‘Thanks.’ The woman with the stylish cropped brown hair nods at me.
‘How are you both today?’
The woman gestures to the grinning blonde woman sat opposite. ‘Good, my girlfriend here is treating me to a nice coffee.’
‘This is a magical place you have here,’ gushes the blonde woman.
‘Thanks.’
‘I have been a fan of The Little Love Café for ages,’ she explains. ‘Every morning me and all the nurses in the hospital I work at log on to The Love Café’s Facebook to see all the romance stories being shared. Some are so sweet.’ She turns to me. ‘Lately though, I haven’t seen the café sharing as many stories.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’ve only been sharing photos of coffee cups and the flower wall.’
Maybe I should get involved with the social media too? I’ve let Noah run that by himself. ‘Thanks for the valuable feedback,’ I say to the woman with the blonde hair. ‘Can I get you both a free Cuddle Muffin as a token of my appreciation?’
As we are closing the café, I remember the two women from earlier and the woman in the toilet. ‘Noah, can I have a go at managing the café’s social media?’
He nods. ‘Be my guest – why?’
‘I have been speaking to a few customers today and they think we can do more with social media. I want to give it some thought.’
When Lucas has gone to bed, I sit down with my iPad and look at The Little Love Café’s social media. The blonde woman was right. Even though Noah has been posting cute photos of the café, close-ups of drinks and plates filled with mouth-watering muffins, they are lacking something.
I scroll back a few months to when Frankie was managing it, and I can see a difference. Frankie was sharing customer stories and there was more engagement. His posts feel personal and bring out all sorts of funny and heart-warming customer stories about love.
I find myself smiling at the customer who proposed to his girlfriend by making her a mixtape of love songs and in the middle, he recorded himself asking her to marry him.
Then there was the customer whose daughter stuck a message in a balloon about her dad needing a girlfriend as he was lonely. A woman a hundred miles away found it and contacted him.
And the customers who met via a radio phone-in, the customers who met on a ski lift and the customer who married the woman next door after she kept baking him cakes and inserting little messages of love into them. I recall Jason’s proposal speech about him and Michelle sharing curry and chips under the stars. I can feel a twang of guilt at ruining their day by stopping their Facebook Live.
I’m about to put down my iPad when an idea for a social media promotion comes to mind. I could title itGive Love Get Love. We could encourage people to share their acts of love and tag us. Maybe do it as a seven-day challenge? We could offer a free drink or muffin at the café for the best ones. I am distracted by my bleeping phone. It’s Frankie and he’s video calling. Panic takes hold of me. With a trembling hand I hold out my phone and pressaccept.
‘What the hell is going on, Alice?’ His eyebrows have formed a sharp V and his face looks taut and tense. ‘I thought to myself, I’ll give them a week or two to get to grips with my café before I have a look to see how things are going.’ He places his head in his hands. ‘My bowels haven’t been the same since I saw all those complaints, that Heartbreak Café hashtag and what did you do to Rocco Reid? Mum has had to buy me some stomach settlers.’
‘Frankie, listen to me. I’m sorry.’
He lifts his face to the screen. ‘I want to fire you both and send Jake in to turn things around.’
‘Please don’t do that. Noah and I can do this.’ I rub my aching chest.
Frankie runs his hand through his hair. ‘Jake’s father is still unwell so I can’t do that, but I need to see a visible change soon, Alice. I can’t have all this bad publicity. You are destroying all my hard work. On a separate note, did you end up snogging Rocco Reid or something?’
‘No, I did not!’ I exclaim. ‘For goodness’ sake I saved his life in the sea and then we had a heart-to-heart in the Snug about his fake relationship.’
‘Oh,’ says Frankie, looking surprised. ‘I didn’t know you’d been in the sea with him. I thought you were busy trying to make Noah jealous.’
I arch my eyebrows at Frankie. ‘By throwing myself at a famous actor in the Snug?’
Frankie giggles. ‘Trust me I have witnessed some bizarre things in the Snug.’
‘How’s your mum?’
His face softens. ‘She’s doing great. I mean she’s at the start of a long journey, but her positivity and optimism are so inspiring.’
‘Give her our love.’
