“Maybe this weekend we can all get together?I’ll talk to your dad.”
“Great!”Bella clapped her hands and squealed.“Thank you, Margie!”
She went back to her table of excited voices.
“Perfect cookies, perfect day,” Margie said, pouring tea into her cup.
“Is her dadtheisland firefighter?”Sheila asked, leaning in.“You know, the one in the dating ads?”
Patty chuckled.“He is.”
“Miles?Dating?”Margie shook her head.“There’s no way.”
“You haven’t seen them?”Patty asked.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Margie said.
Sheila slid her phone across the table.On it was an image of Miles carrying a ladder over his shoulder with the words, “On my way to rescue your heart.”
A gasp escaped from Margie.“What on earth?”
“He didn’t make them.Allegedly, Bella did it,” Patty said, “She got them posted all over the ferries.”
“Ah.That makes more sense,” Margie said.
Miles was handsome, brave, and a wonderful father.To Margie, it seemed like he was just begging to be set up.She’d tried, years ago, to play matchmaker with the island’s most eligible firefighter.It went quite poorly.
“EvenIknow that Miles Coleman is unmatchable,” Margie said.“But I admire Bella’s fighting spirit.”
Sheila sat back, eyes wide.“I never thought I’d see the day where Margie Clifton gave up on trying to set someone up.”
“A nut too hard to crack?”Patty asked.
“He is an uncrackable nut,” Margie said with a nod.“I thought I was being subtle, trying to set him up with one of my daughter’s friends.Do you know he came to my house after and gave me a firm—but polite—talking to?He would not be subjected to my romantic hand, he said.I thought I would die of embarrassment.”
The three of them burst into laughter.
“He told you, didn’t he?”Patty said.
“He did!”Margie shook her head.
A smile crept onto Sheila’s face.“But you’re going to send him over to Annie’s?With no underlying intention?”
“No,” Margie said firmly.“I’m not going down that road again.”
Patty caught her eye and smiled.Margie bit her lip.
She believed what she’d said.
Mostly.
Six
“Thank you so much for doing this,” Lauren said, climbing into the passenger seat.
Annie smiled at her.“It’s my pleasure.I’m sure when my car inevitably breaks down, you’ll get to return the favor.”
Lauren’s head flashed back in a cackling laugh.“You crack me up.Don’t say that.Don’t jinx your car into being like mine.”
