AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“As if you had a choice in it, mate.”
I laughed. No, I guess I didn’t.
We spent a little more time with them, but it had been a damn long day and I was anxious to get my woman home. We had much to discuss and I had a lot of plans to make.
This was just our beginning.
Twenty-Six
July 4th
It had been a whirlwind week. After we got back from the orchard, we were consumed with ice cream truck preparations.
The bonus? Long, hot nights at Rory’s room at the Hummingbird’s Nest. He’d even stopped hiding from Sage. Sort of.
We spoke of the future and the past.
I learned about his family and his childhood.
I introduced him to my parents—yeah, that was a rough afternoon. But my mom and dad were surprisingly good with him. My mother was fascinated with his accent. My brother Caleb kept trying to get Rory to give him Gaelic words to use for picking up women.
August was reserved.
He didn’t like that things were still so nebulous when it came to the future. We didn’t know where we were going to live yet. Rory was forever on the phone trying to rearrange his schedule and work with clients over Skype.
I knew that would need to be figured out. There were almost five months to go in this pregnancy, and he had to leave me eventually. Even if it was for a few days to get his affairs in order.
But right now, it was all about Rolling Cones.
We’d had the soft opening for the employees of Brewed Awakening as a trial run. I might have had a meltdown in the middle of the truck when we ran out of It’s Only Rock n’ Raspberry.
Rory had dusted me off and helped me make a batch of it that night for the opening. He was good at being level-headed even when I was spinning out with stress and nerves. He was also good at distracting me when I couldn’t sleep.
Really good.
And today was the grand opening. I could hear children’s laughter across the way in the park. It was the holiday weekend and there would be fireworks over the lake. But for now, the sun was shining and the light breeze off the water kept my truck from being a complete oven.
“What are you thinking, ginger fairy?”
I turned toward Rory’s voice. He was standing at the opening of the back of my truck, outfitted in the rainbow ball cap with my logo on it. The new logo he’d put a rush on for the opening. I didn’t even want to think about how much he’d paid.
I let it go. It was a gift.
I didn’t have to do all of this alone.
I’d been better at asking for help. August had hauled over my backup trays of ice cream and my newly tested custard I’d decided to offer as a surprise for the afternoon crowd.
Everything was in order.
My family was taking turns doing shifts today in the truck, but Rory was there for the first one.
His smile was full of pride. “What are you thinking right now?”
I tied my apron strings behind me. “I’m thinking how excited I am to do this for real.”
“You’re amazing. The whole town will be knocking at your window. In fact…” He crooked his finger at me. “Have a look.”
“Rory, I’m opening in an hour.”
