Page 12 of The Wrong Date Deal

“Yeah,” August said softly as her drink was deposited on the counter. “He’s my little brother and I worry about him, but he’s a great guy. Hell of a chef.”

“Oh, cool. Is that what he does?”

“Culinary school, part-time chef at a diner, and apparent in-home caterer, if you ask his roommates.”

Piper winced at the slightly bitter tone in August’s voice. “Ah. Shared living. Tricky.”

“Yeah, I’m glad I live alone. Except when Ford is crashing.”

Piper nodded, picking up her own drink from the counter. “I can imagine. I live with someone, but she’s one of my best friends and we choose to live together. It’s a little different than roommates in college.”

“Yeah. I don’t miss those days.” August laughed and nodded towards two free seats at the window bar. “Should we?”

“Absolutely,” Piper said before she turned around to see a woman with long, flowing brown hair, stepping through the door with an expectant expression.

And she immediately locked eyes with Piper.

She started striding over to Piper, looking pointedly at the mug she was holding.

In her peripheral vision, Piper realized August had stopped moving towards the seats she’d pointed to.

“That’s not my Americano,” the woman said, stopping in front of Piper.

“No?” Piper said, furrowing her brow.

“Are you still waiting for it?”

“Sorry, who are yo—”

“Tan coat, red beret. You’re the only one in here with those things, so…”

Piper stared. The thoughts racing through her brain didn’t make any sense. It took her longer than it should have to realize those were the words she’d sent to her mystery date. But August’s phone had beeped exactly as she shared the message. How could someone else in the same café have gotten a message from the exact app Piper was using right as she sent it?

“Oh,” she whispered, stunned.

The woman stared at Piper. “So? Are you still waiting for my drink?”

“I haven’t ordered it yet.” Coming up with something smoother would have required Piper to be in a less confused state.

Seriously, how was it that she’d happened upon someone else having a date there right at the same moment she was?

The brunette rolled her eyes. “I’ll just get it. You get a table. I don’t want to sit at that weird bar in the window.”

“Okay.” Piper turned slowly towards August. “I think you should, uh, check your messages.”

August frowned like she, too, understood what was happening but didn’t understand quite how it was. Still, she pulled her phone out and tapped away at it for a moment. “Ah.”

“News from someone who isn’t me?”

August winced. “Yeah. My date is late. And not wearing a tan coat and red beret…”

“That tracks,” Piper said, shaking her head.

Of course it had been too good to be true. She never had managed to book herself an actually great date. And, now that her real date was here, she figured it would be rude to call the whole thing off. She at least had to try. She couldn’t justbe attracted to people she hadn’t matched with and wasn’t supposed to be on a date with while ignoring the person shehadmatched with and agreed to meet.

August cleared her throat. “I guess there’s a benefit to using apps with pictures after all.”

Piper laughed, a little awkwardly. “I guess so.” She glanced back at her actual date, who was ordering. “Well, good luck, I suppose? It was nice meeting you.”

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