“I approve!” Mom said, clasping her hands together. “Franny hasn’t brought a boyfriend home since college, so I’d love to welcome a gentleman friend anytime.”

It was official. I was going to die here, on live TV, in the middle of the NYN studio. Cause of death: utter humiliation. I was certain Hayes would be chuckling along at this just like Pete and Jenna, but when I glanced over at him, he just gave me a small smile.

“Thanks, Diane.” Pete waved her off-screen, and then he and Jenna turned their attention back to us.

“Hayes,” said Pete, “we tried to get your folks to join us, but they were unreachable. Apparently, they’re on a European river cruise.”

I swear his shoulders noticeably relaxed at this news.

“Well, we wanted to give these two a chance to see if an actual love connection might be possible.” Jenna shifted to face the camera directly, announcing this to the at-home audience. “So we’ve built our very own romantic date spot right here in the studio.” She gestured to an area slightly offstage that I hadn’t noticed earlier. A café table had been set up, complete with coffee cups and a tiny vase of flowers.

Hayes didn’t reply right away; he just blinked, and for a moment, I saw what appeared to be a look of pure horror cross his face. And I was right there with him. The last thing I wanted to do was spend more time on TV, hashing out the most awkward experience of my life with Hayes Montgomery the Third.

“Why don’t you two take a seat at our Café NYC, courtesy of our sponsor Folger’s, and get to know each other a little bit.”

Hayes was smiling, but it was the kind of smile you wore to dress up a grimace. Eliza hadn’t mentioned anything about a fake coffee date when she’d reassured me that the interview would be an in-and-out kind of thing. The way his eyes squinted in response was a dead giveaway: He hadn’t been told about this either.

“Look, like he said, I’m not his type.” I let my sarcasm soak in for a second but forced a laugh to let the world know I was totally cool with what he’d said. Even though I definitely was not. “I really just came here to return his coat and say thank you,” I said, grabbing it off the faceless mannequin positioned next to me. “I even dry-cleaned it. To get the tears off.”

I handed the jacket to him, my arms stiff, and he took it, a begrudging look on his face.