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

“We found pieces of a body in the house. The arson investigator thinks the pieces are from the body of the person who started the blaze. He thinks the arsonist used too much accelerant and couldn’t get out of the house fast enough when the fire began. He thinks it’s Emil, Frank.”  12


That summer was the worst of times and the best of times, to paraphrase Charles Dickens.


Christopher, Henry, and I spent it living in adjoining rooms in the Bandy Hotel, eating every meal at the Bottom, Monique’s Bakery, or the downtown diner. Henry and I worked at the store with Riley and Larry and one other kid I hired so that Henry and Larry had some summer days to goof off together.


Chapter 32