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shook her head. “I’ve known the Jeffersons all my life. They are not irresistible.”
    “You told us they were,” Valentine said with a laugh. “Remember?”
    “I didn’t want to burst your bubbles. Yours or Olivia’s or anybody else’s who chose to marry one.”
    “You love Mason,” Daisy said. She grinned. “And you protest too much.”
    “Loving someone doesn’t mean you’re right for each other,” Mimi said primly. “Mason and I aren’t a good match.”
    The ladies smiled.
    “You want him to chase you,” someone suggested. “You want to know that he wants you and not just because you had a child with him.”
    Mimi thought about that for a minute. Her pride pricked her far too much to allow herself to admit that perhaps she felt just that way. “We just wouldn’t work. We’ve been friends too long.”
    “Then how’d you end up in bed together naked?” Shasta asked. “Which, by the way, sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.”
    Mimi blushed. “Momentary insanity.”
    “And the fact that he’s gorgeous doesn’t hurt,” someone said.
    “Nor does it hurt that he’s the sheriff. Mason looks great in a hat and badge.”
    “But he looked great in nothing but his hat, huh, Mimi?”
    Everyone laughed except Mimi. She stared at the ladies, stricken, and then sighed.
    “We’re not trying to hurt your feelings,” Shasta said, going over to hug her. “We’re just trying to help you sort it out. It sure sounds like you like him, and we think you still love him, and we want to help.”
    “You can’t,” Mimi said. “He’s an ape.”
    “But a hot ape,” Dixie said. “All men are stubborn in some way.”
    “Yes,” Mimi said, “but the moment was gone for me after my divorce was final, and before he found out about Nanette. I knew that if he loved me, he would speed to my side in hot pursuit. After all, I was free. And I’d been waiting for him forever. But no,” Mimi said, shaking her head, “it was the same as it’s always been. Just friends.”
    “Ew,” Gretchen said, “the kiss of death for relationships.”
    “Thank you,” Tisha replied. “That helped a lot.”
    “She’s right,” Mimi said. “I knew it was time to face that fact myself.”
    The phone rang, and Violet picked it up. Mimibarely listened as her name was called. “It’s Julia Finehurst, Mimi.”
    Julia was her best friend, and Julia’s Honey-Do Agency was very successful. She crowed pretty often about sorting out the troubles at Malfunction Junction. Julia and her agency had accidentally sent the stylists to town several years ago, in response to Mimi’s request for a housekeeper for Mason. It wasn’t until Julia’s second try at solving the housekeeping problem that Mason hired Helga. Unfortunately, there were some troubles that not even a best friend could sort out.
    “I haven’t been able to get you in days,” Julia complained. “Your dad says you’re staying at Malfunction Junction for a while. Are you trying to catch the last bachelor out there?”
    Mimi winced. “Not exactly.”
    “Oh. I thought maybe if you were staying out there, that you and Mason—”
    “No. Mason has other plans, and they don’t really include me.”
    “Mason’s always included you in all his plans,” Julia said reasonably. “You’re usually the one making his plans for him.”
    “They’re not all so easy to make,” Mimi said, aware that the ladies were listening, though they triedto appear as if they weren’t. “I told him that he was Nanette’s father, and he moved Nanette to the ranch. I had no choice but to follow.”
    “Oh. So, being one big happy family is difficult?” Julia asked.
    “I’ll say.”
    “Hmm. Mimi, he’s a man. He can be caught.”
    Mimi blinked. “I don’t know much about catching anything, really.”
    “Well,” Julia said, “you’re just going to have to make him love you. For Nanette’s sake. It’s the kindest thing for him, Mimi. Once he’s dragged down the