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“It’s pretty good. Tart and creamy. You’ll like it.”

Cheryl thought for a moment.

“Can I have one vanilla and one blackberry on each?”

“Of course,” Hank replied and went about making her two ice cream cones while Cheryl set the money for them on the counter.

“Thanks, Hank,” she said after he handed them over.

She had no idea why she’d said yes to blackberry and no clue if the girl she was carrying this second cone to would even like it. Thankfully, it was fall and not too hot, so she was able to make it to the shop before the cone started to melt past the napkins Hank had given her to hold on to the cones with. When she got there, Cheryl wasn’t sure where to go to find Diana. There were two cars being worked on, and she could walk in through one of those bay things, orwhatever they were called, but there was also a front glass door that she could use.

“Cheryl?”

Cheryl saw Diana walk out from under a car. She was wearing a denim jumpsuit, buttoned all the way up, and she had black grease all over it. The jumpsuit, which also had a name embroidered above her left breast pocket, looked way too big for her. Diana had to roll up the legs and the arms, and she was still swimming in it. She had a little dirt or grease on her nose, too, and her hair was a mess, but she was wildly beautiful to Cheryl, who wanted nothing more than to stare at her all day.

“Hi,” Cheryl replied.

“What are you doing here?”

“You couldn’t go to the soda shoppe, so I thought I’d bring it to you.” She held out one of the cones and took a few steps forward. “I didn’t know what you’d like, so I got you what I got for myself.”

“You bought me ice cream?” Diana asked with a smile before she walked toward Cheryl and took the cone from her.

“Do you like blackberry ice cream?”

“Blackberry ice cream? I’ve never had it. I’m not even sure I’ve had a blackberry before.”

“I got it with one scoop of vanilla, too, so if you don’t like it, you can just knock it off the top or something and eat that one.” She chuckled.

“Thank you. This is really nice of you.”

Cheryl watched her as she took a lick of the cone, and all thoughts of once wanting to kiss Barb were completely gone. Now, she only wanted to kiss Diana Lacey, and preferably, not in a sweet and innocent kind of way, either.

“It’s good,” Diana told her with a smile. “And yours is dripping.”

“Huh?” Cheryl asked.

“Your ice cream.” Diana laughed. “It’s dripping.”

“Oh.” Cheryl looked down and licked around the cone to capture what had fallen. Then, she heard a throat clear andlooked up, catching Diana looking at her. Realizing that she’d never think of blackberries the same way again, she swallowed hard and decided to change the topic. “You’re working on a car today?” she asked.

“Yeah, my dad’s guy called in sick, so I’m fixing a carburetor.”

“You know how to do that?”

“He taught me.” Diana licked her ice cream cone again. “I can take a break if you have a few minutes. Not long. I have to get this car done before six because the owner’s picking it up then.”

“I…” Cheryl swallowed. “I can’t.”

She wasn’t sure why she’d just said that. She wanted to stay. She really wanted to learn more about Diana. But she was scared, too. It was like she was being pulled in two different directions. One was exciting and scary. The other was boring but not scary at all.

“I have to get home. I just thought maybe you could use an ice cream,” she lied, picking the boring-but-not-scary-at-all option to be safe.

“Oh,” Diana let out, sounding disappointed. “All right. Well, I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

“I will be there.”

“Maybe a little earlier than usual? We can meet at the bench.”