Searching For His Omega - Harper B. Cole Page 0,3

Route 66 is an entire season or more worth of episodes.” I looked at the crap that came out of the vending machine and just shook my head. How coffee vending machines were still a thing was beyond me.

“That’s why I was thinking maybe we could pitch a sum—”

“No.”

“You didn’t even hear what I had to say.” He started to tap on his tablet. “I ran some—”

“No. Closed. We have two more episodes for this year and then I am done for a bit. We can revisit the Route 66 option later.”

“I ran numbers.” He tried to show me a spreadsheet. Damn, he loved those stupid things. I did not. They were math, and math and I had parted ways a long time ago. And besides, this show wasn’t about math. It was about bringing people behind the scenes of places they would love to visit but were too far away, or in some cases creating a destination during their travels. I often got emails from people telling me about how they planned their travel itinerary to include places I visited. That meant so much more to me than anything on a spreadsheet.

I brought my cup up to my lips and couldn’t do it. The aroma was just an artificial clusterfuck. “We should find the best coffee for our last episode.”

I’d only been half kidding, but once the words left my mouth, I was all in. We hadn’t had as many coffee episodes this season and people always loved them, especially if the place had something quirky about it or had been used by someone famous to write their books or spur their genius idea.

“Fine.” He started to tap away at his screen again, this time on Google and not his stupid spreadsheets which I was sure he had been creating to show me how brilliant his idea was. He so very much underestimated how little I was going to care.

I took out my phone and did my own search, not wanting to have things limited by his filtering. He had a habit of overlooking hidden gems, and at first I thought it was intentional, but over the years working with him, I began to realize he just worked with blinders on, and the best way to combat that always meant I had to do the research too. Not that I minded.

“I have three options that look good. All mom-and-pop places with great ratings and longevity.” He rotated his tablet around and the pictures that stared back at me were the epitome of a snooty coffee shop. The coffee might be amazing, but the atmosphere was the antithesis of what I’d built this show on.

“I was thinking more like here.” I showed him my phone with the history of Café Om on the screen.

“Chain.” He said the word with disgust. And it was true. We never went to chains. It wasn’t our thing. But Café Om? It was different than other chains. I’d heard about the amazing things they did for their community and the owner was hands-on. It wasn’t a conglomerate or overly commercial. It was a guy who loved coffee, and even more than that—loved his community. It would be perfect.

“Bullshit,” I grumbled back, loving the way his eyes widened, like this wasn’t a typical response he’d get from me. It was.

“I’d never get it past the station.” He slid his tablet to me again.

“Neither would this foo-foo snobbery,” I countered.

“How would I sell your idea?” He sighed after a solid two minutes of silence. We were both extremely stubborn when it came to our positions as far as work went, but today I wasn’t going to cave and he had to have seen that in me.

“Café Om is a small chain, with a very active owner. True. BUT there is one location unlike the others.” I found the picture that best made my case and set it in front of him. It was a new location in a very unique setting and it looked adorable. “Quaint town—check. The only location with their own menu—check. Still the best coffee in the country—double check. The place where presidential candidates always stop on tour—check. It has all the things needed to make it unique while having a name that people will be drawn to.”

“It is a long trip for one episode.” As if his Route 66 idea hadn’t been filled with those.

“And we can find another place either there or on the way. You are creative.”

“And in the future—”

“I will