Chapter Twenty-Six

Evie

Chaos. Zombie apocalypse chaos had erupted inside Grinder. And of course, it had to happen right on the day of Camila’s overnight cheer camp.

A summer flu was spreading through her staff like the plague, leaving her down two employees. Julie wasn’t scheduled to come in until four. Her mom and dad were at dialysis, Evie was scheduled to carpool some of the cheerleaders to camp, and she got a flat tire on the way to work. She’d managed to get the spare on, but she didn’t want to chance driving on it to Boulder and back—not with a group of teens in her car. It was too dangerous.

Evie had already called three other parents to see if they could cover for her, but they either already had a carload of cheerleaders or they couldn’t get off work. Since she wouldn’t expect her parents to drop their lives to come to the rescue, she was SOL. So she’d called a service to come and change her tire. The earliest they could make it was three, which meant she’d be pushing it, since the girls were set to depart Evie’s house at four thirty.

There was just no way she could do it all today.

It was times like this that she wished she had a partner—someone to help carry the weight. Someone to call when she got a flat, or to hold her hand when things got rough, or sit by her side and cheer with her when her daughter hit major milestones. She didn’t need to be taken care of, but sometimes it would be nice not to have to take care of everyone all on her own.

It would be nice not to feel alone.

Her parents had given her all the support and love that they had to give—which was enough for five families. But as they’d aged it was as if the roles were slowly reversing and it was now Evie’s time to give back. Only some days, she felt like she didn’t have enough to give.

That she was coming up short and everyone was paying the price.

To add to the chaos, Tasha Hart from LoveByte had shown up earlier to interview some of the You’ve Got Male-Mamas about their journey of love in what Tasha was calling a social media social experiment. Even Ernie made an appearance, bringing his adorable twins along.

They were little, like travel-size little, and Evie gave a sigh of relief that she’d dodged that bullet. She’d raised her daughter, was looking forward to the next phase of life, and couldn’t imagine starting over. Not that she was opposed to dating someone in the future—the far, far future—who was a parent. She just always imagined that they’d be in the same chapter when it came to parenting.

Another thing Tasha brought with her was her following. Hundreds of people filed through the shop, buying coffee and cookies and even Grinder’s specialty roasted coffee beans—in fact, they’d sold out of their monthly stock in one day, and she had to order more.

What a problem to have,Moira had said gleefully. And her mom was right. There was a silver lining in all of this. New customers were discovering Grinder, raving about their signature drinks, and promising to come back again. So when Tasha had asked Evie to give them an update on her and Jonah’s relationship, she’d obliged.

Which was how she found herself sitting at a table with a fresh coat of lip gloss, staring into the camera as Tasha held it in selfie mode. Tasha sat next to her, a crowd of onlookers circling them as the live interview started.

“LoveByte Nation wants to know how it feels to be the inspiring factor for many singles taking to social media for this social experiment,” Tasha began.

“I don’t know if I’d call it an experiment,” Evie answered.

“Remember to look into the camera,” Tasha whispered, and Evie tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled into the phone. Tasha slid back into her talk-show-host voice. “Then what would you call it?”

Fake. A fraud. A giant faux relationship that we’re selling to the public at large. “Fun. I’d call it fun.”

That answer wasn’t fake. That was the I-swear-to-tell-the-whole-truth-and-nothing-but-the-truth honest answer. And if she were going for honest, it was also thrilling and exciting and all the other adjectives that came with sharing a secret with her sexy neighbor. Yes, it was stressful, too, wondering if and when they’d be found out. It was also scary to think that they’d blurred the lines last week in her kitchen. But right now, with the shop full of paying customers, she was starting to think that the reward outweighed the risk.

“Don’t be shy now. We all saw that kiss. It was very honeymoon phase if you ask me.” Tasha looked into the camera. “What do you think, LoveByte Nation? Was that a honeymoon-phase kiss, or what?”

A giant cluster of hearts floated up the screen like a bouquet of balloons taking to the sky and hoots and hollers came from the customers in the shop.

“And where is your sexy plus-one?” Every eyeball looked around the store, as if expecting him—just like Ernie—to have come.

In her gut she knew he would have. So then why hadn’t she asked him? It would have been the perfect time to give credibility to their ruse of a relationship.

Because you are intimately acquainted with his O-face. That’s why.

Evie hadn’t seen him since the honeymoon-phase kiss. Oh, sure, they’d waved to each other through the window, and even exchanged a few notepad conversations, texts about carpool—Evie had even babysat Waverly for a few hours, where they had two successful potty times—but she and Jonah hadn’t talked about it. And she wanted to keep it that way.

Talking about it would lead to thinking about it, which would lead to dreaming about it, and possibly doing it again.

“He’s—”

“Running a little late,” a voice broke through the crowd and she froze. Which was the exact opposite of what her heart was doing in her chest—pounding like a jackhammer.

Jonah.

He looked like a tall glass of lemonade. Sitting on his forearm, which was bent to make a toddler-sized seat, was Waverly, wearing a cute pink sundress and little pink bows in her hair. She looked adorable and he looked like Dad of the Year.

He was there. She hadn’t asked him to come, didn’t even know how he found out about the LoveByte interview, but he was there. For her.

“Hey, sunshine,” he said with a wink, full of conspiracy and humor.

“Hey,” she said, sounding very honeymoon-phase breathless.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, coming up beside her, then slowly lowered his head and an unexpected trill of excitement tingled her lips.

She didn’t want to examine her body’s response too closely, because she wasn’t sure she’d like the conclusion she’d come to. Or why it felt like that bouquet of balloons was now in her belly floating up toward her chest at the mere thought of contact.

He was clearly en route for a brush of the cheek, but somehow her wires got crossed because he zigged as she zagged and before she knew it, they’d made contact.

Houston, we have a problem. Because when his mouth brushed hers, it felt as if her clothes were melting right off her body. He smiled knowingly against her lips before he pulled back.

“I can almost hear the sizzle from the heat,” Tasha’s voice broke the moment. “It just goes to prove that finding love doesn’t have to follow a conventional path. For more on Evie and Jonah’s journey be sure to follow her @You’veGotMale.”

Tasha stopped recording and Evie said, “Thank you for the, uh, shout-out. That was nice of you.”

“My pleasure,” Tasha said. “You let me interrupt your day, it was the least I can do.”

Tasha blew her adoring audience a kiss, which was met with cheers, then packed up her things. When she was gone, Evie turned to Jonah and Waverly immediately held out her arms.

“Uppie VeVe,” she said in her sweet little voice.

Evie pulled Waverly into her arms and gave her a big smack to the cheek, then blew a raspberry there. Waverly erupted into giggles.

“Cookie.” It wasn’t a question. She was issuing an order, which made Evie laugh.

“It’s up to your dad.” She glanced over at Jonah, who was looking back with the strangest expression on his face. He just kept silently looking at her. “Jonah?”

“What?” He blinked.

“Can she have a cookie?”

He flashed a flirty smile as if something deeper hadn’t just passed between them. “Only one.”

They walked to the counter and Jonah followed. She grabbed a cookie from the jar and handed it to Waverly, who mashed it into her mouth, spilling crumbs all over Evie. She didn’t care, the little girl was too cute to care about a few crumbs on her uniform.

“What are you doing here?” she asked Jonah.

“Fulfilling my beardly duties,” he said with a smile. But Evie’s smile turned brittle.

He hadn’t come for her—he’d come because of their arrangement. Tit for tat. Even steven. Which was what she wanted. Right?

“How did you even know about it?”

“Your mom may have called me this morning to tell me about the interview,” he said. “But the real question is, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I know you’re busy looking for a new job, working on your yard, and with your family.”

“Okay. Now for the real reason.”

Evie sighed. They’d agreed that being straightforward was the best route. “I wasn’t sure what to say about last week and so I’ve been avoiding you.”

“I noticed,” he said. “Do you want to talk about it?”

No. No she did not.

He must have seen the horror on her face because his expression flashed with disappointment. Something in her stomach pinched painfully.

“We have to talk about it sometime,” he said quietly.

“Maybe when we’re not in public.”

“Then we’ll have to find some private time that’s just the two of us.”

That sounded even more dangerous than talking about it in an environment where it couldn’t happen again. “I guess I just wanted to make sure that we’re still on the same page.”

“I don’t know if we were ever on the same page,” he said cryptically, and before she could further question what he meant, Waverly said, “More cookie.”

From the mouths of babes.

“More cookie, sunshine?” Jonah said with an amused brow.

“I’ve had my fill,” she said, then closed her eyes. “I mean, no, I’m good.”

“You were more than good, if I remember,” he said, and she had to laugh. He was lightening the mood, even if it was with innuendos.

Evie’s phone buzzed in her pocket so she handed Waverly back to her dad and answered.

“Hey, Cami.”

“Mom.” Camila sounded panicked. “Where are you?”

“At the shop. Why? What’s wrong?”

She felt Jonah go on alert with concern.

“The team is supposed to meet at Darby’s Diner for burgers before we head out. All the girls are here and we’re ready to leave. Only you’re not here.”

“We were supposed to leave at four thirty.”

“No. We’re supposed to be there at four thirty.”

Evie looked at the clock. It was nearly three. Surely, she could leave one of her baristas in charge for an hour until Julie got there. It wasn’t ideal, and she’d never done it before, but what choice did she have?

It was a big deal that Camila had made varsity as a sophomore, so she already felt like she had something to prove. Missing the team dinner, especially when Evie would be making other girls miss the dinner, too, would start Camila off on the wrong foot.

She was already taking off her apron. “I can be there in ten minutes.”

“Hurry.”

They disconnected and Jonah was right there, standing in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m supposed to take Evie and her teammates to cheer camp and I got the time wrong. I need to go and—” She looked out the window at her car. “Shit.”

“Shit,” Waverly repeated.

“I have a flat tire and the guys who are going to change it aren’t here yet.”

He held out Waverly. “Take her and I can change it.”

“Thank you,” she said, beyond touched. “But I still won’t make it in time.”

“Then let me drive you.”

Evie had to blink twice to process what he’d just said. “You are offering to drive a car full of screaming teens to Grand Junction?”

“It can’t be worse than the BO stench and farts that fill the car when I drive Ryan and his teammates to games.”

Evie looked back at the car and at her phone. “You don’t have to do this. Plus, what will you do with Waverly? She’s potty training. Long car rides can be tricky.”

“So I put the Tot-Pot in the back and when she has to go we pull over.”

“This isn’t part of the deal.”

“It’s part of being friends,” he said quietly. “And we’re friends, right?” Afraid to speak for fear of crying, she nodded her head. “Then let me help.”

And for the first time that day, Evie didn’t feel alone.