Page 17 of The Best Book Boyfriend
“What’s the cafe’s Instagram account?”
“I don’t have one.”
“You’re not on Instagram? Oh Luke, you have so much to learn.”
“No, I’ve been meaning to do it, but I don’t really know where to start.”
“OK, give me your phone.” I reach my hand across the table and open and close my hand until he unlocks his phone and places it in my palm. Within minutes, I’ve downloaded the app, set up an account, and created a profile and business listing for the coffee shop. I get up and take a quick shot of the logo that he’s spray painted across the front of the bright yellow counter. It’s gorgeous in this light and I crop it and post it to his new account.
When I sit back down, he’s leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, his head tilted a little to one side and a content smile.God, he has a gorgeous smile.I hand his phone back, then take out my own.
“There you go. I’m your first follower.” I smile smugly across the table and give a little shimmy. Back on my phone, I post my own photo, then tag Sunshine and add a few relevant hashtags, as well as all the ones I know our local business owners follow. “I love the name Sunshine Coffee. What’s the story behind it?”
“Um… I just liked it, that’s all.”
“Well, you should come up with one. People love a story. That’s a good thing to share with customers.”
“You’re kind of bossy, aren’t you?” he laughs.
“What can I say,” I shrug, “I know my stuff when it comes to social media.”
“How is that?” he asks, looking through what I’ve set up for him, and he’s clearly gone to check out my account when he says “Holy shit...”
I’m suddenly nervous. Why am I nervous? Thousands of people follow me online. It makes no sense that I wouldn’t want Luke to find my account, but I feel like I’ve pulled back the curtain on my whole life in one fell swoop. When I take a swig of my tea, I want to disappear into the cup.
“This is you?” I cringe while he scrolls through my profile. “You’re like a celebrity.”
That makes me snort and my tea goes down the wrong way, sending me into a choking fit. He’s up out of his chair like a shot to put his hand on my back and make sure I’m OK. Oh my, that’s a warm hand. How does his one hand seem to span most of my ribcage? These thoughts are not helping with the coughing.
“I’m OK.” I manage to clear my throat and take another small sip to soothe it, so he sits again. “I’m not a celebrity.”
“You’ve got 40,000 fans on here.”
“Please, they’re followers, not fans,” I sound like such a twat. “But they’re fans of my house more than me. I started the account when we moved in and it just grew really quickly.”
“Is this part of your job?”
“Sort of. Growing the account while learning loads of DIY was the motivation for doing an interior design course,” I explain. “This just helps me connect with new clients and I sometimes do brand partnerships. Those I treat like a job, helping businesses to promote their products, reviews, that sort of thing. It’s a nice bit of extra cash.”
“Wow.” He seems a little lost for words. “I’ve been wondering about you. For some reason, I thought you must work in publishing what with all the books.”
He’s been wondering about me. What has he been wondering?
“Bye!”
“See you!” New voices snap me out of my distracting thoughts.
“Thanks guys, come and see us again soon,” Luke says, waving off his final customers. He gets up and turns the sign on the door to closed, clicking the latch into place. “Let me just clear up the stuff at the back and we can head off.”
While he takes dishes through to the kitchen, I need to take a much needed deep breath and recap on everything we’ve just covered in the past half hour. Books, hockey, tattoo, his wife died, Instagram, my house. It’s a lot.
“Do you ever stay open in the evenings?” I ask when we head outside. I pull my jacket on while he turns out the lights and sets the alarm.
“I’m hoping to. I want to make sure the team gets settled in and then maybe we’ll run some events.”
“You should do a book club,” I suggest.
“That’s a great idea,” he says, and I’m already picturing it in my mind. “But if anyone should run a book club here, it’s you. You’re clearly the expert.”
