Page 30 of Icebound Hearts
“Yes, please!”
“Thanks, Alex,” Sawyer says to the clerk. “I’ll have a double rocky road in a waffle cone, please. And whatever she’s having as well.”
I’ve barely had time to read the menu, and I don’t see corn flakes on the ice cream bar anywhere. “Um, I guess I’ll just have a double vanilla scoop in a cup, please.”
“That’s it?” Sawyer asks, his brows furrowed. Then they shoot up his forehead when he realizes what’s missing. “Ohhh,got it. You know what? Go ahead and ring us up, Alex. I’ll be right back,” he says and dashes off out of the parlor.
“Sawyer?” I call after him, but he just holds up a finger to me to tell me to wait. Unsure what else to do, I pull the credit card he gave me out of my back pocket and try to use it to pay, hoping it actually works. It’s embarrassing enough using the credit card at all, so I don’t even want to think about how I’d feel if it declines. Alex tells me the total, but I barely hear him as I stick the credit card’s chip into the reader and hold my breath until it finally dings and “Accepted” appears on the reader’s screen.
“Would you like the receipt, ma’am?” Alex asks, holding it out to me.
“No, thanks.”
“I’ll have your ice cream right up then.”
Jake stands on his tiptoes, his hands gripping the edge of the bar so he can watch Alex make it all. But all I can think about is where Sawyer ran off to, so I keep looking for him while we wait.
In a smart move, Alex makes Jake’s ice cream first and steps around the counter to give it to him when it’s ready.
“Thank you!” Jake says and walks carefully with the dish in both hands to a nearby booth. But he doesn’t waste any time before digging in with the spoon that Alex stuck into the ice cream. I drop the rabbit Jake gave me in the booth next to him and go back to the counter to pick up Sawyer’s cone since he’s not back. Alex is just handing me my cup of vanilla when Sawyer’s voice echoes from behind.
“Just in time,” he says, and I turn with ice cream in both hands to find him walking toward me with a little travel-sized box of corn flakes. He shakes it at me with a big smile, and I can’t help laughing.
“You really didn’t have to do that. The vanilla would’ve been fine,” I say, although honestly, it means a lot to me that he remembered and cared enough to run to the Target in the mallto get them. He trades me the box of corn flakes for his cone, and our fingers brush in the exchange. My heart flutters until we sit down in the booth with Jake, Sawyer beside him and me across.
“I hope that box is enough. I know you like a lot of them on your ice cream,” Sawyer says as I tear open the box. I laugh and shake my head.
“It’s only two scoops. This is plenty.”
I pour a heavy coating of the corn flakes on the ice cream and pick up the plastic spoon in the bowl to mix it all up, then scoop some up and bring it to my mouth. As soon as the ice cream hits my tongue, a satisfied moan spills out of me.
“Oh my god,” I murmur as I chew. “It’s so good.”
“See? I told you. To die for.”
“Now I see why you love this place so much, Jake. It’s amazing.”
“It’s like the best place ever! Right, Daddy?”
“Definitely. But it’s even better with great company.”
I smile at him and lift the box of corn flakes to give it a shake. “There’s still some left if you want to try it.”
“On rocky road?” Sawyer asks, his brows raised. He hesitates for a second until Jake interrupts.
“Come on, Daddy! It’ll make it extra crunchy!”
Sawyer laughs and reaches for the box, then sprinkles some on his ice cream and takes a tentative bite. I watch his face as he chews, and he lets out a little groan. “Actually, you know what? That’s pretty darn good.”
“Can I try?” Jake asks, reaching for the box.
“I don’t know, buddy, I think you’ve got enough going on in your ice cream already.” He’s not wrong. There’s brownie, fudge drizzle, sprinkles, and plenty of other toppings, but Jake seems undeterred.
“I want to try. Please?”
“Alright, but only put a little on in case you don’t like it so you don’t ruin the whole thing.”
“Okay.” Sawyer passes him the box, but rather than be gentle, Jake turns it upside down over his ice cream and empties the flakes onto his sundae. Sawyer shoots him a displeased look and I have to bite back my laughter because he had to have seen it coming, but neither of us can be mad at Jake. He’s too cute for that.