Amber gave me a flat look. “I think I liked it better when your plan had Dickens vibes.”
“I’m serious,” I argued. “I just need to figure out how to get new customers.”
“Well, I don’t have any ideas,” Amber said before cocking her head to the side in thought. “Unless you get a celebrity endorsement. But none of us know a celebrity.”
I stared at her for one long, drawn-out moment. “Right.”
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” Amber mused. “Stars promote products and charities all the time. It only takes a couple seconds to share a link, and most celebs have a publicity person or assistant post it for them anyway, so it’s, like”—she waved her fingers—“zeroeffort.”
Zero effort. Would itreallybe bad to ask someone for a favor if it took less than a minute out of their day?
“The only problem would be finding a celebrity who’s a big name and who likes cats,” Amber continued, not noticing the way I glanced toward Mom’s successful adoption board, where a younger, nearly unrecognizable version of Jake could be seen in the background of several photos. “Or, I guess that’s not the only problem,” Amber realized with a sigh. “You’d have to actually get a star’s attention, and it’s not like either of us are just sitting here with access to a celebrity’s personal email.”
Jake still had a soft spot for animals. That, at least, hadn’t seemed to change. Behind-the-scenes photos of an US music video shot in Hawaii showed him lounging on the grass, befriending the local stray cats.
I leaned my head back and stared at the jungle canopy above me. I wasn’t seriously considering contacting Jake, was I?
But it wasn’t like I’d have to see him, or that he’d even have to talk to me if he didn’t want to.
Besides, Jake used to practically live here. Surely, he still had some fondness for the café, even if his feelings toward me were different. He had no reason not to help.Iwas the one who held a grudge due to how he’d pulled a disappearing act like a rabbit in a magic show.
A handful of seconds, a couple taps on a screen, and a name-drop. Then fans would want to visit a place thattheJake Moody promoted. The café would survive until things got better in the fall. We could have enough money to hire staff and Mom could take over again. She’d never have to know how bad things had gotten this summer. I could go off to college knowing this place would be safe. Then Jake and I could go back to not acknowledging each other. Simple.
It could be the answer to everything.
Plus,he’sthe one who said he’d always be there for me.
Jake didn’t mean it, obviously. Everything that happened between us afterward was proof of that. But he’d said it in the first place.
Bubbles, a calico, padded over.
“I should just do it,” I said, turning to her for confirmation. “Right?”
She blinked at me.
“Consulting the cats on your life choices again?” Amber asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe. Can’t be worse than any other life hack we’ve tried.”
“Touché.” Amber shuddered. “I still remember the pumpkin hack. I got grounded for a month after that explosion.”
I clicked on my cat café email, carefully typing in Jake’s address. Back when we were friends, I was the first person he let hear the songs he wrote. It always made my heart skip a beat to get an mp3 file sent only to me, knowing the music was all mine for the moment.
But after Jake left, he never emailed me again. I never wrote him either. It seemed a bit pointless considering he never returned my texts. I heard his silence loud and clear—I didn’t need to be ignored on another platform.
Still, I hadn’t forgotten the email address that used to make me smile in giddy anticipation the second I saw it in my inbox.
But what should I say?
Maybe, since it was for the café, I could sound mature and businesslike, like I did in my scholarship application essays. I was eighteen now, not some stupid fourteen-year-old with a crush. I could be cool and detached.
From: [email protected]
Subject: From your former friend
