Page 17 of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

It was a slow night at Mac’s and the pub owner/landlord didn’t seem to mind them coming down to the bar and borrowing his. Or at least he hadn’t kicked them out. Yet.

‘Are you sure we’re allowed to be back here?’ Hazel whispered, crowding closer to him in the cramped kitchen.

‘Of course. As Mac’s favorite employee...’

Danny snorted loud enough to be heard over the dishwasher.

Noah cleared his throat. ‘One of Mac’s favorite employees.’

Hazel laughed.

‘There are certain perks,’ Noah went on, grabbing the blender from the top metal shelf. Mac only busted this thing out on frozen margarita nights. Noah set it down on the counter as Hazel pulled the ice cream and milk from her bag.

‘Oh, really?’

‘Sure. I pop down here for late night snacks all the time.’

Hazel laughed again, her gaze drifting over his shoulder. ‘Is that so? And Mac doesn’t mind?’

‘What Mac doesn’t know can’t hurt him,’ he said with a wink.

‘You know we have security cameras, right?’ Mac’s voice scared Noah enough that he clapped a hand over his chest.

‘Jesus! Why are you so quiet?’

‘You couldn’t hear me over your bizarre bragging.’ Mac quirked a dark, unamused eyebrow. ‘Hey, Hazel.’

Hazel was doubled over in giggles and Noah would let Mac make fun of him all day just to keep listening to that sound.

‘Hey, Mac,’ she said, gasping a little for breath.

‘You’re cleaning this up.’ Mac gestured to the mess they were already making. ‘And put some damn clothes on if you’re going to sneak down here in the middle of the night. I’m tired of seeing your skinny ass on video.’

Hazel laughed so hard she snorted, making her laugh even harder.

Noah grinned. ‘It’s not that skinny. Muscular is how I would describe it.’

Hazel wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘Muscular?’ she squeaked, the giggles still fizzing out of her.

‘Yeah, right,’ Mac muttered, making his way to the back office.

‘Is he angry?’ Hazel asked, finally getting her laughter under control.

Noah waved the other man off. ‘You know Mac.’

Hazel nodded. Of course she knew Mac. She’d known him most of her life, like everyone else in this odd little town, and for a minute Noah was almost jealous. Jealous of all the people who’d had so many more years with Hazel than he had.

He shook his head. She was here now, smiling at him, her eyes still full of laughter.

‘Ready?’ he asked, reaching for the ice cream.

‘Very.’

They filled the blender with ice cream and just enough milk to make the shakes drinkable and then poured the concoction into tall beer glasses, the only things they could find that made sense for a shake.

Hazel shook sprinkles on top of each one with a flourish.

‘There. That makes them special.’