Chapter Twenty-Five

Evie

“Are we going to lose the shop?” Camila asked. They were wiping down the tables and running through their closing routine.

Evie considered for a flash sugarcoating the whole situation, but then decided she had enough secrets. “I don’t want you worrying about that.”

“Mom, it’s a family business. I’m part of this family, and I want to help but I can’t if I don’t know what’s going on.”

While Evie didn’t want to burden her daughter with the weight of the shop, Camila also had a point. By the time Evie had reached middle school she worked in her parents’ shop every day after school, and by high school she had her own key and was an assistant manager, closing three nights a week.

“It’s bad, but I think with some serious changes we can save it.”

“Why don’t you use your ClickByte following to hype the shop?”

“Because social media doesn’t solve everything.” In fact, it caused more complications. Look at her. One video and now she had a fake boyfriend whose O-face she knew intimately.

“Lila’s mom owns a pet rescue, and they have a huge following. She posts about cats and dogs and new fosters. She went from a few adoptions a month to over a hundred this summer. It works.”

“Of course it works. Everyone wants to see cat videos. A coffee video would be boring.”

“That’s such a millennial thing to say.” Camila picked a mug up from behind the counter and made a latte with beautiful coffee-foam art of a heart on top. She walked to a table, paired it with a bouquet of flowers and a romance novel Evie had been reading, then filmed it. She put some coffeehouse music behind it and posted. “See. Five seconds.”

Evie looked at the reel and was beyond impressed. It looked professional, inviting, and more appealing than the ads her dad had taken out. “That would take me five hours.”

Camila pocketed her phone. “Never mind. It was just a thought.”

“It was a good thought, sweetie. I’m just so overwhelmed right now.”

Camila looked behind Evie and rolled her eyes. “Right. I forgot you’re dating your dead friend’s husband.”

“Camila,” she scolded, but there was no heat behind it because Camila was right. All the safety guidelines that they’d put in place had flown out the window in one lust-filled moment and it had been weighing heavily on her heart. Not that she regretted it, but it sure did complicate things—things like her feelings.

“Sorry,” Camila said without an ounce of “sorry” in her voice. “It’s just that now things are super weird between me and Ryan.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” When Camila didn’t immediately shrug her off, Evie sat down at one of the tables and patted the seat next to her.

Camila lifted a slim shoulder and let it fall but took a seat anyway. Evie’s heart bloomed with hope. It had been a while since Camila had confided in her and she missed the closeness—that unique bond between mother and daughter.

Evie squashed her impulse to ask more questions, knowing that if she pressed too hard Camila would clam right up. So she waited patiently while Camila clearly weighed the pros and cons of admitting she might not have the answers to everything.

“I went over to hang out,” Camila began. “Ryan told me the guys were coming over and explained it was a team hangout. He’s never minded before.”

Evie bit back a smile. “Was Dexter one of these guys?”

Camila traced the rim of the coffee mug, her gaze riveted to the tabletop. “Probably.”

“Maybe it wasn’t so much sharing his friends with you. Maybe he didn’t want to share you with his friends.”

Camila’s eyes slowly lifted to Evie’s. “Why would he do that?”

Camila liked to play a big game when it came to dating, but it warmed Evie’s heart that her daughter was still a na?ve sixteen-year-old when it came to boys. “Because he’s jealous of you dating his friends.”

Camila rolled her eyes. “He’s not jealous. He’s the one who gave Dexter my number to begin with.”

“Did you want him to give Dexter your number?”

“Dexter’s a nice guy and he’s fun to hang out with, but I think he likes me more than I like him.”

That was music to Evie’s ears. She’d tried to be cool with Camila dating a college guy, but she was afraid that dating a guy who was older and had more life experience would force Camila to grow up faster. She should be hanging out with friends her own age, people who were at the same phase in life, people with whom she had things in common.

“Have you told Ryan that?”

“No. Whenever I bring up Dexter, he changes the subject.”

“You and Ryan have never kept things from each other. I think you should tell Ryan the truth. Maybe he’ll be honest about why he’s being weird.”

“Maybe,” she said noncommittally. “About the ClickByte posts, I can totally make them if you don’t have time. All we need is an influencer or two to give us a shout-out and people will start coming here. I know that the kids at my school would start coming here if it was hyped up.”

Evie knew that ClickByte alone couldn’t save the shop. Although to a stranger looking on, it would appear by the sheer number of customers that the shop was doing phenomenal. And she had to admit, Grinder was gaining a steady stream of customers every day. Granted, a good handful of them came to see the place Tasha Hart filmed her famous LoveByte video. That short interview had over two million views, and Evie’s account had grown to nearly a hundred thousand followers. But those lookie-loos bought coffees.

What if Camila was right and social media was an important piece of the solution, and not the problem she’d labeled it? She would reach people who’d never heard of the shop. Plus, it gave Camila a way to contribute.

“That’s a great idea,” Evie said and stood, pulling her daughter into her arms for a hug. While Camila merely tolerated the hug, she also didn’t pull away.

…

“Cupid’s Cappuccino for Alex,” Evie called out and a woman, who looked to be Evie’s age, approached the counter.

“Thank you,” Alex said, but she didn’t move—just looked at Evie with shy hesitation.

“Can I get you anything else?”

Alex looked over her shoulder at a booth in the corner that was overflowing with a party of ten, then back at Evie. Her face was flushed. “This is so embarrassing and you’re going to think I’m crazy. But we were wondering if you’d come over to the table and say hi.”

“We?”

Alex pointed to the booth, and the women all waved eagerly at Evie. “The You’ve Got Male-Mamas. I know it’s a silly name, but we thought it was fitting since you’re the inspiration behind our dating group.”

“What dating group?”

“Well, we’re all single moms who are ready for love. We saw your video and decided that since it worked for you, maybe it can work for us, too. So we formed a support group of sorts, where we help each other post Looking for Love videos, vet men, and we even use each other as wing-girls, coming here and sitting in the corner to make dating a safe experience.”

“You meet here?”

“We all do. This has become one of Denver’s hottest coffee-date spots.”

Evie was floored. These women were actually using ClickByte to find their person. “Is it working?”

“Yes! Three of us are dating great guys, including me. Although I didn’t post a video, I messaged one of the guys from your video and he responded back. We’ve gone on three dates, and he is the nicest man.”

“Who?” Evie prayed to Elvis, Sinatra, and Buddha himself that it wasn’t Travis. Alex seemed like a sweet woman who deserved an attentive and present partner. Single moms are so used to putting themselves last, they deserve someone who knows how to put them first.

“Ernie,” she said and her expression turned dreamy. “He’s not my usual type, but he seems to be the perfect fit. He’s sweet and kind and the most emotionally intelligent man I’ve ever met. It’s still early days but things are looking very hopeful. And I love dogs, too.”

“That’s”—unbelievable, unexpected, encouraging—“amazing.”

“It really is. Not only have we all met some great guys, we’ve formed this incredible group of women. We decided to start meeting here every Monday on our breaks. We bring our lunch, order some coffee, and talk about kids, guys, and sex. God, sex. You have no idea how long it’s been. Between my three kids, I barely have time to brush my teeth, let alone sex.”

Oh, Evie knew. It didn’t used to bother her, but after the other morning it was all she thought about. She’d fantasized what would have happened if one of them had a condom, if they’d had the house to themselves for more than an hour, if…if…if!

Oh, so many ifs it kept her awake at night, and her trusty F O X giving her pleasure in the shower every morning.

“But because of you, all the You’ve Got Male-Mamas made a pact to put dating and love as a priority,” Alex said. “Some of us even shot our Man Wanted videos right here in the shop. See.”

Alex took out her phone, pulled up the app, and played a video of one of the women behind them standing in front of the Grinder sign rattling off her list of boxes a man needed to check.

“They all did that?”

Alex nodded. “We aren’t the only group, either. Last week, we ran into the You’ve Got Male-lorettes, a group of older Gen Z-ers who are doing the same thing. We also post updates every week and people are following us to see how our dating journey is progressing.”

This was exactly what Camila was talking about. One person posted and the trend caught on. All they needed was the right spark and news of Grinder could spread like wildfire through the Denver area.

“We all figured that the Cupid Vibes are strong here. I mean, Grinder is practically a wishing well for love. It’s said that if you wish on a penny and put it in the Lucky in Love tip jar Cupid will strike.”

Well, that explained all the penny tips.

“None of us are at your level—”

Evie swallowed hard. “What do you mean ‘my level’?”

“That video of you and Prince Jonah was pretty spicy. Not that I have to tell you. It has over a million views.”

“A million?”

“Even my coworkers are talking about it. You’re like the Kardashian of ClickByte.”

“I don’t know about that,” Evie said to Alex.

Twenty minutes, ten romance stories, and a Cupid’s Cappuccino later, Evie had not only made a new set of friends, she’d also picked the brains of ten new regulars on ways they thought Grinder could improve. Jonah and her mom had been right. All the ladies said that they’d eat lunch here if there were a selection of healthy food options. They also said they’d make it their morning coffee stop if there were a selection of definitely-not-healthy bakery items.

Which was why Evie was going to go straight into the back office and investigate the list of vendors Jonah had compiled once she was done here. Jonah’s life might be a mess, but he’d helped declutter hers. Even sweeter, the man had somehow made a spreadsheet appear romantic.

“I have an idea! You should join some of us and go to Shoot Your Shot for Tequila Tuesday.”

Shoot Your Shot was an upscale wine bar and local catch-and-release establishment for professionals in the downtown area. It was the Tinder of watering holes.

“Isn’t that a weird place for a first date?” she asked.

“Laura has a first date with a single dad who illustrates children’s books for a living—isn’t that the cutest?—but she’s a little shy when it comes to asserting herself. So she wanted an environment that encouraged a little risky behavior,” Alex went on. “We’re going to support her. Oh, we’ll be standing on the other side of the bar, of course.” Alex smiled conspiratorially, then lowered her voice. “We don’t want them to know our level of crazy right off the bat. We have to reel them in first.”

“Of course we do,” Evie laughed.

Although for Evie, her man knew every one of her eccentricities—including the fact that she’d hung him out to dry with the Beautification Board. He knew her professional life, at present, was currently a dead end. Her home life was one Goodwill bag from the Clampetts. And her personal life required a beard. And he still looked at her like she was dessert.

“The girls and I would just get a kick out of you coming.”

“We’ll be there,” Julie said, slinging an arm around Evie’s shoulder. “Right, You’ve Got Male girl?”

This was normally the kind of invitation Evie could get out of by using one of her million excuses—all were valid—but something inside her was telling her to shoot her shot at being that fun, extroverted, and bold woman she’d been before. She’d spent the past sixteen years finding reasons to say no, maybe it was time to start saying a few yeses.

“What time are you meeting?”