So here she was, wandering across the grass of the park that was tamped down by hundreds of feet tromping over it. She always felt bad for the groundskeeping crew that had to clean up after something like this. Pick up all the litter. Coax the grass back to life. She carried a beer but took only small sips, as it felt like acid in her stomach, her own fault for not eating more than half a peanut butter sandwich today.
“There you are!”
She heard Jaden’s little boy voice before she saw him, and then a little rocket blasted at her and hit her around the waist, and she looked down at his mop of dark hair. Jaden was going on six and just an adorable kid.
“There’s ice cream over there!” Everything Jaden said seemed to have an exclamation point after it, and he pointed past her.
Marisa was suddenly there, and she grabbed his hand and tried to stop him from pointing, even though she surely knew it was too late. Adley looked over her shoulder at the big Sweet Heaven booth about twenty-five yards behind her and sighed. Of course. Of course they had a booth. She’d thought about having one, but it wasn’t cheap, and she couldn’t justify the cost this year. They even had a couple teenagers barking for them, each one several feet away from the booth, talking loudly aboutice creamandcome get your sample tasting.
They were doing sample tastings?
Adley sighed. That was smart marketing. She hated it.
“I guess there was no way to keep you from seeing that, huh?”Scottie had appeared out of the crowd, and Adley turned to look at the cute little family of three.
“It’s fine,” she said with a shrug. “What am I gonna do, burst into tears in the middle of the festival? It is what it is.” Scottie didn’t look convinced, but Adley turned her attention to Jaden. “And what have you been doing with your summer, sir? Have you picked a college yet? Did you get your driver’s license?”
Jaden pushed at her playfully. “You’re funny, Ad.”
“I try.”
“Wanna walk?” Scottie asked. “Your parents are that way.” She pointed in the opposite direction of the Sweet Heaven booth, thankfully.
“Sure.”
“But…ice cream,” Jaden said in a voice that was both little-kid whiny and kind of sad.
“You know what?” Adley said. “Let’s get him some ice cream.”
“I can get it,” Marisa said, her dark eyes shifting from Adley to Scottie and back. “You guys go on ahead.”
“No. I actually would like to see their setup here.” Adley held her hand out to Jaden. “Coming?”
“Yes!”
And then his little hand was in hers and they were walking with purpose toward the Sweet Heaven booth for ice cream.
Sabrina was nowhere in sight, and that was a bigger relief than Adley had expected. Ordering was much easier without those blue eyes studying her, without her searching for the blond head. Jaden wanted a chocolate cone with sprinkles, and Adley went ahead and ordered their chocolate almond just because she couldn’t fight her own curiosity. Scottie and Marisa had hung back, maybe wanting to give Adley space, let her decide how she wanted to handle things. When she glanced at them, they both looked worried.
That guy was in the booth, though. Not scooping, just watching, and Adley squinted at him, the guy who’d come into her shop and sampled almost everything. Bastard. Probably stealing her flavors. She threw some dagger eyes his way as she was handed her order, but he was scrolling on his phone and didn’t notice. Damn it.
With a sigh, she and Jaden turned and headed back to Scottie and Marisa, who both still had those concerned expressions on their faces.
“Oh my God, stop it.” Adley shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” Jaden seemed very happy with his cone, and he stood licking it and taking in all the people around them.
Adley tasted her own cone, let the ice cream sit on her tongue for a moment. It had a pretty good mouthfeel. Creamy, not grainy. The ice cream itself wasn’t bad. It wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t bad. The almonds were too small, though. And not enough salt. The whole point of chocolate almond ice cream was the salty-sweet combination, and this didn’t have it in the right balance.
“What’s the verdict?” Scottie asked, watching her face.
She lifted a shoulder. “Meh. It’s fine. Not great.” She held the cone out to Scottie, who tasted it and nodded.
“Agreed. It’s fine, but it doesn’t blow me away.” She handed the cone to Marisa.
“Yours is way better. And I’d say that even if you weren’t my favorite ice cream maker.” She smiled gently, and Adley was reminded why Scottie had fallen in love with her. She was one of the kindest, sweetest people Adley had ever met.
The four of them strolled along through the festival, in an unhurried hunt for Adley’s parents. The weather was good for fireworks, a relief as it had been gloomy and gray earlier. The crowd was gradually growing in size as the evening wore on, and they shouldered their way through a clot of young women, giggling and cheersing with their plastic cups of wine. Adley pointed to one of them as they walked by.
“I want one of those,” she said to Scottie.
