Page 114 of You've Got Male

“You got this,” Julie said, giving Evie’s hair a fluff, and then stepped off camera.

“We’re coming to you live from Grinder, to see if this coffee shop is really visited by Cupid. And with me is You’ve Got Male, for part two of our exclusive story on if love over social media works,” Tasha said into the camera on her phone. “You all remember Evie, the one who hired a beard to trick America into thinking she was off the market?”

“I didn’t hire him, I—”

“Well, she’s back on the market and looking for love. Only, she’s looking for a specific man’s love. Turns out, she needed a little beard in her world because that lie turned into love and she’s waiting to see if Cupid is on her side. So who here is team Cupid?”

“Cupid! Cupid!” the crowd chanted.

“And how many of you believe someone deserves a second chance at love?”

Nearly every hand in the audience went up, and Evie felt some of her nerves evaporate. Surely if all these people believed in second chances, then she stood a chance. Right?

“Well, let’s see if Evie is onenocloser to heryes, or if she’s finally found it,” Tasha said. “And it looks like we’re about to find out.”

Evie went up on her toes to look over the crowd as Mr. Karlson’s car pulled up. Her heart started hammering and she felt like she was going to float into the sky and pass out all at the same time.

“Ten, nine, eight,” the crowd counted down as it parted, making room for the car to pull up to the curb and Evie’s lips curled up into a smile on their own accord. Love, that’s what she was feeling. Raw, honest, till-the-end-of-times love.

“Seven, six, five.” The words echoed through her ribs like the ball bearing in a pinball machine.

She ran her fingers through her hair, then smoothed down her dress. This was it. This was the first day of the next chapter of her life.

“Three, two…”

Instead of “One” a thick hush rolled over the crowd like fog and Evie’s heart plummeted to her gut. Every heartbeat felt like a punch. Every breath felt like swallowing glass.

He wasn’t there. Karlson’s passenger seat was empty.

Jonah hadn’t come.

Hundreds of eyes went soft with pity, like how one would look at the woman at the bar who nursed her drink for two hours after being stood up. Only, she hadn’t been stood up. She’d been left. Alone. With her breaking heart for everyone to witness.

The crowd went blurry from the tears gathering, and her hand that was clutching the rose fell to her side.Thiswas the first day of the next chapter of her life, and she was the responsible party.

She dropped her head to stare at her shoes, which was easier than facing the onlookers, and watched the first tear drop onto the concrete. It hit the ground and shattered into a million particles of water, like a rain cloud opening up.

Before another could fall, excitement rose from the street. The sound of cheering tore through the air and she slowly lifted her head.

The crowd was once again parting and pushing his way through the middle, like Moses and the Red Sea, was Jonah.

Hope bubbled up in her chest, tickling her throat and the backs of her eyes.

He didn’t stop running until he was standing in front of her.

“You came,” she whispered.

“I’d never leave you here alone,” he said, and the starting of hope fizzled like a flat soda. Had he come there just to save her from the humiliation? Or had he come for love?

“I’m so sorry,” she began and he shook his head.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” he began. “I ran here today, do you know why?” he said, his voice coming in bursts from his run. He’d run there. In a suit. That had to mean something.

“Because of my video?”

“Because you were right when you said you were making the best choice for us both.”

“I was?” she croaked out, barely able to breathe past the pain.

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