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“There you go,” I said, setting it on the table with a shiny silver spoon.
“Fank you!” Jess scrambled up onto the chair and got stuck right in.
“That’s cute,” Sophie said, perching on one of the old leather stools at the bar that nobody ever used.
Because nobody ever came in here, and if they did, they’d need a hip replacement by the time they left if they used those stools.
Yeah. That was where my business was at. I’d probably make more money renting it out as a damn bingo hall.
Which was very, very sad.
“You know what you need to do?” Sophie asked, jumping up and grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge behind the counter.
“Start making you pay?”
She rolled her eyes. “You need to redecorate it. You were going to do it before that buttmunch moved in next door.”
“He stole my idea, remember?” The only thing more bitter than my tone was a basket full of limes, and even then, only just.
“I know that, Rae. But it’s been two years. You haven’t spoken to him, and the only ice cream you serve is to the old people who haven’t tried a new flavor in twenty years.”
I hated that she was right.
“We live in Key West. If you can’t make an ice cream store work here, you’re a special kind of stupid.”
“If Chase hadn’t—”
“Stop blaming him for all your problems. You know as well as I do that you haven’t done as much as you should.” She folded her arms across her chest and pinned me with her dark blue eyes. “Raelynn Fortune, you don’t need to be better than Chase. You just need to be competition. You’re better than him anyway, but your store and marketing freaking sucks.”
“Wow. Hit me where it hurts.”
“It only hurts if you’re in denial.”
I sighed and leaned back over the counter. “I’m not in denial. I know what I need to do, but he took my perfect shop from me, Soph. My dream store is right next door.”
“I’m trying to be sympathetic here—”
“No, you’re not.”
“But it’s really hard when the answer is right in front of you, but you’re too busy feeling sorry for yourself to see it.”
I scowled. “Why are we still friends?”
She shrugged. “Every brunette needs a blonde, so you got stuck with me.”
“I want a refund,” I muttered. “What do I need to do, then, oh great one?”
“Get a new dream store.”
“Am I supposed to conjure that out of nowhere?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Have you heard of this thing called the Internet? It’s really great. There are even places you can see other stores to get inspiration from!”
I was going to kill her snarky ass one day.
“Funny,” I drawled. “So you recommend I drag my butt to Pinterest and come up with a new store.”
She nodded. “You have the loan from the bank you paid off. It’s been sitting there for two years. Use it.”
“Auntie Sophie? I’m done,” Jessica said, licking her fingers.
“Okay, Jessie. I’m coming.” Soph looked back at me and rapped her knuckles against the counter. “Think about it, Rae. You have nothing to lose.”
I said goodbye to Jessie and waved my best friend out. The chime above the door dinged, but as soon as the door shut, the echo of it made the store seem emptier than ever.
Sophie was right. Two years ago, before I’d broken up with Chase because of my own reluctance to settle down, I’d gotten a loan from the bank to redo the store. Then we broke up, and he took those ideas for his own.
Ten thousand dollars had been sitting in my bank account since, all fully mine since I’d long paid off the loan and the interest.
I’d spent so long being bitter over what Chase had done to me that I’d lost sight of my business. Best Served Cold desperately needed a revamp, and like Soph had said, I had nothing to lose.
If I didn’t change it, I’d have to sell the store anyway.
I grabbed my keys and my purse and headed for the door. As soon as I stepped outside, the noise from The Frozen Spoon grated on me. I flicked the sign on my door to “Back in ten minutes” and shot the store next door a dirty look, imagining it going all the way back to my ex-boyfriend.
He’d had his revenge—and now I’d get mine.
But first, coffee.
***
Grandma leaned against the kitchen counter and tapped one blood-red nail against her lips. “What are you going to do?”
I shrugged, typing the address for Pinterest into the web bar on my laptop. “I don’t know. I still want to do what I originally did, but I can’t be even close to similar to The Frozen Spoon.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” she said. “I never thought those plans were very you anyway.”
“You didn’t?”
“No, sugar. Too bright and garish. They fit Chase perfectly because he’s an extrovert. You’re not. Not really.”
