Yeah. She put her head back down.
The back door opened and startled her enough to make her jump, but not enough to make her lift her head again. She only needed to learn that lesson once.
“Happy Sunday, brought you Starbucks.” Scottie was her normal cheerful self, the way she’d been since Marisa entered the picture, and Adley was jealous.
“You have an amazing life, and I hate you,” she muttered, her mouth leaving a vapor film on the stainless steel under her face. “Shut up.”
She heard Scottie pull up a seat and sit next to her. Heard the Starbucks cup slide across the counter so it was near her head. Heard Scottie peel the lid off her own cup and sip it, an extra loud slurp she was sure was for her benefit. Scottie sat. Sipped. Waited.
Adley sighed finally and lifted her head—slowly this time—until she was upright and in a human position again. She reached for her cup, opened the lid, and smelled the caramel pump that Scottie always got for her in her mocha latte. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean that.” She sipped, felt the path the warm coffee took down her throat, into her stomach, into her veins.
“I know,” Scottie said, not the least bit annoyed or hurt. She sipped, her eyes on Adley the whole time. “Wanna talk about it?”
Adley grimaced. “Not really, but I probably should.”
Scottie leaned on her forearms, made a show of getting comfortable. “It’s my day off, and Marisa and Jaden are at a birthday party. I have all the time in the world.”
She was going to need more caffeine for this. She sipped, bolstered herself. Scottie waited patiently, something she’d always been very good at. When she started to feel slightly better than roadkill, Adley took a deep breath and spilled the whole story of the night before. All of it. Going to see her parents and their refusal to help her financially, heading to the bar on her own—her first mistake, they both agreed, drinking too much wine on an empty stomach, being smart enough not to drive but too dumb to realize that walking to Sabrina’s house just to pick a fight was not the most terrific of ideas, to seeing her and Sprinkles, to the very foggy memory remnants of snuggling up in Sabrina’s bed.
“I kissed her,” she said on a groan. “I only remembered that this morning when I was sitting next to her.”
“Oh, wow.” It was the only comment Scottie made, but her eyes were slightly wider than normal, a clear indication of her astonishment.
“I fell all over myself apologizing. It was horrible. I wanted to crawl in a hole.” She gazed into her coffee, turned the cup slowly in her hands.
“What did she do when you said you were sorry?”
Oh, she remember thatveryclearly. “She said she wasn’t.”
“Huh.” Scottie sipped her coffee. Nibbled at the inside of her cheek. Looked like she wanted to say something.
“What?” Adley asked her. “Please, tell me what you’re thinking. I’m a mess over here. I don’t know what to do. My parents were my last resort. I’m probably going to lose the one place I feel like myself, and it’s breaking my heart. And in the midst of the whole thing is this woman…this woman who’s indirectly responsible for what is likely the demise of my business and I like her so much…but I also hate her. What am I supposed to do with that?” Not for the first time that morning, her eyes filled with tears. Not being able to control things wasn’t something Adley Purcell was used to, and it was clearly freaking her out. She held her hands up, fingers splayed, and indicated her own face. “Look at me! This isn’t me. I don’t cry. I’m not a crier.” She shook her head and took a large gulp of her coffee, hoping it would wash the lump out of her throat. “I don’t know what to do,” she said softly, words that she’d rarely uttered in her life. Glistening eyes focused on Scottie, she asked on a whisper, “What do I do?”
Chapter Sixteen
Friday was hot and humid, topping ninety degrees, which surprised Sabrina. Not because she wasn’t used to the heat and humidity—she was from Atlanta, for God’s sake—but because she somehow didn’t expect it this far north. She’d taken Sprinkles for a walk earlier, and even he tapped out in the heat, preferring to be in the house, his belly flat on the cool hardwood, and he dozed in front of the vent blowing cool conditioned air on him. Part of her wanted to lie there next to him and nap the day away. Responsibilities be damned.
She was restless, though, filled with a weird nervous energy she couldn’t seem to channel. She always got a little bit like this before a big opening, so it wasn’t all that surprising. She paced around the little house, hitting her laptop when she walked by to make sure there was no new email or message she needed to deal with. To be honest, pretty much everything was set. A few minor details that Maggie was taking care of with regard to the interior design of the Sweet Heaven, but nothing Sabrina needed to worry about. Normally, this was the time that she’d chill. Normally, she’d have spent the past month or two working long hours and ironing out unforeseen wrinkles and making calls and answering questions and placing orders and learning the city and its residents, so that now, she was allowed a couple days of rest before the soft and grand openings. She could sit, watch a movie, read a book. God, sleep. Relax. Breathe.
None of those things seemed at all appealing right now. Not one. She had extra energy and she needed to burn it off. If she tried to run in this heat, she’d dehydrate and pass out in a matter of minutes. So she did the next best thing.
She put Sprinkles in his crate, moving it a little closer to the air-conditioning vent, got in her car, and drove to Get the Scoop.
She paid more attention this time than the last, noticing things like how the sign could use updating. Something being artisan was trendy, and you needed to capitalize on that. The Get the Scoop sign was likely the original, and it looked it, like it had been designed in the eighties or close to it. The font was old-school and the paint was faded, chipped in places, and just generally lent a dated look to a shop that should really be celebrating its timeliness. But the building itself seemed solid. Could use a fresh coat of paint, maybe something a little brighter than the beige it currently was.
She hadn’t really planned out this visit, not a hundred percent sure why she was even here. But still, she pulled the door open and went inside, and two facts hit her instantly. First, there was nothing quite as warm and inviting as the smell of fresh waffle cones. The scent of sugar and vanilla and warmth grabbed her by the nose and led her to the counter. And two, she wished it was busier. There were a handful of customers, three sharing a table and a big sundae of some kind, two in line. But it was a sweltering hot summer afternoon. The place should be packed.
She scanned the menu board, noticing a few flavors that hadn’t been there the last time she’d stopped by. Campfire S’mores, Ube, and Apple Crisp. All sounded fabulous. The fact that Adley made them in small batches guaranteed freshness, something a bit lower on Sweet Heaven’s list, simply because they did large batches. Factory-made batches. Which didn’t mean it was bad—it was actually quite good. But she remembered the dense creaminess of the ice cream last time she’d been here, and her mouth watered in anticipation.
As if they were in a movie and Adley’s cue was to walk in exactly when Sabrina stepped up to the counter, that’s exactly what happened. Adley was carrying a tub of ice cream, and she did a little stutter step when she saw Sabrina but managed to catch herself and continue to the display where she deposited the tub. According to the sign, it was Baby Bear, which made Sabrina remember how Bryce had copied it.
Adley sighed. She looked exhausted. Sad. Frustrated. That flash of anger she’d had in her eyes when she’d shown up on Sabrina’s doorstep—that spark?—was nowhere to be found. She just looked…defeated. Sabrina wanted to take her in her arms. Wrap her up. Rockher. Tell her everything would be okay, that she’d take care of all of it. She’d much rather deal with pissed-off Adley than sad, giving-up Adley, which was who she was worried was in front of her now.
“How can I help you?” Adley asked quietly. The redheaded employee was there, too, ringing up the other customer, and Sabrina saw her glance over at Adley with what looked like concern on her face.
Sabrina hadn’t planned this far ahead, and she realized it in that exact moment. With a clear of her throat, she said, “I guess…some ice cream?”
A nod. “Sure. What kind?”
