Stay Sweet(61)

“I won’t miss tonight! I’ll be back!” Amelia stresses again. “Save me a hot dog, okay?”

Cate’s gaze flicks upward.

Amelia rushes forward and hugs her best friend goodbye, and she can feel Cate’s disappointment. It almost makes her stay.

Almost.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN


THEY PASS THROUGH CITY, INTO country, into city, into country again before they make it to the coast—windows open, radio on low. Every few minutes, a car passes them on the highway, and the driver honks and waves.

“Note to self,” Grady says. “If you ever have to go someplace incognito, do not drive a pink Cadillac.” He looks toward Amelia for a laugh.

The best she can manage is a weak smile.

“You’re regretting coming with me,” he deduces. “Look. If it makes you feel any better, I’m regretting going.” Grady wrings the steering wheel with his hands. Since leaving Sand Lake, he’s only gotten more anxious, not less.

Meanwhile, Amelia is trying her best to preserve what little professional distance remains between her and Grady. She sits up tall in her seat, keeps her hands folded in her lap, eyes on the road. Though she hasn’t technically broken her promise to Cate and the other stand girls—that Grady is off-limits—she doubts a defense of her actions thus far would hold much water in the court of public opinion. Of course, she could say that everything she’s done so far has been for the good of the stand. But even that rings a bit hollow.

“You never talk about college. Where are you going again?”

“Gibbons.”

“That’s right. Are you excited?”

“I guess,” Amelia says. “But I envy you and Cate. You both knowing exactly what you want to do with your life.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I had much of a choice. It was always assumed I’d be going to school to follow in my dad’s footsteps.” Grady adds, “I’m incredibly lucky. It’s like getting handed the keys to a corner office. The only thing I have to do is not screw it up.”

“Good thing you love it.”

“Right. Good thing.” Grady cracks his neck. “Have you registered for classes yet?”

“Not yet.”

“One good thing about being undeclared is that you can take all sorts of classes. My buddy Troy took a course about Food Culture Across the Romance Languages, and the class went out to a new restaurant twice a month. Oh, and Rob took a class called Poetry of the Songwriter, where they listened to music and analyzed the lyrics like poetry. He did his final on Pearl Jam.”

“What about you? What cool classes do the business majors get to take?”

He laughs. “Business school isn’t meant to be fun.”

“Come on.”

“I’m not kidding. I take stats and econ and that’s basically it. All my classes are in these huge auditoriums. They’re so big, the professors don’t even bother taking attendance. You actually don’t have to show up.”

“Seriously?”

“I personally wouldn’t recommend not going.” He props his elbow up on the driver’s-side door. “I pretty much failed out last semester.”

“Are you serious?” Amelia twists her body so she’s facing him.

“I had motivational issues, I guess. But so long as I pass all my online courses, which I’m on track to do, I won’t be too far behind. Then all I have to worry about is my dad.”

“What do you mean?”

Grady flushes. “Umm . . . He’s basically threatened not to pay my tuition for next semester.”

“Would he really do that?”

“He said his investment in me wasn’t looking like a promising return.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, so when the opportunity to run Meade Creamery presented itself, I jumped to take it on. I’m basically using it to prove myself to him, so I can go back to school.”

“What if we don’t find the recipes? What will you do then?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m sure he won’t let you not go back to Truman. I mean, he’s seen how hard you’ve been trying. Right?”

“Like I said, my dad and I have a very weird relationship.”

“So why didn’t you reach out when I didn’t come back to the house to make ice cream these last few days?”

“I wanted to, but not because of the ice cream. I . . . missed hanging out with you, Amelia. Plus, I was ashamed of the way I behaved when my dad came to visit.” He shakes his head and lets out a long exhale. “I’m realizing that I’m more like him than I thought.”

Though Amelia isn’t sure exactly what Grady means, she reaches out to touch him, comfort him, but then pulls her hand back at the last second.

If Grady notices, he pretends not to. He keeps his eyes on the road. “We’ll be there soon.”

*

A little over two hours later, they arrive at a large iron gate anchored by a stately wall of tall hedges on either side. Grady rolls down his window, leans out of the Cadillac, and punches a code into a sleek little box mounted on a metal pole. After a beep, the gate slowly swings opens.

Grady pulls forward and a thudding fills the car. They are no longer on a paved road. This one is cobblestone and the pavers are beautifully laid, gray and white, in a chevron pattern.