Stay Sweet(34)

“I started going through her books last night.”

“You need to do a full audit. Taxes on the property, maintenance, supplies, equipment, payroll.”

“I know, Dad.”

“Well, you keep talking about how great yesterday’s take was, but without an accurate picture of operating costs, it means nothing. Without a P&L, you could be underwater, for all you know. You could be losing money.”

This strikes Amelia as dead wrong. It seems to strike Grady that way too. He argues, “Dad, this place is incredibly popular.” She’s heartened to hear him defend the stand. “I mean, my guess is that it could bring in—”

“I’m not interested in your guesses, Grady, especially not any hunches formed in under forty-eight hours on the job.”

“Yeesh,” Cate whispers, shaking her head. “This is why kids at Truman are so stressed out! They’ve got these alpha parents pushing them. I’ve heard like over half the student body is on Adderall. I feel totally lucky. My mom could have died a happy death the day I got my Truman acceptance email. Anything else I accomplish is the cherry on top.” Cate heads outside to find the paint supplies and get the ladder from the shed.

Amelia closes the office door to give Grady some privacy, and as it closes, he glances up at her and gives a grateful smile. But the office walls are thin. She can still hear them inside talking and she can’t help but linger and listen.

“Your priority right now should be business school, not this ice cream stand.”

“I’m getting independent study credit for it. My advisor signed off on everything this morning. Between this and my other online classes, it’s almost a full semester course load.”

Grady’s dad lets out a heavy sigh. “Grady. If you’re serious about this—”

“Is it not obvious that I’m serious? Dad, this is a huge opportunity for me. This could be the same kind of start for me as the billboards were for you. Did you know the Ben and Jerry’s empire began with one shop? Don’t worry about my classes. I’ll get the work done.”

“If you’re serious,” his dad reiterates, not conceding an inch, “then you need to get a business plan together, get a handle on your operational costs, and look for ways you can maximize profits. If the numbers don’t work, shut it down, sell the property, and cut your losses.”

Amelia steadies herself against the wall. Sell Meade Creamery?

“I am serious,” Grady stresses again. This time, his voice is much quieter.

Amelia doesn’t want to hear more. Thank goodness Grady isn’t entertaining that thought. And the stand is already successful. His dad will figure that out eventually.

She looks for Cate so they can start painting the sign but sees that she’s busy chatting up one of their middle school English teachers in the line, so Amelia decides to clean up the toppings sideboard.

Grady comes out of the office, rubbing his temples. He glances at the schedule and then at Amelia. “You’re here early.”

“Yeah. Cate and I are going to paint the roof sign before our shift. Is, um, everything okay?”

He works hard to smile. “Yup.”

Though she doesn’t want to press Grady, Amelia doesn’t believe him. But she does feel bad for him. And she knows just the thing to cheer him up. “Hey, do you want some ice cream?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Really? I mean, this should be one of the biggest benefits to owning an ice cream stand, right? All the ice cream you want, whenever you want it? Come on. What’s your favorite flavor?”

“I don’t know that I have one.”

“I thought you spent a whole summer here as a kid.”

Something flickers across his face as he swallows. “Yeah, but that was a long time ago.”

“Well, then I’m bringing you a taste of all four. A taste test. You can call it market research.”

“Market research, huh?” Grady laughs. “I guess I haven’t eaten breakfast yet.”

“Wait here,” she says.

Amelia heads up to the windows and squeezes in between Sophie and Liz, who are both helping customers. She pushes the lid open on the scooping cabinet and gets a generous scrape of each of the four flavors on four white plastic spoons.

Grady has hopped up on the desk to wait for her. He’s scrolling on his phone when she walks in with the samples.

“Customers say the flavors in our ice cream are more intense than any other kind they’ve ever had,” she announces, and presents the ice cream spoons, two in each hand, with a little bit of a flourish, like a game show hostess. She holds vanilla up and takes a whiff of the rich, sugary smell.

“Vanilla,” she announces, and presents Grady with the spoonful of white snow. “Don’t look so excited.”

Grady doesn’t look up. “It’s vanilla. Vanilla, by its very nature, is vanilla.”

Amelia would be more annoyed if she weren’t completely confident in what she’s holding. If anything, Grady’s cockiness will only make her victory sweeter. She holds the spoon closer to his face and she can tell he smells it by the way he perks up. He puts his phone away and takes the spoon from her, examining it skeptically.

Grady says, “Vanilla can’t ever be a ten. The best vanilla in the world is, like, a six, max.”