Page 23 of You've Got Male

“You need to get that?” she said, trying hard to hide the hopein her voice. She failed. Not that Travis noticed. He was checking his notification.

“There. I’m all yours.” But his phone chimed again, and again he glanced down.

“Does your watch vibrate? Because that could be fun,” Tasha said and then winked suggestively at Evie.

“Why don’t you tell us about yourself,” Julie said, sliding up next to Evie.

“Five years ago, I created a motivational app that pairs personality traits to influencers and helps them target their audience. I’ve helped thousands of entrepreneurs reach their goals through visualization, strategic planning, and leveraging their natural strengths. Social media is my jam, which is why I was so excited by this idea of finding love over ClickByte.”

“Well, I’m not really big on social—”

His phonepinged again. This time in rapid succession.

Ping. Ping. Ping.

He held up a single finger and dictated into his phone, “Meeting in twenty. Period. Bring the Strafford proposal. Period.” Without missing a beat, he looked into Evie’s eyes. “I’m adventurous, I’ve been skydiving, climbed Everest, and I’m on the waitlist to go to space. I mean, YOLO.”

“Do you know your phone doesn’t work in space?” Evie mumbled and Julie hip-checked her.

“So if you’re open to leaping without a net, will you accept this rose?”

Julie held up a hand. “That’ll be a hard pass, Travis.”

“Totes understand. Not a good personality pairing anyway.”

“Evie, here comes your perfectyes,” Tasha said. “I promise. Ernie is an engineer and a single dad from Englewood.”

Tasha didn’t have to mention his job description, Ernie looked 100 percent engineer. He also looked to be at least ten years Evie’s senior. But his hands were shaking with nerves, and heseemed like a sweet man, so Evie softened her smile and said, “Hi Ernie. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you. As for me, I like long walks on the beach and dogs.” His voice cracked so he cleared it. “I knew the moment you talked about the significance of a single red rose that I had to come. Did you know that a rose’s perfect structure collects and purifies water and its shape inspired an engineering study for water purification? They’re doing research on it at the University of Texas in Austin.”

“That’s fascinating, Ernie. But sadly, there are no beaches in Denver, and I’m allergic to dogs.”

“Does that mean you’re not accepting my rose?” he asked.

“Sorry, Ernie, but I’m going to have to say no. But I’d love to make you a Cupid’s Cappuccino. On the house.”

He smiled nervously. “That would be great.”

“Coming right up.” Then she looked directly into Tasha’s phone. “And that concludes today’s installment of You’ve Got Male.”

Chapter Eight

Evie

“You’re ruining my life with this whole ClickByte thing!”

In a testament to just how crazy her life had become, it wasn’t Evie who was screaming the accusation, it was Camila.

She hadn’t even turned theClosedsign around when her daughter stormed in.

“I’m sorry.Yourlife is being affected?”

“Yes!” Camila said, throwing her hands in the air as if Evie were the exasperating one. “Sabrina saw the video of you dancing and shared it with the cheer team. This is so embarrassing.”

“How do you think this makes me feel?” Evie asked. “If you want to scream at someone, take this up with Grandma.”

“Dad’s even seen it.” Camila’s voice cracked a little and Evie’s stomach bottomed out.

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