Page 90 of Rockstar Baby

“Hello, earth to Ivy.”

“What?”

“You’re staring off into nothing. I mean, not like we can see much in this deluge, but I was talking here.”

“Right. Sorry. Just thinking about the truck.”

Lies. But better a little white lie than to tell my best friend I was mooning over a hookup. I could keep my stupidity to myself, thanks.

She reached over and squeezed my hand. “So exciting.”

I pushed thoughts of Rory away. This was my dream. He was just a fantasy. “Let’s get that pizza. If we’re going to be working all night, at least I can feed you.”

“I can so get behind that.”

Moving forward. It was all I could do now. Going back wasn’t good for anyone.

Sixteen

“I said half a dozen.”Macy stood in the doorway, her arms crossed as she held the door open for me.

“I know.” I lugged in a second freezer tote. “It’s only eight.”

“Is that your version of six?”

I set the tote on the table to the side of the front door then pushed a curl out of my eyes. I had my hair in a single French braid instead of my doubles, but my hair just wouldn’t stay tamed. I straightened my black button down shirt over my khakis. “Yes.”

“You do realize it’s a little early to gorge on ice cream?”

“This is the time you wanted. You’ll eat it all. I even brought one that you could scoop into coffee.”

“Did you?”

Yes. I’d finally perfected the vanilla. Even if I wanted to die each time I tasted it, I’d achieved the flavor I wanted. For others. I wouldn’t be eating it again now that I knew it was as good as I could possibly make it.

Macy frowned. “You okay? You look a little peaked.”

I waved her off. “No. I’m good.”

“Good. I saw you at Vee’s baby club meeting. Figured you got the job done like every other freaking woman in this town.”

I laughed. “No. I was just curious about it all. I’ve got plenty of time to do the kid thing after I get my business started.”

“That’s my motto.”

“You want kids?” My mouth dropped open.

“God, no. I just mean my business is the focus.”

“Right.” I discreetly tugged at my waistband of my pants. I’d had to do the hair tie and button trick today to keep them closed. Way too much ice cream tasting lately. “And that’s why I’m really grateful you’re willing to give my product a shot.”

“We’ll see.”

I unzipped the tote and pulled out the long, thin metal bins I’d packed up with colorful lids. They were just wide enough to make a scoop. Technically, they were designed for my gelato flavors, but they seemed perfect for today’s taste test. “I’m still working on the names of the flavors, but the actual product is going to be on a rotating schedule to keep interest up.”

“Flavors of the week?”

“Yes. I’ll have a few base flavors and change out half a dozen to a dozen others based on how the truck does.”