by Quinn, Taryn
“What the hell were you doing over there? And were you making a drink for Macy?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, no shit. Really?” Kinleigh took her strawberry smoothie off the tray. “Are you saying I need to change my eating habits?”
“What?”
She held up the fruit cup.
“Oh, sorry. I was distracted. Macy wants to try my ice cream.”
She paused while popping off the plastic top. “Are you serious?”
“Heart attack level.”
She leaped out of her chair and tackle-hugged me. “Oh my God, you’re actually finally telling people.”
“Shut up, idiot.”
Kinleigh sat back down. “Girl, you’ve been hiding this little idea in your home freezer for ages. Not that I mind having the best ice cream ever being in my personal freezer, but it should be shared.”
“I’m going to. It’s just not ready yet.”
“Well, it better be. Macy Devereaux doesn’t give second chances.”
“I know that.”
“Do you though?”
Kinleigh’s blue eyes were serious. The same gaze that I got when I was waffling about buying the truck. Tough love Scott style. Pretty sure that was why we were best friends. She willed it to be so.
Not that I was one to blend into the wallpaper, but I sucked at the whole let’s set stuff up thing. Unless it came to my future. For that, I had a notebook full of plans. But I got tunnel vision and all other things could fall away.
Kinleigh didn’t allow such things. She made me go out and have some fun in between having three jobs at any given moment. Being a waitress made me indispensable in high season. Being a great waitress meant I was on everyone’s autodial when they were in a pinch.
The fact that I never said no never helped my cause, but it sure added a lot of favors to my tally list.
“I’m starving. This fruit cup isn’t going to cut it.” She put the empty container on the tray with a pout.
I got up and slid my coat on. “We can get a pizza from Robbie’s. And maybe you can help me with some flavors tonight?”
“Sold.” Kinleigh laughed. “I had thinky thoughts about your truck actually.”
I dumped our tray and set it on the shelf above the trash. “Oh?”
Kin slipped her arm through mine. “Tell me you brought an umbrella.”
“Just my slicker.”
“Dammit.”
The door opened and a gust of rain and wind slapped me in the face.
“What are you doing here?” She wiped the wet off her arms in disgust.
“Nice to see you too, Kinleigh.” My brother’s deep voice filled the space. He shook off the rain from his Carhartt jacket.
I glanced at my best friend. Her cheeks were flushed and she wouldn’t look at him. Not her usual response to my brother.
“We were just leaving.” She brushed by me to the door.
“Where’s your jacket?”
“It’s nearly summer.”
My gaze jumped from my brother to Kinleigh like a tennis match.
She fisted her hands. “I’ll be fine.” And she flew out the door.
“Something I should know?”
August laughed. “Just her pissed at me as per usual.”
No, what usually passed between them was more like snark. I wasn’t sure what the hell that was. “I suppose.”
“She’s just mad at me because I installed her lock without telling her.”
“Okay, now that makes sense.” Kinleigh really hated when anyone did anything for her. Especially August.
But August’s heavy brow furrowed over his bright green eyes. He handed me his umbrella. “Here, go get her.”
I went onto my toes and kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Aug.”
“Yeah, yeah. Are you going to be home tonight?”
It was as if he’d forgotten what we had already discussed. But I didn’t think I’d be crashing at Kinleigh’s. I was exhausted and needed my own bed. “Just like usual.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Not always.”
I tucked my fingers into my slicker sleeves. “Yes, well, you can rest easy. No wild sexcapades tonight. I’ll be home making ice cream with Kinleigh.”
He held a hand up. “Why do you have to say stuff like that?”
“What? That I had a little spring fun with a guy? Like you’re a monk. Though I’m not sure that’s far off. All you do is work.”
At least Serafina hadn’t been around. Nor had he mentioned her. She was an okay girl, but I had a feeling he could do better.
He was my big brother, so of course he could.
“You should talk.”
“Considering I’m getting your help tomorrow, I will own up to my workaholic tendencies. However, Macy wants to try my ice cream. Eeep.”
August’s eyes went wide, then he hauled me in for a hug. “That’s awesome.”
I patted his arm, but relaxed into him. The familiar scent of fresh wood mixed with rain made me hold onto him a little longer. “Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.”
“Make sure you bring her some of that toffee coffee stuff.”
I stepped back. “Oh, sure. Bring my coffee ice cream to the coffee queen of the Cove.”
“Helluva introduction. Especially if you use her coffee.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Sneaky. I like it.”
“Oh, we’ll have to do the truck another day.” I bit my lip. “I’m not sure how long my meeting will be.”
“No big deal. I’m always here for you, sis.”
“I know.” Far more than anyone else in my life. August never let me down. I waved the umbrella. “I better get out there before she drowns.”
He frowned as he craned his neck to look outside. “Yeah, you better.”
Yeah, he was being super weird. I rushed outside and caught Kinleigh under the awning, gnawing on her thumbnail.
“Yo, Scott.”
Kinleigh turned and caught the umbrella I tossed her. “Who’d you steal this from?”
“My brother.”
She clicked the button and the bright yellow umbrella popped open with my brother’s logo on it. She rolled her eyes, but held it over her head.
“You’re just mad because you didn’t think to put your logo on one.”
“I’d have to have a cute vintage parasol and it wouldn’t be cost effective. Although…”
“Oh, here we go.”
“I can’t help it if I have a marketing brain that won’t turn off. But seriously, I can look for old umbrellas and put my logo on it—you know, those iron-on vinyl kind? Or,” she snapped her fingers, “I can make a vinyl for the handle, that way it’s the first thing they see when they grab the umbrella. Thought the parasol part would be free advertising. I’ll have to think about it.”
I just let her babble on because that was Kinleigh. She was born a boss babe. She’d been creating small businesses since I’d met her. She was forever bugging my brother to make her signs—which he did, because it was easier to let her steamroll us than to fight storm Kinleigh.
My phone buzzed with an alert. I glanced at the screen and quickly stuffed it back in my pocket. I wasn’t proud of the fact that I followed Rory on every one of his social platforms, but I couldn’t help myself. It wasn’t like he was mentioned often, but I had his Instagram on notification status.
Rory Ferguson. Producer, musician, word doctor.
Even his bio was light on info.
Nothing personal.
No, I wasn’t going to look. Later, when I was alone, I’d pore over whatever picture he’d decided to post. And okay, so maybe I’d make sure he wasn’t on my coast. Just in case.
“Hello, earth to Ivy.”
“What?”
“You’re staring off into nothing. I mean, not like we can see much in this deluge, but I was talking here.”
“Right. Sorry. Just thinking about the truck.”
Lies. But better a little white lie than to te
ll my best friend I was mooning over a hookup. I could keep my stupidity to myself, thanks.
She reached over and squeezed my hand. “So exciting.”
I pushed thoughts of Rory away. This was my dream. He was just a fantasy. “Let’s get that pizza. If we’re going to be working all night, at least I can feed you.”
“I can so get behind that.”
Moving forward. It was all I could do now. Going back wasn’t good for anyone.
Sixteen
“I said half a dozen.” Macy stood in the doorway, her arms crossed as she held the door open for me.
“I know.” I lugged in a second freezer tote. “It’s only eight.”
“Is that your version of six?”
I set the tote on the table to the side of the front door then pushed a curl out of my eyes. I had my hair in a single French braid instead of my doubles, but my hair just wouldn’t stay tamed. I straightened my black button down shirt over my khakis. “Yes.”
“You do realize it’s a little early to gorge on ice cream?”
“This is the time you wanted. You’ll eat it all. I even brought one that you could scoop into coffee.”
“Did you?”
Yes. I’d finally perfected the vanilla. Even if I wanted to die each time I tasted it, I’d achieved the flavor I wanted. For others. I wouldn’t be eating it again now that I knew it was as good as I could possibly make it.
Macy frowned. “You okay? You look a little peaked.”
I waved her off. “No. I’m good.”
“Good. I saw you at Vee’s baby club meeting. Figured you got the job done like every other freaking woman in this town.”
I laughed. “No. I was just curious about it all. I’ve got plenty of time to do the kid thing after I get my business started.”
“That’s my motto.”
“You want kids?” My mouth dropped open.
“God, no. I just mean my business is the focus.”
“Right.” I discreetly tugged at my waistband of my pants. I’d had to do the hair tie and button trick today to keep them closed. Way too much ice cream tasting lately. “And that’s why I’m really grateful you’re willing to give my product a shot.”
“We’ll see.”
I unzipped the tote and pulled out the long, thin metal bins I’d packed up with colorful lids. They were just wide enough to make a scoop. Technically, they were designed for my gelato flavors, but they seemed perfect for today’s taste test. “I’m still working on the names of the flavors, but the actual product is going to be on a rotating schedule to keep interest up.”
“Flavors of the week?”
“Yes. I’ll have a few base flavors and change out half a dozen to a dozen others based on how the truck does.”
“That’s a lot of changing up.”
I pulled a small cup out of the outside flap. “I’m going to use a chalkboard on the outside of my truck to keep costs down and stick with that homemade, small town feel.”
“They do appreciate that around here.”
“Exactly.” I took out my small scoop and dragged it down the vanilla. “Do you have some coffee I could try this in?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Funny.”
My lips twitched.
She wound her way through the empty tables and disappeared behind the counter. While she was getting the coffee, I scooped out four toddler-sized servings. My Toffee Coffee, Strawberry Dream, Dark Night of the Soul Chocolate, and signature mint.
My gaze drifted to the Peppermint Patty. I’d debated bringing it at all, but it really had turned out to be one of my best flavors. Even if its inspiration was less than worthy.
Macy came back with two large mugs of coffee and a creamer peeking from her apron. She set them down and I scooped the vanilla into each.
I could get it down one more time.
Hopefully.
Macy gave it a dubious look, but shrugged and picked up her mug. She took a careful sip, her face inscrutable. She put down her mug, still tight-lipped as she moved on to one of my tasting cups. She tried the strawberry, then the dark chocolate, and finally, the mint. Her gaze flew to mine at the mint, but she still didn’t say a damn word.
Finally, she tried my Coffee Toffee. Her eyes narrowed, then one eyebrow winged up. “Did you use Brewed Awakening coffee to make this?”
“I sure did. Figured I couldn’t use just any coffee.”
People were walking by and craning their necks to see what we were doing. The growly and narrow-eyed gaze from Macy stopped people from pausing for too long. Or asking a question.
She was kind of my hero. I knew I was far too nice when it came to customer service. But I just couldn’t be any other way. Probably my waitress training.
I gnawed my lower lip as she folded her arms and tapped one long finger against her forearm. Her nails were super short and painted black with some sort of red fleck to them. It suited her personality down to the ground—and hid coffee stains. Pretty much why my nails were painted a bright pink. The raspberry sorbet stained the shit out of my hands.
Macy cleared her throat. “These are really impressive.”
“I have a gelato, a sorbet, and a yogurt as well.”
“I’m already sold. I’d like to try some out in the store.” She pulled out a sheaf of papers from her back pocket. She dropped it on the table next to us.
“You just happened to have that on you?”
She shrugged. “I had a feeling.”
“Do you get those a lot?”
“Enough.” She nodded to Rylee, who was returning an armful of books to the book nook.
“What’s up?” Rylee Kramer, Macy’s second-in-command if that was such a thing, tucked a dark lock of hair around her ear. “Oh, hello there, ice cream of glory.”
“Our resident sweet freak should try some.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Rylee tapped her lip as she looked over my offerings. Her gaze landed on the coffee. “Whatever that is, I want it.”
“Coffee Toffee.”
“You may want to rethink those names, but I am here for a taste.”
I scooped a serving into one of my taster cups and handed it to her with a little spoon. “I’ve been playing with some, but none have quite gelled.”
Rylee’s dark eyes rolled back in her head. “Yeah, you need to come up with some gimmicky thing. People love that stuff.” Rylee thumbed away a little bit of ice cream from the corner of her mouth. “And this is too good not to push.”
“Good.” Macy tucked into the dark chocolate flavor. “Because we’re going to be carrying it. You can help with the naming for the board.”
“I can, can I?” Rylee’s eyes sparkled. “Well, until you come up with something anyway.” She glanced at me with an excited smile.
“That is, if you’re amenable to those terms. A two-week trial.”
Amenable!?!
I managed not to scream it. I picked up the papers and looked them over slowly. The words were dancing on the page.
Get it together, girl.
Breathe.
Read.
Don’t freak out.
I blew out a breath. It seemed to be a standard contract and her cut was sizable, but considering I didn’t have a platform yet, her taking thirty percent wasn’t terrible. It was more than I’d made before. El zippo.
I signed the bottom of the contract. “You have yourself a deal for two weeks.”
“If it goes well, we can talk about your truck. I just bought the storefront next door, but I’m not going to be doing anything with it quite yet. I’m mostly using it for the huge parking lot right now, but it would be a good spot to set up your truck if things work out.”
“Really?”
I struggled to drag my jaw off the floor. I’d been fighting with town hall on where I could possibly put the truck. They wouldn’t even let me pay for space in the park. Something about zoning and taxes and nineteen other roadblocks.
“Baby steps, Bob. We’ll figure it
out after we see how this goes over.”
“Right. Thank you for the chance.”
“Your product stands for itself, Ivy. I’m making out the most on this deal. Now let’s see if you can keep up with the demand.”
“I have fifteen gallons in my freezer. And an industrial ice cream machine due at my house any day now.”
“It’s going to be busy.” Macy held out her hand.
I shook it. “I hope so.”
I helped her pack up what I’d brought, then she and Rylee took it into the back.
All the while, I happy danced in my head.
I floated out of the café into the fading rays of sun and wandered across the street. I needed a few minutes to digest it all. The lake always calmed me down.
I passed the gazebo—which was being used as lover’s lane at the moment, yikes—and headed down the pier. The lapping water evened me out. A few boats were out for a sunset cruise.
It was unseasonably warm and the scent of grilling meat drifted out from a few of the docked boats. Usually, that was a comforting smell. A belly-growling scent even, but right then, all it did was make my stomach churn.
Maybe I’d passed the point of hungry. I’d been working my ass off all night and exhaustion was overriding the high of Macy’s offer. Had I eaten today? Other than taste-testing ice cream, I was pretty sure that was a no.
I dug out my phone to text Rory, but paused before I unlocked the phone. It wasn’t like he was my boyfriend—obviously. There was a text waiting there. I’d had my phone on silent while I met with Macy.
Not from Rory, but one from Zoe.
I read the text.
Hey, me and Maggie are dying of boredom. The boys are playing in the studio. Think we could come by and see that store you talked about?
I quickly typed a definite yes. Zoe must have been sitting on top of the phone because the little bubbles of a reply popped up right away. I gave her the address and promised to meet her there.
I texted Kinleigh.
What are you doing?
Staring at the wall. Debating closing early to put myself out of my misery. How’d it go with Macy?
Good.
Dude, don’t tease me. Good—what the hell kind of reply is that? Get your butt in the damn store. I have box wine chilling.