“We’re supposed to be going for ice cream,” I reply lamely, “so it’s really not a good time.”
He gives me a frustrated look. “Megan—”
“I’m serious,” I insist, ignoring the fact that my heart skipped a beat at the way he said my name. “Any second now they’re all going to be coming over here, ready to get ice cream, trust me.”
“All right,” he says, obviously annoyed, “well, when is a good time?”
Never. Never EVER. I know that’s not the answer he’s looking for though.
“Uh…” I trail off, hoping I can stall long enough that I won’t have to answer, “I’m not really sure.”
“Tell ya what,” he drawls, seeming a little more relaxed now, “I try to go for a walk every other night before the sun sets completely…why don’t you come with me tonight, and we can talk then?”
I take a moment to process this new information about him. Did he really just admit to taking sunset strolls almost on the daily? What’s up with that?
“So? What do you say, Meg?”
Somehow this will backfire on me…I just know it.
Even still, I find myself nodding. “Okay, we can talk tonight.”
——————
“Why won’t you tell me what you guys were talking about?” Haile whines for the umpteenth time as we drive to The Scoop. “You can’t keep important info like this from me!”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” I reply with an eye-roll, “and it’s none of your business either way.”
“Megan!” she exclaims, now giving me a dirty look. “Come on! I deserve to know!”
What the—
“Shh!” Kyle shushes her, waving a hand around. “I can’t hear them!”
Them would be the talking cartoon dogs from the show he’s watching on Mom’s phone.
Hailee scoffs at him. “Now you know how I feel.”
Kyle ignores her though, of course, because he’s too zoned out on the screen.
“Okay,” Hailee says, suddenly smiling, “how ’bout I make a deal with you?”
As. If.
I make a face at her. “No thanks.”
“Are you sure?” she asks, raising an eyebrow. “It’s a really good one. Like, you don’t have to be my Xuber driver for the rest of the month IF you tell me what you and Brayden were talking about.”
Oh dang, that really is a good deal. Especially since she already has two or three outings planned for this coming week. I really don’t like the idea of her knowing what we talked about though.
Then again, he and I didn’t really talk about much. If anything, we mostly just talked about…talking.
“Fine,” I agree, sticking my hand out past Kyle, “I’ll tell you what we were talking about and you will cancel my end of the other deal.”
She shakes my hand, a smug look on her face. “Perfect. Now tell me already!”
“Well,” I drawl, crossing my arms, “he told me that he wanted to talk about something…so we’re supposed to talk tonight.”
“That’s it?” she asks with narrowed eyes. “Talk about what? A deal’s a deal, Meg!”
I offer a shrug. “He didn’t say what he wanted to talk about.”
Okay, this new deal was so worth it.
“You tricked me!” Hailee gasps. “That’s not fair!”
“A deal’s a deal,” I tell her with a slight smirk, “you wanted to know—and I told you—case closed.”
“Ugh, I hate you!”
That catches Mom’s attention in a hot second.
“Hailee Judith Taylor,” Mom says in a warning tone, interrupting Dad’s bird rant, “I shouldn’t be hearing those words. You and sister need to get along. We’re almost there, okay?”
Wow, I’m 99.9999999% sure she said that same exact thing to me back when I was ten and Hailee was five, and we were fighting about who-knows-what as we were driving to visit Grandma and Grandpa down in Florida.
My phone buzzes and I wiggle it out of my pocket so I can see who texted me.
I hate you.
Shocker, it’s from Hailee.
I roll my eyes as I repocket my phone. I could respond, but what’s that going to do? Nothing, except give her more ammo.
Soon we’re entering The Scoop’s parking lot, and Dad pulls into an empty parking space.
“Ky-Ky, we’re here,” Mom says, taking her seatbelt off. She then turns around to look at him. “I need my phone back, sweetheart.”
He starts to pout but I’m sure the fear of missing out on ice cream is what motivates him to take the earbuds out, and hand her the phone.
“Look!” Kyle suddenly exclaims, pointing a finger past me. “There’s Brayden!”
And a quick glance out my window confirms that Brayden is indeed walking into the building. Oh, yay.
Once we’re all out of the car, Kyle grabs Mom’s hand and takes the lead while babbling on and on about what kind of ice cream he wants. He’ll change his mind though after staring at all the options—he always does.
The Scoop isn’t a huge place, but it’s definitely spacious with lots of bright colors and abstract “ice cream wall art.” I honestly couldn’t care less about what it looks like though, all that matters to me is the taste of their ice cream…which never disappoints.
“Hey, Brayden!” Kyle lets go of Mom’s hand, and practically skips over to him. “Which flavor are you getting?”
As they point to the different tubs of ice cream behind the glass while discussing each flavor’s negative and positive traits, Mom orders a Mint Chocolate Chunk ice cream cone for Hailee—who’s too busy sulking at a corner table to get her own dang ice cream.
Spoiled.
“Mom!” Kyle yelps, going back over to her. “Brayden and I picked out what we want!”
Well, I guess I should probably choose something…
Strawberry Swirl, Cookie Butter Dream, Chocolate Cheesecake Supreme, Mango Munch, Rocky Road—
“Do you know which one you’re getting?”
I still at the
