward. “We’re too old to hold grudges and not work things out. I’ve learned that the hard way once, and I’m not a big enough knucklehead to have to learn it again.”
Winnie pulled off her sunglasses and swiped at her tears. “You guys are all nuts.”
“I call pecans,” Harry said.
“Hazelnuts,” Rosa said, raising her hand. “My daughter puts them in mole… and it is divine.”
“I don’t really like nuts,” Walt said. “Can I be a legume?”
Winnie sniffled and took in a deep, shuddering breath as all of her friends laughed and playfully argued over what kind of nuts they were. If only Horace could forgive her as easily. He hadn’t come to bed last night, and she’d been too afraid to see if he was sleeping on the couch or in the guest bed, or if he’d left their bungalow completely at some point.
Polly noticed her fallen expression and took her hand. “We’ve got a plan, Winnie. We came up with it last night after the wedding.”
“A plan?” For her and Horace? Her heart lifted.
“Yes.” Don rubbed his hands together. “All it’s going to take is a little duct tape, a blind fold, and brushing aside any aversions to kidnapping you might have, and we’ll have those two together in no time.”
Those two.
Eliana and Asher. Of course. She focused on the matchmaking task at hand, and tried to ignore her heart squeezing every time she recalled how betrayed Horace had looked at the wedding.
“We agreed we wouldn’t use duct tape,” Nancy said to Don firmly.
“Oh right, right,” Don said shiftily—a twinkle in his eye—and he unfolded the plan for Winnie, Nancy jumping in every now and then to explain certain aspects in more detail. It was good. Really good. If it worked.
