“I know it’s about a hundred and twenty degrees outside, but I think I’d like to try the Apple Crisp. Please. In one of your waffle cones. Please.” And before Adley could walk away, Sabrina added softly, “And I wanted to see you.”
Adley turned and met her gaze. She looked tired. Exhausted, really. Embarrassed. Her cheeks blazed red. And sad. She looked so sad, and that was hard to see. She wore no makeup. And she was beautiful. So gorgeous, it made Sabrina’s chest ache. Adley was still for a moment, like she wanted to say something. Then she gave her head a quick shake and muttered, “Be right back with your cone.”
Sabrina stifled a sigh and watched as Adley got a waffle cone—man, they were big!—and scooped ice cream into it. She handed it over to Sabrina without making eye contact.
“On the house,” Adley said softly, then walked away before Sabrina could protest. Though, what was she going to say? She didn’t think telling Adley she couldn’t afford to be giving away her product would go over so well. Part of her really wanted to follow Adley into the back, into the kitchen, but the last thing she wanted to do was cause a scene or make Adley feel worse than she already clearly did. Resigned, she left a twenty in the tip jar and headed outside.
The ice cream, though? Holy deliciousness, Batman. It was unlike any ice cream she’d ever tasted, and she’d been here before, so her expectations were kind of high. Despite how incredible the flavors had been during her last visit, this one blew them out of the water. The sweetness of the apple, the dense creaminess of the vanilla, the warmth of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices she couldn’t quite put a finger on…it all mixed and mingled and made for an absolute tasteexperience. Add to that the depth of flavor in something as simple as a waffle cone, and the whole thing was absolutely beyond impressive. She had no words. She simply stood there, humming in delight and eating what was trulyartisanice cream. Adley was an artist, that much was clear.
I should march right back in there and tell her.
That thought zipped through her head so quickly, she almost didn’t register it before she started moving, her feet carrying her quickly back toward the door.
But she stopped.
She remembered the look on Adley’s face. The sadness. The defeat. The anger she had last night that she simply hadn’t been able to hit Sabrina with. Oh, she’d wanted to, Sabrina knew that. But she hadn’t been able to. And that said so much about who she was.
The lump in her throat was hard to swallow down, but she managed, then turned back to her car and headed home.
Where she ate every last bite of her ice cream cone.
* * *
Whenever Adley felt like shit—or, let’s be honest, whenever she was happy or sad or alarmed or worried—the thing she wanted to do most was create. Tastes. Colors. Textures. And right now, that’s what she wanted to do. It’s what she needed to do. Because Sabrina James was standing in her parking lot eating the Apple Crisp ice cream cone she’d made her and looking like she was in absolute heaven doing it.
Adley could see her through the window. She’d gone to the back because standing in front of Sabrina, looking at her, had been just too much to bear. If she’d been stronger, maybe. If she’d felt less beaten down, less defeated, less depressed about the state of her business, her life, maybe she’d have been braver. Maybe she’d have gone outside, followed Sabrina into the parking lot, to her car, shared her cone, talked about it, kissed her.
Kissed her.
Yeah.
None of that was going to happen. None of it could happen. The Sweet Heaven grand opening was coming up. There’d be lots of glitzand celebration. Customers would flock. They’d make a bunch of money, and Sabrina would leave. And Adley would likely watch her own business get slowly flattened.
She couldn’t blame it all on Sweet Heaven. Or on Sabrina. That wasn’t fair, no matter how much of her anger she aimed at them. Get the Scoop had been having difficulty for a while now, long before Sweet Heaven showed up on the scene. No, if she wanted to place blame, she’d have to look in a mirror.
* * *
Saturday night, Adley sat at Scottie and Marisa’s dining room table and held her glass while Scottie poured her a second serving of wine, a pretty good indicator of how she was feeling. Sad. In a funk.
“You’re staying here tonight, by the way,” Scottie said, shifting her eyes to Marisa, who sat across from her and nodded. “We know what happened the last time you had wine. Jaden’s at his grandparents’ tonight. You can sleep in his bed.”
Adley didn’t even fight it. She knew better. “Fine.”
Scottie set the bottle down, sat, and closed a hand over Adley’s forearm. “I’m worried about you, sweetie.” Marisa nodded again, and Adley loved how she was there and present, showing her support but letting Scottie take the lead.
A sigh. “I know. But you don’t have to be.” She took a sip, then set the glass down and turned it slowly with her fingers. “I think I just have to accept what is, you know?”
Scottie propped her chin in her hand. “Explain.”
Adley had been thinking about this since the visit from Sabrina yesterday. Truly, it had been rolling around in her head for two days. “I have to accept the facts of my situation. That’s all.” She ticked off a finger as she spoke. “My business is in trouble, and the reality is, I can’t keep going on like this with it.”
Scottie frowned. “I hope you know I’d help you if I could.” A glance at Marisa. “But we sank everything we had into the new salon.”
Adley shook her head and smiled at her best friend. “I know. I know you would. Please, don’t feel guilty about that. I should’ve hired a business manager from the start. But I was too stubborn, toosingularly focused, thinking I could do everything by myself. I just wanted to make ice cream.”
“There’s nothing that can help?”
“I mean, I could win the lottery, I suppose.” Her small smile was an attempt at levity, but fell short. She ticked another finger. “Sabrina doesn’t live here. Her store is going to open next week and then she’ll head home to Atlanta until she has her next trip. Which I think she said will be Denver.”
