Stay Sweet(58)

Cate gently asks, “Has Grady said what he’s going to do when we run out?”

“No. I don’t think there’s anything he can do. I mean, we’ve searched the farmhouse top to bottom. Molly’s recipes aren’t there. I think he’s just hoping I’ll figure out how to make ice cream that’s good enough to sell.”

Cate slowly lowers her fork to the table. “But even if you manage to churn out some truly terrific ice cream on your own, it’s not going to be Molly’s ice cream. Customers aren’t going to taste what’s good about yours, only what’s different. And they’re going to be disappointed.”

“Shoot. I never thought about it like that before.” Amelia remembers the man she served on opening day, in the porkpie hat, how his eyes rolled back in his head with just one lick of his cone. How would his face have looked if he’d tried the ice cream Amelia made?

“I worry about the girls, too,” Cate admits. “This summer’s been one big bummer for them. That’s another reason why I think you should start channeling your energy into making the Fourth of July night super fun.”

Amelia slumps back in her chair. “So what should I do? Totally give up on making ice cream?” If she abandons Grady, won’t that be dooming them all?

Cate makes her preference known. “You’ve tried your best to save Meade Creamery, but I think now it’s time to come back down to the stand. When the ship finally sinks, I think you’ll regret not being on it with us.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX


THAT NIGHT, AMELIA IS TORTURED by dreams of ice cream, like a sugar-starved kid. But only during the few minutes she manages to fall asleep. Mostly, she is wide awake, tossing and turning in her bed, kicking at the sheets.

She does not ride her bike to the farmhouse the next morning.

Instead, she drives with Cate to the lake. They aren’t on the schedule today until second shift, leaving them a few sunny hours to tan and swim. Cate is already enviably bronze. Amelia sprays herself with extra coconut oil, hoping to catch up.

From their towels, plans for their Fourth of July party begin to take shape. There was never a Fourth party before, which seems like a startling error in retrospect, and Amelia suspects it could potentially become a new summer tradition, if Meade Creamery somehow survives.

Amelia types up a shopping list on her phone—food and fireworks, basically—and then she and Cate brainstorm a rough itinerary for the night. They’ll start with a bonfire beach cookout. Hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll dough, then roasted on sticks, ears of corn smoked in their husks, gooey perfectly half-burnt s’mores. Once the sun begins to set, they’ll hold a bunch of contests—prizes TBD—for things like the best interpretive dance using sparklers. And then the night will end with Amelia and Cate rowing a canoe to the middle of Sand Lake and setting off as many fireworks as they can afford to buy for the girls on shore.

The whole morning, Amelia keeps expecting to hear from Grady. A text, or maybe even a call. Isn’t he curious why she isn’t there like usual? Isn’t he wondering where she’s at with the ice cream?

Maybe he knows she needs a break.

Or maybe he’s accepted that it’s a lost cause.

*

When Amelia gets to the stand for her shift, she stays down at the stand and tries her best to pretend things are normal. She sings along to the oldies on the radio, she takes the lead on all newbie chores to give the other girls a break. It feels good to be back with them, and the girls are excited about the Fourth of July plans, but Amelia isn’t able to lose herself the way she used to. She can’t forget that the stand is in trouble, and it hurts her heart. But Cate is so clearly happy to have her back, signaling in a hundred small gestures—hip checks, hugs, ponytail swats—that Amelia’s made the right choice.

At the end of the night, and without a word from Grady, she stoically brings the receipts and deposits up to the farmhouse. Deep inside, she’s hoping to see him. Hoping he’ll invite her in.

Grady has the lights off.

*

On July 2, Home Sweet Home sells out.

*

On July 3, chocolate.

*

On July 4, Amelia takes the final drums of vanilla and strawberry out of the storage freezer and moves them into the scooping cabinet. The stand is only open for the first shift on the holiday. If it were a full day, they wouldn’t make it to closing.

It’s become so depressing, Amelia avoids working the windows. It wounds her when customers order flavors they don’t have. Their ohs of disappointment feel like arrows shot into her heart, a constant reminder of how Amelia felt the day Molly Meade died, thinking she’d never get a taste of Home Sweet Home again.

The girls offer vague excuses about problems with production, promises that they’re trying to get things fixed. They offer free toppings. Amelia doesn’t want them to lie. Just apologize. But what does it matter, at this point?

To that end, Amelia wants tonight to be epic. Nervous that they don’t have enough fireworks, Amelia sends Cate back to the vendor tent that’s sprouted up in the Walmart parking lot with a whole week’s salary. Cate’s only supposed to be gone thirty minutes, but it gets to be almost two hours. Amelia wonders if Cate stopped in to say hey to the people at JumpZone. Maybe she’s trying to get her old job back.