A Downtown Love Story 

Robert and Lori Black are part of the fabric of downtown Edmond. They own Cafe Evoke, The Lofts at Evoke, a hospitality consulting business named Spring Board, Twisted Tree Baking Company, Bluebird Bookstore, and an upcoming new Mexican restaurant in the Railyard called La Loba Cantina & Grill. The couple never planned to own a business together, but their love story demonstrates how good things can be born out of tragedy. 

“We both lost our spouses in 2015, within two weeks of each other,” Lori said. 

“In our forties, and suddenly I was a widower and she was a widow,” Robert said. 

“My husband had been on hospice. The funeral was over and everyone had gone home,” Lori said. “I was languishing. The death of a spouse is very different from a divorce. We had a life and a love and dreams and plans, and suddenly, he wasn’t there.” 

“We both had two kids, and were walking kids through the grief journey, too,” Robert said. 

Does it Get Easier? 

“We didn’t know each other, but we did have a common friend,” Lori said. “I had never sent a random message to someone’s Facebook friend before, but I needed to ask him a question: ‘It’s been four weeks. Does it get easier?‘ ” 

“I was only two weeks ahead of her,” Robert said. “I told her days were getting better, but nights were really hard.” 

The two decided to meet one afternoon to commiserate. They decided to lean on each other as a mini-support group, since few people their age could relate. Every few weeks, they touched base and compared notes. One night, they met for dinner at a nice restaurant. 

“I was still wearing my wedding ring. I still felt married,” Lori said, “so I started feeling awkward, like I was doing something wrong.” 

“Whoa!” Robert said. “This is NOT a date. There is nothing romantic going on here.” 

They reverted back to occasional texting. Their next in-person experience, however, took a different tone. Lori and one of her female friends attended Odyssey de Culinaire. Robert, a chef by trade, was attending the event as a board member for the Oklahoma Restaurant Association. 

“She shows up in a stunning outfit, and I suddenly DO have romantic feelings!” Robert said. “I can still picture her, all sparkly, like she had a halo around her.” 

Lori laughed. “My friend said, ‘He has puppy dog eyes for you.’” 

After several more weeks of texts and informal dinners, Robert invited Lori on a “proper” date, and she agreed. They met at a Mexican restaurant that Lori termed as “casually awesome.” It was not the usual get-to-know-you event, however, it was a full-out disclosure. “For three hours, we told each other all the worst things about ourselves,” Lori said. “If we were going to move forward, we had to be clear. We both had careers and kids who would be impacted.” 

“Our sixth-month anniversary was on Valentine’s Day, and we married in 2016,” Robert said. “Some people said it was too fast, but I think it had to be or I would have closed off my heart and become a hermit.” 

“We became a modern-day Brady Bunch, combining our kids, our cats, our dogs, and my fish,” Lori said. “Our kids loved each other because they were all dealing with things their friends couldn’t understand.” 

Unintended Business 

The couple never planned to own a business, but their new life was going in new directions. Robert decided to let go of the restaurant lifestyle. “I left home at 7:00 am and came home at 11:00 pm, seven days a week,” Robert said. “My priorities had changed, and I wanted to enjoy my family.” 

He joined Lori’s non-profit consulting business, creating a hospitality branch to help restaurants get off the ground. The opportunity to buy Cafe Evoke became available. Lori remembers that bluebirds flew over her head as they talked about it in the garden. They decided it would be an easy investment that would run itself. A few months later, COVID hit. 

“We lost all our consulting clients, and suddenly, I was learning to make coffee and scrub kitchen floors while thinking, ‘What have I gotten into?’” Lori said. “It’s hard times like that when you grow. We should have lost everything during COVID, but the community realized the value of small businesses and kept coming. 

“We didn’t plan to own the bakery or the bookstore either, but we wanted to help businesses that people wanted to see downtown,” Robert said. 

“We both came from small towns, but Edmond has become our community. People had helped my family while I was managing my first husband’s cancer appointments, and then they helped us through COVID. I hope that our desire to give back to the community shines through in our businesses, because Edmond is a special place.” 

In the spring, the Blacks are opening an authentic Mexican restaurant, La Loba Cantina & Grill, in the Railyard that they describe as “casually awesome.” Legend has it that La Loba, the she-wolf, breathes life back into the bones left in the desert. Black’s goal is to keep breathing life into the downtown area — an area they describe as having almost become a ghost town ten years ago. 

“Our businesses are all busy,” Robert said. 

“Maybe people sense the love and energy that we’ve put into them,” Lori said. 

“Life hasn’t been butterflies and daisies. We’ve had ups and downs. In chef terms, the bitter helps us recognize the sweet. We believe that our marriage is a result of God’s work after a devastating tragedy.”