Page 67 of You've Got Male

“Long enough to see that hot little neck kiss,” Julie said to Evie.

“You better not post that,” Evie said.

Julie smiled like it was Christmas morning, then punched her cell’s screen. “Whoops. Too late.”

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 shehad 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 seatanyway. 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 naïve sixteen-year-old when it came to boys. “Because he’s jealous of you dating his friends.”

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