Page 39 of Holiday Home 4
How?he wondered, knowing he’d only find an answer if he pursued her inside. So, he did.
Carver’s Ice Cream was a small store, the kind that didn’t attract much attention at a glance. It was one of a line of brick stores in this lot, all conjoined, all built well before his time. It was fortunate enough to have one of the corner spots, which allowed it more chances to show off than those pinched in the middle, but its exterior still hardly stood out. Maroon and white pinstripe awnings covered its doors, which shared their sight in and out of the store with numerous massive windows. An oval sign planted into the brickwork hung above these doors. Carver’s, it pronounced proudly. The other stores in the line did similar things to catch the eye. In a city with a hundred different ice cream shops just like it, it didn’t stand out much.
Word of mouth was the reason that Liam knew anything about Carver’s. It was the reason everyone knew about Carver’s. It was the hook in everyone’s mouths, which salivated when any mention of a visit came up.
Because, damn, the ice cream they sold was good.
Good enough for the family-owned and operated business to close early on Sundays. Typically. Not today, it seemed.
Yet, following in Avril’s wake—a familiar enough experience in his time knowing her—he entered an empty store. Indeed, Avril needed to throw on the store’s lights for illumination, as it’d already started getting dark by the time they pulled in. It felt surprising that she knew where those lights even were, but at this point, he just assumed that Avril was magnetically drawn toward whatever would keep him confounded.
As some of the lights flashed on, specifically those deeper in the store, so as not to make anyone passing by think Carver’s had spontaneously reopened on a Sunday, their reflections gleamed off retro-style tiles, alternating between white and maroon.However, they didn’t illuminate any workers. It was just the two of them, alone in a store that had closed over an hour ago.
Arms behind her back, Avril walked up to a deep black—like licorice, which could be found among the various candies sitting in wooden slots on nearby shelving—counter, then pushed through the café door that blocked access to the employee’s side. Scooping a maroon apron off a standing rack, Avril threw it on as she moved behind the counter, then leaned on it.
“So, dear customer, what would you like to try first?”
“Some honesty,” Liam grunted, approaching the counter. He was used to Avril’s antics, so he recovered pretty quickly. Somehow, she’d set all this up with nary an issue. He knew it was true.
“Know the owners,” Avril said, wearing a catlike grin. “Got the okay.”
“Of course you did.” Liam glanced down. The top of the counter was glass, allowing customers to peer at the three-dozen flavors of ice cream—by far the most typical reason to visit, even if their soft serve options were also excellent—available. “So,we’llbe cleaning up after we’re done here, orIwill?”
“We’ll do a little, but the morning shift will give it all a once-over before opening, of course. Let’s just not drop any scoopers on the ground, yeah?”
“I’m sure they’ll be thrilled about that,” Liam said.
“I don’t think they’ll mind too much,” Avril said, reaching into one of her leggings’ pockets. Pulling out her phone, she pried off her case and removed the five one-hundred-dollar bills she’d pinned between the two. Sidestepping, she dropped them into a currently empty tip jar on the counter.
She waited for him to comment, but he just grunted again. At this point, he understood that five hundred dollars from her was the equivalent of a normal person depositing a fiver. He had a watch in a glass case that proved that.
“Now, make your first pick,” Avril said, gesturing at the many flavors available to him. “Feel free to mix and match. I’ve got…” She paused, glancing over her shoulder. “Cake cones, waffle cones, cute paper cups. Yeah, all the ones you’d expect.”
Taking a moment to judge his appetite, Liam decided he’d be down to indulge in some of Carver’s famed ice cream. After lunch, he’d gotten fairly active, burning off those calories in his favorite way. Today was a day to splurge, he supposed.
“Start me off with two scoops of vanilla,” he said, anticipating Avril’s response. “In a cup.”
It was as flat as he’d expected. “Vanilla, come on.”
“You saying it’s not good?”
“It’s good, but I wanted to throw together something less basic as my first order,” Avril grumbled.
“Customer’s always right,” he said, which caused her to roll her eyes.
She didn't need to sidle over to obtain the vanilla ice cream. It was already there, right in the middle of the counter. After grabbing a shallow but wide cup from the stack behind her and an ice cream scoop, she slid open the glass door on her side of the counter. Eyeing him sourly, she reached in and removed the top from the carton of vanilla ice cream, then began digging out his first scoop.
“Do I need to pay?” he asked, smiling at her sourness. It always seemed to be that way with them. The one with the upper hand grinned, while the one on the back foot glared.
“You’ll pay, don’t worry,” she said, dropping his first scoop into the round cup.
Even though he didn’t doubt it, his grin expanded nonetheless. After she added the second scoop and stuck a tiny plastic spoon into it, Liam received his first taste of Carver’s in a while. Since… last summer, he believed.
The line was usually out the door on the weekends, and he didn’t have the time to wait around for ice cream, delicious or not, when he was back in town. So, yeah, it’d probably been eight or nine months since he’d last been able to get any. They did sell smaller cartons, which could be found in coolers near the door. Perhaps he could bring a couple back with him. He wondered if Grant and the others had ever heard of Carver’s.
“It’s super good,” Liam said after taking a bite. The creamy ice cream melted on his tongue, the robust vanilla flavor disseminating like fast-moving propaganda over his taste buds. They thanked him for the treat, so it was only right for him to thank the woman responsible for setting all this up. “Thanks for bringing me along. What led you to do all this, anyway?”
“Think I didn’t know you’d bring chocolates or something?” Avril asked, packing a cake cone with a scoop of strawberry cheesecake ice cream.