15. Rose
rose
There’s a good reason Perk Me Up’s social media videos are mostly of Troy and me, and rarely feature its manager and owner. And that reason is currently glaring me in the face.
“You could smile.” I zoom in on Reed on my phone camera, hoping against hope. His gaze lands on me like I just cursed his bloodline. “You don’t have to save it for your birthday and Christmas.”
Troy laughs, comfortably out of frame. Reed aims a glare his way, and he immediately covers his laughter with a cough.
“Something went down wrong.” He grins through his fake coughing fit. He knows there’s nothing behind Reed’s grouchy looks. The man is all bark.
Reed turns his attention back to me. “What do you want me to do?”
“Just pretend to make a drink,” I tell him. “I want to bank a bunch of b-roll videos.”
“Am I supposed to know what that is?” He tosses his hands at the drinks station. “How do I pretend to make a drink?”
“It’ll be better if you actually make one.” Troy leans against the back counter, enjoying the show. “I’m almost ready to clock out. You can make my cold brew with hazelnut syrup. Three pumps.”
Reed frowns over at him.
“Please and thank you,” he adds.
Reed starts preparing the drink, and I start filming.
I’m not actually going to make videos capitalizing on us being a couple to try to drum up more customers.
That would be weird and invasive. But I am absolutely going to take advantage of his semi-willingness to appear in some social media content.
Who knows how long this goodwill might last?
I’m only filming him because it’s good business to show the owner sometimes.
It has nothing to do with the way his biceps flex while he pours the cold brew, or the corded muscles that pop out in his forearms when he presses on the flavoring syrup pump.
Zooming in on his broad hands and long, thick fingers is purely for the details.
If anyone else notices his delightfully messy hair or perfect beard, well, that’s not my intent.
This is to add personality to our feed, not eye candy.
Even if the eye candy is front and center.
“Now slide it across the counter like you’re serving it to me,” I coach.
He does, and his gaze flickers up to meet mine.
His deep brown eyes focus on me, and my stomach swoops.
It’s been on a rollercoaster since I started the day seeing him asleep on my couch.
I still feel a little guilty for peeking at him when he had no idea I was watching, like a stalker.
But he looked so cute with my cat sleeping on his feet, I couldn’t resist.
And cute really doesn’t begin to cover it. He was handsome. Sexy. Ruggedly gorgeous. Seeing that big, grouchy man totally at peace in my space did something to my heart rate it hasn’t recovered from.
“Are we done?” he asks, handing the drink over to Troy.
“It’s been five minutes.” You’d think I was tweezing his beard whisker by whisker.
“Run it on a loop.”
“I need more than one action shot.”
“I don’t have any more actions.”
He’s so ridiculously obstinate. “You’re not in a very chipper mood for someone who started his day with homemade waffles.”
“I didn’t realize the waffles were a bribe for filming videos.” He crosses his arms, and I’m tempted to start recording him again. The light in his eyes as he stares me down makes my overactive heart flip. This man should not get cuter the crabbier he pretends to be.
“The videos were a bribe for not painting the coffee shop. Keep up.”
His scowl breaks, letting amusement shine through the cracks.
My insides cartwheel over that tiny change along his mouth.
Which I maybe shouldn’t be staring at quite so obviously.
But after the teaser smile he gave me this morning, I’m even more impatient to see one at full strength.
I’m like an avid bird watcher, ready to whip out my binoculars and notebook so I can jot down every last detail of a rarely-experienced sight.
Troy’s gaze darts between the two of us, piecing the conversation together. Possibly also noting the dreamy face I’m making. “This is finally happening?”
Oops. I haven’t told him anything about us yet. Reed said I should do what comes naturally, but “Guess what? I’m dating our boss!” didn’t feel all that smooth. Although I guess that would have been right in line with the way the rest of the town found out.
Reed turns on him. “What do you mean, ‘finally?’”
“You know.” He laughs, but Reed doesn’t join in. Troy sobers, clearing his throat. “Nothing. I mean good for you. It’s time for me to clock out.”
He sidles past Reed, giving me a secret thumbs-up as he goes. Reed’s still watching him, that line of irritation back between his eyebrows. We’ve moved from faux crabbiness into the real thing.
“Let’s try one of you at the register.” I need to distract him before he can change his mind about being recorded.
He moves over to it and mimes using the touchpad. “Like this?”
I hold my phone up, ready to capture him. “Maybe put a little more heart into it?”
“Heart’s your skillset.”
Aww. “What’s yours?”
“Bluntness.”
“Probably not the right direction for customer service. Make smiling your skillset.”
One of his eyes twitches. “Did you just quote Elf at me?”
“Kind of.”
The bells on the door chime, and a feminine gasp comes from behind me.
Lila Irwin walks in wearing chic linen trousers and an oversized sleeveless top.
Her effortless style always gives me a little pang of envy.
She looks cool and comfortable despite the heat, like the fashionable Instagram influencer she is.
She also looks like she’s painting us with a big red stamp of approval.
“Did I interrupt some content creation?” As head of Sunshine’s tourism, she’s a vocal proponent of any and all social media buzz.
I close my camera app and slip my phone into my pocket as I walk around the counter to join Reed. “Just taking advantage of the lull to capture some b-roll.”
A couple of regulars are sipping drinks while they work on their computers, but if the ambient noise of the coffee shop won’t bother them, then us recording a few videos won’t, either.
“I still don’t know what b-roll is,” Reed says under his breath.
I soothe him with a gentle stroke over his biceps. “Maybe you should log onto the internet someday.”
His mouth twitches, scoring another point on my mental tally sheet.
Lila walks up and sets her bag on the counter. “I feel I should warn you. My brother-in-law does all of Irwin’s social media, and he’s scheming ways to piggyback on your viral video.”
“Is it wrong that I’m looking forward to that?” I follow a lot of social media accounts for businesses around town. Some are pretty standard, but others jump on trending sounds and songs. Irwin’s has a nice mix of people outside using their gear and employees lip-syncing to funny audio.
“Let’s wait and see what Rhett lands on before you get too excited. Congrats, by the way.” Her smile morphs into a cringe, and her eyes go wide. “Unless what’s going around is just talk? Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. You never know with this town.”
“Oh, no. It’s happening.” I nudge Reed with my hip because apparently when he told me to act natural, what I heard was “be a massive dork.” He blows out a puff of laughter, and my giddy little heart kicks.
Lila relaxes, happy for us once again. “That’s really great. Could I get a brown sugar milk tea with tapioca pearls, please?”
“Of course.” I move on autopilot to make her usual, adding brown sugar syrup, boba pearls, milk, and ice to a cup. I open the mini fridge where we keep the premade drinks and take out the big pitcher of black tea.
“Oh, can I get that with decaf tea?” she asks, leaning on the front counter. “I keep forgetting.”
“Sure.” I switch pitchers and finish her drink, running it through the sealer. She’s already popped her jumbo straw through the top and taking her first sip by the time I spin the cash out tablet around for her to pay.
She sighs like she’s lowering into a warm bath. “I needed that. Between new bike trails construction, our parks department expansion, and updating our visitor’s guide, I’ve been in nonstop meetings today.”
“I saw the town council approved the new parks budget.” I only know about it because of Lila’s excellent work on Sunshine’s social media accounts.
She runs at least three—one to keep track of the goings-on around town, one highlighting small businesses, and one featuring scenes of local outdoor attractions that could double as ads for her husband’s gear store.
“You’re in charge of all that?” Reed asks.
“No, thank goodness. I just have to market it.” She takes another sip of her boba tea and chews for a second. “That, and hopefully draw in applicants for the new positions opening up.”
“I don’t know if you hear it enough, but Sunshine is grateful to have you,” I tell her. “We’re really lucky you came back.”
Like a lot of people who grew up here, she left for college and then stayed away. I heard she had some marketing job for a tech firm in Seattle before she came back a couple of years ago. She’s been whipping the town into an up-and-coming tourist destination ever since.
Her cheeks take on a pleased flush. “That’s sweet of you.”
“It’s the truth. You’ve made every festival ten times better than it used to be. And all the new events you’ve launched are so fun. I’m looking forward to the craft market on Sunday.”
“That one was inspired by my sister’s gentle nagging.” She takes another sip of her drink. “But that reminds me I meant to do some nagging of my own. I want to put a bug in your ear about getting involved in the Sunshine Small Business Society.”
Oh, hey. Another conversation I’ve had with Reed a dozen times.