Page 23 of A Fall to Remember

Why won’t my mom set me up?

TeamMom forever.

This is the only way I want to find love.

Jim chuckled as he read a few more that were centered around Pete.

Um, hottie alert.

Pete, slide into my DMs.

Followed by a half dozen please emojis.

Submitting my application to be Pete’s future girlfriend.

This was good. Shelby should be pleased. Any engagement after posting was rewarded by the algorithms.

Jim was about to show Miranda the comments when the mayor stopped in front of them to bestow the key to the city on the Green Grocer. He tucked his phone away. Social media could wait. There would be plenty of time to review comments and look at the insights later.

19

PETE

Pete’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He had silenced it before the parade started, but notifications were coming in fast and furious. He glanced at the screen to see Mom’s profile pic.

Ah, that must be it.

Shelby and Jim had started posting and tagging him.

Damn, it must be working.

Did that say two thousand DMs? What?

Pete squinted and read it again.

Yeah. Why was his inbox blowing up?

He didn’t have a chance to read any of them because the mayor handed Mom the keys to the city. It was a Fall Harvest Fest tradition that one local business would be awarded the honorary role of ambassador for the weekend. The Green Grocer had never received the keys to the city. Pete wondered if Shelby had a hand in making it happen.

Either way, he loved seeing Mom beam and blush with a mixture of pride and embarrassment as the mayor stopped in front of the store to give her an oversized gold key. The mayor gave a speech about the Green Grocer’s dedication to Half Moon Bay and encouraged everyone along the parade route to stop by and shop local while they were in town for the festivities. Shelby and Jim captured it all.

Elise squeezed his arm twice, clapping with delight along with thousands of other people after the mayor finished the speech. “Aunt Mimi is an icon. This is going to be great for our socials. I’ll ask Shelby if she’ll tag us in some of the posts.”

“I’m sure she will.” Pete allowed his eyes to drift toward Shelby, who was giving Mom specific instructions about how to pose in front of the store. She was clearly in charge and had a vision for every shot. Pete loved the way she kept tucking her curls behind her ears, or how she would close one eye while trying to make sure Mom was in the exact right spot. “She obviously knows her stuff. My phone is already blowing up.”

“Really?” Elise reached for her phone. “Mine isn’t.”

“I think they tagged me.” Pete couldn’t tear his eyes away from Shelby. Working brought her to life. She was animated, gesturing with her hands and demonstrating poses she wanted Mom to mimic.

“Your personal account?” Elise checked her phone again. “Why wouldn’t they tag the store? I wonder if they tagged you by accident?”

Pete hadn’t even considered that. He grabbed his phone again. In the short time that the mayor had spoken and handed Miranda the key, his notifications had doubled. “Yeah, you’re right. They must have.” He showed Elise his phone and clicked into his messages.

The first message read:

Pete, I live in Minnesota, but I will book my ticket to Half Moon Bay today. Drinks and dinner tomorrow?

“What is this?” He handed his phone to his cousin.