Page 25 of The Valentine's Bet

I wave toward Genna, who’s working tonight. She smiles brightly and trots over.

“Hey, Parker,” she greets. “Do you want your usual?”

“Yeah, but make it a decaf,” I say and then pause, looking over at Amy. “Also, can you get her another one, please? It got cold.”

“Of course!” Genna turns to Amy. “I’m so sorry about that. I’ll be sure to make the next one extra hot.”

“Oh, it’s okay. It’s not your fault. It only got cold because I was trying to wait for my date to show up, but ... he never did.” She sighs.

“Oh mygosh,I’m so sorry...” Genna replies, sympathy written all over her face. “I hate it when that happens. But hey, if it makes you feel better, I can’t even count the number of times that I’ve gotten stood up in this city. It happens to the best of us.”

“Thank you,” Amy says timidly. “I guess it’s nice to know I’m not the exception.”

“Oh goodness, no.” She laughs. “Before I met my fiancé, my dating history was anightmare.But don’t give up. The right one is out there somewhere.”

Ugh, she’s filling Amy’s brain with more of that crap.

“I’m not giving up.” Amy’s face brightens. “How did you meet your fiancé?”

Oh, no ... NO.

“I met him at the Central Park Singles Mixer.” Genna beams, and I nearly facepalm myself. She ranted and raved about how great the event was after she met Derek, who happens to be one of my coworkers—which is whyI come to this coffee shop. He bought it two years ago.

And gave his then-girlfriend a job here.

“Ooh...” I can already see the wheels in Amy’s head turning.

“It’s just a big group of singles who all show up at a central location and that’s it. It’s nothing special. There’s not even any guided talking. You have to be social.”

“That’s so cool!” Amy explodes, startling me. “That sounds like just what I need. Then, the right guy can justapproach me.I don’t have to do anything. Oh,” she coos. “That would besoromantic.”

I groan, but it’s overshadowed by Genna cheering her on. “Girl, it was magical when I met Derek. I was sitting there, sipping my hot chocolate, and he was chatting it up with his friends—Parker was there, actually—and thenbam.He walked up to me and complimented my wrist tattoo.”

“Aww...” All of Amy’s sadness has disappeared.

“You should go. They still have mixers twice a month, I believe. You just need to sign up in advance,” Genna says quickly, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone. “Here, let me send you the link.”

“Oh, that would be great! Thank you.”

“Sure thing! And how do you know Parker?”

“Oh, we’re friends,” Amy answers instantly, not even giving me the chance to use a more accurate phrase—like ‘mostly strangers’—to describe our relationship.

“Aww. Yeah, Parker here is such a great guy. In fact, Derek’s been going on and on about how badly he wants to see him find someone.” She talks about me as if I’m not right here. “Other than Weston, he’s the only single guy in our big group of friends.”

“Oh really?” Amy looks at me as I feel my face heating.

“Yeah, it’s true.”

“Okay, just found the link,” Genna says. “I’ll just go ahead and sign youbothup.”

“No—”

“Oh my gosh! That’s perfect! We can go together. You know the city somuch better than I do.” Amy is nearly bouncing up and down in her seat, and before I have any time to object, Genna clicks her phone off.

“All done. You two will have such a blast. The winter events are seriously the most romantic. Everything about New York City is romantic in the winter.”

“It just doesn’t smell as bad,” I comment, letting out a heavy breath. I know it’s falling on deaf ears right now.

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