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I bite my thumbnail, thinking. “Felicity really could use some love and romance in her life. You know, last weekend she was watching an animated movie with the boys, and she spent twenty minutes telling me how hot the cartoon fox was and what a kind, sensitive father he’d make.”
Ginny’s eyes go wide. “Wow. She’s worse than I thought.”
I nod. “Yeah. Now that I’m thinking about it, she got a little too into Toad the other day when she was readingThe Wind in the Willowsto the boys. She told me he had a rakish handsomeness that was very appealing.”
Her eyebrows furrow. “Your sister’s very into the cartoon animals lately. That’s a little disturbing.”
I bat a hand. “She’s a mom. Cartoons are all she sees. Besides, Toad is a total bad boy. Felicity’s always been a sucker for a bad boy.” Like her ex-husband.
“Or in this case, a bad toad.”
“Well…”
“All the more reason she should start seeinghumanmen.”
Felicity and I are so into the daily grind of work and taking care of the boys that neither of us has the time or energy to think about a human man. We stagger our schedules so one of us is always home with the boys. I’m a teacher at the middle school—just like Ginny—and Felicity works nights waiting tables at the Cordial Diner. It’s hard to juggle everything so finding someone to date isn’t high in either of our priorities. More than that, Felicity was a bit traumatized by Mark’s desertion. She hasn’t wanted to risk her heart again.
But it’s been four years, and things are getting better. It is probably time she got back out there. “I guess you’re right. After all, human men are the best kind of men.”
Ginny shakes her head. “You could probably both use a man, but we can work on finding one for Felicity first.”
“That’s easy to say, but there aren’t that many Mr. Toads walking the streets of Cherry Creek, Tennessee.”
The corner of her mouth twitches. “You’d be surprised. There are a lot more toads than princes.”
“What am I going to do? Stand on a corner and ask men to date my sister?”
A glimmer appears in Ginny’s eyes. It’s a look I recognize from late-night slumber parties and Ginny shenanigans. “What about the book?”
My heart flies over a beat. “Oh,the book. Huh.” The memory of the book descends on me like a half-remembered dream. Fifth grade. Ginny and I learning about Cherry Creek’s own legend: the bookOnce Upon a Christmas Kiss.The story was written by Elizabeth Chambers, and a single copy of it is filled with notes in the margins and inside covers with wisdom from Cherry Creek residents who’d found their one true love while the book was in their possession at Christmastime. Ginny and I made endless lists of where we’d go to find our true loves. Paris. Zurich. Rio de Janeiro. Auckland. But I hadn’t thought about the book in years. We’ve never seen it, and it’s not registered at any library or bookstore that I could ever find. It’s practically a fairy tale. “Do you think this book is even real?”
“Oh, it’s real. I’ve seen it in action. Mrs. Atchison’s daughter Jenny had never dated in her life. She got the book, and then boom! Met her true love at Christmastime and is married with two kids now.”
“But will it work for Felicity?”
Ginny shrugs. “I’ve never heard of itnotworking, have you?”
“No. But then again, we probably wouldn’t hear about the times it didn’t work.”
“Yeah. But it’s worth a try, right?”
“Auntie Meelie! Auntie Meelie!” My four-year-old nephew, Hudson, barrels into the living room and throws himself onto my lap, squeezing me hard with his little arms. He’s such a sweetie. I’ve never seen anyone give themselves so completely over to a hug like he does. It’s boundless excitement followed by a total physical collapse until he’s a human blanket pinning me in place. I squeeze him back. “Hello, my little Muddy Huddy Buddy.”
His seven-year-old brother, Trace, lingers by the Christmas tree, but when he sees Hudson on my lap, he strolls over, too, with much more reserve. As if he’s debating with himself, he glances at his brother before also giving me a big, collapsed hug. Trace isn’t as demonstrative as his little brother, but he doesn’t like being left out of anything.
“Auntie Meelie!” Trace pops his head up and regards me with his serious gray eyes. “Did you buy our Christmas presents yet?”
“I sure did, buddy.” I got really good ones, too. I’d saved up for a new gaming system and some games they could share.
“We think we need a bigger present.” Trace sends a side glance to his little brother. “Maybe you’d better tell her, Hud.”
Hudson emerges from the snuggle pile. “We need a new daddy!”
Trace sighs as if he’d have eased into the subject better. “We do. We decided we want a new daddy for Christmas. That’s more important than any other present. So it’s okay if we don’t get any toys this year. We just want a dad instead.”
“We still like toys!” Hudson pipes up. “But a daddy probably comes with toys, too.”
Ginny catches my eye, and we share a smile over his head. “It doesn’t really work that way, buddy. But you have good timing. Ginny and I were just talking about that very thing.”
