Everything about thirty-five-year-old Stone Acres hardware store owner Frank McCord is old-fashioned -- from his bow tie and overalls to the way he happily makes house calls. He dreams of lasting romance, true love, and marriage. Frank’s ancestors have run the store and been mainstays in the small California town for over a century. While genial Frank upholds tradition and earns the respect of friends and neighbors, he fears he’s too dull and old to attract a husband. Maybe it’s time to break out of his mold. Then handsome thirty-six-year-old electronic games designer Christopher Darling and his fifteen-year-old son, Henry, come into his life. Christopher has everything Frank could want in a potential partner: charm, kindness, and compatibility. Also, he’s a terrific father to Henry. When their Stone Acres home turns out to be uninhabitable, Frank offers the Darlings temporary lodging in his ancestral farmhouse, where he and his tenant Emil reside. Since Emil thinks Frank is his, sparks fly. Suddenly, Frank’s monotonous life promises to explode with love and change him forever.

Frank at Heart

“It should be used for something. Don’t worry. I’ll figure it out.” Then he beamed at me. “Henry and I will figure it out.”


Any doubt that they had connected the other night vanished. Looked like both the Darlings had gone fishing in the Stone Acres pond and come up with boyfriends.


Christopher and Henry came into the store around four. Henry was ecstatic that I’d hired Larry, but his joy was short-lived when I told him they wouldn’t be working together.


“Because I only need one of you at a time when Riley and I are here. I’d be paying one of you to stand around.”


“Not if one of us made the IKEA stuff and the other helped with the customers.”


Christopher exploded with laughter. I rolled my eyes, something I don’t think I’d ever done in my life. I was regressing. I’d never been happier.


At five, Christopher and I loaded the boys into his van. We drove to the Rock Bottom to take Larry home and have dinner.


Chapter 28