Chapter One
Landon
By the time that I make it out of the bar, I know that I’m never going to be calling her again.
I doubt that she’s going to be surprised. The woman I went out with tonight must have noticed that there was nothing in the way of chemistry between us.
We had managed to sit through one very awkward drink, and now that I’m out of the bar alone, I’m left wondering who the hell I’m supposed to take to my sister’s wedding. In Hawaii. Tomorrow.
Damn, I did not want to fly solo to this.
Because the hours are counting down, and I know if I don’t have a good excuse ready for my parents, they’re going to hit me with the girl they want to set me up with. They’d be hinting at it for weeks before my mother just came out and told me.
"I think we have a perfect match for you," she explained, with a broad smile on her face. "Our best friends’ daughter. She’s lovely. And she’d be a perfect fit for you. She’s coming to the wedding, you can meet her there..."
I know that it’s a threat more than it is an offer. And I need to have someone by my side to throw them off their game.
They think they can have their way, but they’re wrong. I’m not going to be stuck with the girl they’ve picked out for me. I doubt that they know what kind of woman I like.
Which is why I’ve been “dating” as hard as I have lately. Well, I don’t know if you could even call it dating, not really – I've just been going out with any and every woman that I can get my hands on, in the hopes that I can find one who will be happy to come to Maui with me.
But no such luck yet. Tonight is my – sixth? Seventh? I honestly can’t remember. All the dates have blurred into one inside my head, and I haven’t been able to come up with anything that sticks.
If I had a female best friend this would be easy, but I don’t. And there’s a shortage of single ladies around town. It’s like every guy at the CrossFit gym where I work out has gotten married this year leaving me with slim pickings.
And I’m sure this woman my parents have found is nice enough, but they are country club going, yacht club cruising, weekends at the San Juan Islands kind of people.
I may be their son, but the apple fell far from the tree. I need someone with more bite. Someone with more edge.
Someone who, apparently, doesn’t exist in this town at all.
My car is parked just around the corner, but I decide to walk home instead. Maybe some of the fresh air will help clear my mind. I can keep an eye out for any other bars that are open, duck in and see if there’s someone there for me to meet. I’ve been relying on dating apps lately, and they haven’t exactly brought me much luck.
It’s not like I have a lot of time to spend just wandering around bars, hoping for the best, hoping to find a girl who fits me. I have so much work to think about, I have to just scroll through apps in my spare time and hope that I find someone who looks interesting. I know it’s not the same as feeling that chemistry in person, but I don’t have time for that.
Running my real estate business, getting it to the point that I have, it’s taken time, energy. It’s why I’m still single now, if I’m honest with myself. Because no woman would want to stick herself with a guy who just obsesses over work when he should be obsessing over her.
When I meet a girl worth obsessing over, I’ll forget everything else that I’ve done up until that point. Happily. I’ll throw myself into her, just the same way that I’ve thrown myself into everything else that I’ve ever wanted in my life. When I meet her.
If she exists.
I’m starting to think she doesn’t.
All the women I’ve been out with over the last ten days or so, there’s nothing wrong with them. But there’s nothing right with them, either – nothing that makes my ears perk up, nothing that makes me want to uncover every little detail that I can about them, just to say that I know it.
That’s what I want, someone who fascinates me in a way deeper than anyone else ever has.
Not that my family knows much about real love. Even my sister Cassidy, for as much as she claims to like the man she’s getting married to, is only doing it because she knows that it will be a solid business tie to forge with another family.
My parents were the same way when they got married, and I am sure that this girl that they want to set me up with is meant to be nothing more than a chance for me to do my bit for the family and secure some business deal.
But maybe I have to lower my standards if I’m going to find a date for my sister’s wedding. If I don’t turn up with someone decent, then my parents are going to see it as open season for setting me up with the girl that they want for me.
I turn another corner and spot a café which is still open, even at this time of night – it's not a bar, I don’t think, but there are a handful of people outside, a couple of them smoking, all of them chatting. Hey, this looks like something. And right now, I will take anything I can get...
I head down the street towards the café, look up at the banner over the door – Bowl & Spoon. A little hipster-y joint, from everything that I can see. Hell, why not? I’ve tried everything else in this town, I might as well give this place a try, too.
I step inside, past a small crowd of people who are waiting in line for the counter, and look around – it's made up to seem like a kitschy little diner from back in the day, all bright red and checkerboard colors everywhere. It’s bustling with customers, even at this time of night, though there only seems to be one woman serving right now...
And I feel something in me freeze as I realize that the woman behind the counter is the most downright gorgeous thing that I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
I was looking for a spark, and I think I might get lucky after all.
Chapter Two
Lucky
Honey: You’re still open? Girl, you are going to fall on your face. It’s time for a day off. A night off too!!
I reread the text, knowing my best friend is right, but I have put my whole life savings into this place and I can’t let it fail.
Me: One day soon, I promise…
Honey: I can cover for you for a few nights. It’s what friends are for.
I know that Honey is right. I need to take more time off work. And she is the right person to help me out since she has been running her apple pie food truck for several years.
But how can I take time off when the place is so busy that I can’t catch a moment’s rest?
I put my phone back in my pocket, take a deep breath, and head back out to the counter to take the next set of orders. I keep that big smile on my face as I greet the woman waiting for me.
"Hey, how’s it going?" I ask her. She replies with a long string of sentences, and I have to stifle a yawn as she talks. Not because I think she’s boring, but because I need to spend at least three days in bed before I see anyone ever again.
When I opened this place three months ago, I had no idea that it was going to blow up the way that it did. Not that I’m complaining, trust me. I knew back then that opening a café that sold only cereal and drip coffee was going to be a huge risk, but I know it’s the kind of place that I would love for myself – no booze, no loud music, somewhere to hang out late at night that doesn’t revolve around alcohol or trying to get laid.