Page 4 of Scoop Me Up (Love in Maplewood #7)

Gabe

“What’s next, Bug?”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Ice cream,” she said, tugging on my hand and pointing at a booth across the square.

I scratched my head and sighed dramatically. “Ice cream? More? Aren’t you full up on ice cream?”

She shook her head. “I get to make my own sundae over there.” Ellie giggled and led the way to the booth, which did turn out to be a sundae-making station.

We walked down the line and I helped her craft what she called the perfect sundae, which included an ice cream that turned out to taste like breakfast cereal, a spoonful of marshmallow creme spread, and maple syrup drizzle.

My child was going to get a massive sugar high if I wasn’t careful.

As she dug in, I let my mind wander back to the magnetic teacher I’d just met.

“Hey, Bug?”

Ellie raised her eyebrows and looked at me before mumbling around a mouthful of ice cream. “Yeah?”

I opened my mouth to ask her to tell me more about her teacher, but I closed it again.

What was I going to ask? Why can’t I stop thinking about your teacher?

Hardly. I shook my head. “Never mind. You ready to head home for a little while?” I’d figured we’d stopped by the festival and entered her flavor, and now it was time to head back to her mom’s house for the day, while we waited for the judges to decide and avoided the crowds. Ellie seemed to have other ideas.

“No way. We just got here,” she protested, a pout forming on her face.

She finished her sundae and guided me to a kids’ station where there were coloring pages, sidewalk chalk, a face painter, bubbles, and more—enough to make a kid’s head spin.

It seemed that the ice cream festival was a child’s wonderland.

I took a seat under one of the canopies while Ellie played, my mind wandering once again to her teacher.

While I tried to stay comfortably in the shade of the canopy, I let my gaze roam around the square, taking it all in.

There were residents sprinkled throughout the area, a group of people watching the drag queens set up for their performance, a line of folks waiting their turn at the ice cream sundae station, and more.

A pang hit me square in my chest—the ache of not being part of the community.

Ellie’s mom, Jennifer, had moved the two of them to Maplewood when we’d gotten divorced last year.

Now that Ellie and Jennifer had been living in Maplewood for almost a year, it was clear they’d really made it their home.

Everyone was unbelievably friendly and kind, and it was obvious why they loved Maplewood.

As I looked around, I spotted the teacher again, laughing and chatting with someone I didn’t know, and let my gaze linger on them.

Sam had dark brown hair and a five-o’clock shadow, and their eyes lit up as they talked and laughed with their friend.

I couldn’t quite pin down what it was that kept my attention, but I watched for longer than what would’ve been considered strictly polite, only tearing my gaze away when someone next to me spoke.

“They’re cute, aren’t they?”

I turned to find someone grinning at me. The person had long, bleach-blonde hair styled in an undercut, with the shaved part light brown, and kind, dark eyes. When I furrowed my brow, confused, they tipped their head toward Sam. “Sam, I mean.”

After a moment’s hesitation, I shook my head. “Oh, no. I’m not—I mean, I’m—they’re—” I took a breath to compose myself. “I’m straight, I mean.”

The person nodded slowly. “Right. Sorry.” But the smirk on their face said they thought otherwise.

As we sat there, I couldn’t stop the thoughts that raced through my mind. Why had they assumed I was into Sam? Had they caught me staring? Did it matter? I wasn’t offended by it, not by a long shot. Just… surprised. While my thoughts swirled around the subject, the person cleared their throat.

“So, I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you just passing through? Which kid is yours?”

I glanced at them and they gestured toward the kids coloring at the table. “Oh, that would be Ellie.”

At the sound of her name, she looked up from her coloring sheet and waved at me. “Hi, Daddy!”

“Hi, El.” Turning back to the person, I smiled.

“Oh, I’ve met Ellie. She and her mom come see me at Sparky’s all the time.”

“Well, I’m just visiting for the summer from Burlington. I wanted to get out here and spend some time with Ellie. I’m Gabe.”

“Sage. I work at Sparky’s. You should come by and grab a meal sometime.”

“Oh, is that the diner? I’ve been there.”

“Awesome. Now you just need to make sure you don’t go to Red’s. Ours is better.”

I chuckled and nodded. “Noted.”

At that moment, Sage stood and brushed their palms on their thighs. “I’ve got to get going, but I’ll see you around. It was good to meet you, Gabe.”

“Sounds good. It was great to meet you, too.” A few moments passed before I decided we’d been there long enough. “Hey, Ellie, let’s get going.”

“But, Daddy…”

Another adult stopped by to collect their kid, too. “Time for the ice cream eating contest. Do you want to go watch it?”

Before I knew it, Ellie’s eyes lit up. “Daddy, can we go watch, too?”

I gave her a soft smile. “Sure thing, El.”

As I led her away from the kid’s zone and toward the emcee who was announcing that the contest was about to begin, Ellie spoke up.

“Daddy! I have an idea! You should enter the contest.”

I couldn’t stop the laugh that burst from me. “No thanks.”

“But you love ice cream. It’s your favorite.”

She wasn’t wrong about that, but I could come up with about a half dozen good arguments as to why it would be a bad choice. I decided to go with a classic. “They probably don’t have room for any more contestants, anyway.”

At that moment, the emcee made a request to the audience. “Do we have any other entrants? Anyone else who thinks they can eat more ice cream than any other Maplewoodian? Step right up! We still have a few places left at the table.”

“See?” Ellie gave me a smirk.

The weather was sweltering, it was pushing noon, and we hadn’t eaten much that day. Ice cream sounded divine. But… Did I really want to potentially embarrass myself in front of all these townspeople I hardly knew? People I’d be spending the next two months being friendly with?

“Please?”

I sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it. But don’t get your hopes up, okay? Some of these people probably train for it all year.”

Nearby, someone laughed. When I looked for the source of the sound, I spotted Sam once again, grinning widely. “You’re right,” they said. “We’re serious about our festivals.”

“Oh?”

Sam nodded sagely. “Very serious.” They raised their eyebrows. “You’d better hurry on up there. I can watch Ellie. I hope you have a strong stomach. That’s a lot of ice cream.”

I sighed deeply and headed toward the stage.

The crowd cheered and clapped as contestants took to the stage, me included.

As I took my seat, I looked around at the other competitors.

There were several other people my age, mostly looking like dads, though there was one person at the end with brightly colored hair who was most likely in their early twenties.

The emcee waited until we all had a tower of ice cream pints and a spoon in front of us. “Winner is whoever eats the most ice cream in five minutes. Everyone ready?” When we all nodded, he looked at the audience. “Help me count down from ten.”

All around us, people counted down, the count becoming louder and louder with each passing number. Once they finished counting, the crowd shouted out “Go” and we all picked up our spoons and began digging in.

The first few bites were fine. Refreshing.

A relief from the heat. Delicious, even.

Ellie cheered from the audience, and every time I glanced up, I saw her bright, shining eyes.

She was jumping up and down and clapping.

Next to her stood Sam, and I was hit with a weird wave of competitiveness.

It only took me a second to realize what I was feeling—the desire to impress them.

I swallowed a mouthful and plunged my spoon back into the pint.

As I dug deeper into the first pint and neared the bottom, pain began to build behind my eyes.

A few bites later, the pain turned sharp, stabbing me in the throat and roof of my mouth.

Nausea followed quickly after and I pushed my chair back, away from the ice cream, my spoon clattering to the hard plastic table.

The pain spread to my temples, searing into my brain.

Brain freeze. I was done for.

“Go, Daddy, go!” Ellie’s voice rose above the crowd, encouraging me to keep going.

I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth in hopes of alleviating the pain, but it was no help.

Tears sprang to my eyes, but I dove back in, determined to give it my all.

It felt like an eternity but eventually Drake called time.

I dropped my spoon once again, relief washing over me.

I cupped my hands over my mouth and blew hot air into them, hoping the warmth would help alleviate the pain.

I glanced over to see the emcee making his way down the line, checking each contestant’s pint collection. I clearly was not in the running for the win, so when Drake passed me, I just shrugged and gave a sheepish smile. I hadn’t even finished a single pint of ice cream.

“And the winner is… Theo Cameron!”

The crowd burst into applause again as the winner stood and pumped a fist into the air.

As we were released from the stage, the crowd dispersed. I made my way down the steps to Sam and Ellie.

“Sorry, El,” I started. “I tried.”

“You did your best,” Sam interjected, putting a hand on my shoulder. Heat flooded my body, radiating from where they touched me. A second later, they removed their hand and my stomach went cold. Probably from eating too much ice cream.

I mumbled my thanks and then turned my attention back to Ellie. “Now I think it’s time for a break.”

“Do we have to?” she grumbled.

Sam spoke up. “You should probably give your dad a break. He just ate a lot of ice cream.”

Ellie sighed dramatically. “It wasn’t that much.”

“It was enough,” I said. “Let’s go back to your mom’s house so I can rest up a little.”

Another dramatic sigh, as if I was imposing on her plans for the day. “Fine.”

I looked back at Sam. “Thanks again for your help.”

Sam nodded. “Of course.”

“I guess I’ll see you when they announce the winners of the flavor contest.”

The grin on Sam’s face warmed me. “Maybe sooner.”

My heart thudded in my chest, and I couldn’t help but think that seeing Sam again soon wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.