Gold (All that Glitters #2)(123)

With L.A. traffic, it was a solid half an hour before they reached their destination, which turned out to be a small ice cream shop in West Hollywood.

“Oh my God.” She laughed hysterically.

She had heard of this place before, but she’d never been here. She couldn’t believe he was taking her to get ice cream. It was going to turn into a Christmas tradition.

“I was going to take you to the Sugar Factory,” he said as he stepped out of the car. “But then we came to L.A. to be with your family.”

“The place doesn’t matter when I’m with you.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

He took her hand, and they walked across the parking lot.

A hostess met them inside. “Just two?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Eric confirmed.

“This way.” She walked them over to a booth in front of the windows and then handed them two menus. “Enjoy!”

“Welcome! Do you know what you want to drink?” a waitress asked when she walked over.

Eric plopped the menus down on top of each other and handed them to the waitress, unopened. “We want the biggest banana split you have.”

The woman’s eyes widened as she wrote their order down. “For just the two of you?”

Eric nodded.

“Good luck,” the waitress said before disappearing.

Bryna gave Eric a curious look. “Why am I suddenly frightened by her reaction?”

“Because I picked this place with the guarantee that it had one of the biggest banana splits in the city.” He laughed. “And you’d better eat every last bite.”

Bryna leaned forward in her seat, all business. “All right. What are the terms?”

“If you finish the whole thing by yourself, then I’ll pick up the tab.”

“What a horrible Christmas present,” she joked. “And if I don’t finish it?”

“Then, you’re going to have to hang out with me again.”

The words were so familiar, reminiscent of their first time really hanging out. This was where it had all started. Just like this.

She stuck her hand out. “Deal. You’d better be ready to pay up.”

Eric shook her hand with laughter in his eyes. “Oh, I always pay up.”

A couple of minutes later, an enormous banana split was set down between them. Bryna’s eyes were huge when she saw the size of the ice cream. It was maybe double the size of the one at the Sugar Factory. How the hell did anyone finish this? They would need a large class of hungry fifth-graders to even give it a go.

Bryna took the two spoons that the waitress had left for them. She arched an eyebrow and then handed one over to Eric. “Eat up, Cowboy. We’re going to be spending a lot more time together.”

“I hoped you might say that.”

They smiled at each other and then started in on their banana split.

Much like her family, she and Eric weren’t perfect. They argued. They made fun of each other. They teased and joked and sometimes even ridiculed one another. But underneath it all was bottomless love and understanding.

Bryna didn’t need the money or riches or trips. She didn’t need any of it.

It’d turned out that the only thing she really needed to make her life better was Eric. With him, everything else seemed to fall into place.

And as they toasted to their first year together, Bryna knew all would be well.

The End