Sam nodded slowly. “You’ve definitely put a lot of thought into this, huh, son?”
“You don’t need two stores next to each other. Rae already showed me the new menu. She’s still serving regular flavors and sundaes, but her focus is on the fairytale stuff she’s had me trying lately. If she gives me one more pink ice cream, I’m going to throw it at her.”
He chuckled. “She’s been bringing damn whimsical ice cream home for more than a week now demanding we try every flavor. God knows why. The girl couldn’t mess up ice cream even if she tried.”
“That’s what I tried telling her, but she still insists on shoving it at me. Not that I’m complaining, but pink glitter ice cream isn’t my favorite thing.”
“Speak for yourself. She gave me what she called a mermaid banana split a few days ago. I’m seventy-years-old, and I was about ready to hand in my man card.”
“Don’t get her started on a man card. You’ll never hear the end of it. I didn’t when I threatened that.”
He shook his head. “She’s too much like her grandmother, that one.”
I wasn’t going to deny that. “Well, in that case, even if her attitude sucks, at least she’ll still have her looks to bail her out in fifty years’ time.”
Sam burst out laughing. “Don’t let Nora hear you say that. Fucking hell—she’ll never shut up about that.”
That was true.
“Come on, then. Let’s get these finished and loaded into the back of the truck to deliver them.”
I looked at the tables, most of them still unpainted except for one.
Sam caught where my gaze had gone. “You gonna be caught up in painting later?”
“Not if I can help it.” I met his eye. “I’m gonna put shelves up at a world-record slow speed tonight.”
He laughed and tossed me more sandpaper. That was that.
I had what I wanted. The store, something I cared about, and, more importantly—
I had my girl.
***
The tables were fucking heavy, and it took two of us to heave each one into the store and onto the dust sheets that still coated the tiled floor.
Twenty minutes of hard labor later, the tables were lined up against the window seat, and me and Sam were downing a cold bottle of water each.
“Where’s Rae?” I asked Nora.
She nodded toward the kitchen and stood up her blackboard. She’d been working on it since I’d left two hours ago. “Kitchen,” she said simply, stepping back to survey her work. “She’s teaching her mom how to make unicorn ice cream.”
I shared a look with Sam. “She’s doing what?”
“Teaching her how to make ice cream.” She shrugged and turned around. “I don’t know either, and I was here when it happened. They talked through everything about her father cheating, and how sorry Eve was that she left and didn’t come back when she knew she needed her. Everyone apologized, there was some crying, and now they’re making ice cream.”
Sam huffed out a breath and squeezed between two tables to sit at the window seat. “I don’t understand women.”
“Women don’t understand women, honey,” Nora said, bending forward and coloring in a cherry on the board. “It’s all instinctive, really.”
“I’m, uh, I’m gonna go back and see them.” I scooted out to the back and stopped in the doorway.
Rae and her mom were standing next to each other, bent over ice cream tubs and makers. From this angle, they were identical. They had the same dark hair, even if Rae’s was lighter at the bottom, and their noses were clones.
There was barely an inch in difference in height between them, and that was only because Rae’s dad was taller than Eve was.
Eve noticed me first. She smiled brightly. “Hey, honey. You back already?”
I nodded. “There wasn’t much left to do of the tables. They’re all out front—they just need painting.”
Rae looked up with a big smudge of bright pink coloring over her cheek. “Hey.”
I grinned and tapped my cheek.
She wiped at hers and looked at her fingers. “Crap.”
Eve laughed and touched her shoulder. “Are we done?”
“I think we give it another mix and put it in the freezer.”
They box picked up a metal skewer and ran it through the ice cream. It created a marble-like effect, and realization dawned.
“Oh,” I said. “That’s how you do that.”
Rae’s lips pulled to one side. “Yep. Just like magic.”
“You don’t need me to eat more glitter, do you?”
Grabbing the lids to the tubs, she laughed. “No. These are for the opening. I thought I’d get a head start since I have to paint the tables tonight.”
“I’ll help.” Eve snapped the lid onto her creation. “I haven’t painted in years. Unless you count painting an escape from Michigan to the Florida Keys.” She laughed.
Rae’s face lit up. “Really? That would be amazing.”
“Of course.” Eve wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into her with a quick squeeze. “I’ll go check out these tables.”