“Then maybe we should skip the ice cream and head back to my place,” he suggested.
A smile tugged at her lips. “Isn’t your place Seaview Inn? Do you really want all those interested onlookers around when you’re trying to seduce me?” she inquired, taunting him right back in a way that kept his pulse racing. “I heard Hannah’s daughter and son-in-law got home today.”
Seth winced. He’d actually forgotten about that. Kelsey’s return especially definitely put a damper on that plan. She wouldn’t hesitate to get up in his business if she disapproved of his relationship with the woman who’d once been involved with her mom’s husband. He’d discovered the young woman had absolutely no ability to censor herself, something she’d obviously inherited from Grandma Jenny. Boundaries were a foreign concept to both of them.
“We could stay here,” he suggested, “that is, if you have any hot chocolate on the premises. Or we could make Irish coffee.”
Abby caught his gaze and held it. Heat turned the cool evening air into something that felt a lot more like a sauna.
“Ice cream is sounding better and better,” she said, her voice choked.
“Or does it just sound safer?” he inquired quietly, then asked, “Now who’s all talk?” Aware that the dangerous game they were playing was close to destroying their friends-only pact, he once more held out his hand. “Come on, Abby. Let’s walk into town.”
“I’ll grab a jacket,” she said.
He had a hunch she needed a few minutes to collect herself more than she needed a coat. Good, he thought, smiling. It was exactly the effect he’d been hoping for. If she was going to accuse him of being all talk, he wanted to make sure it was the sort of talk that would keep her off-kilter. After all, she might as well be in the same rocky boat he was in—wanting something and scared to death to reach for it.
* * *
“I was wondering when I’d finally see you in here,” the woman behind the counter at Flavors said when Abby walked in with Seth.
Abby searched her brain, but simply couldn’t come up with a name. She studied the dark brown hair that curled wildly, the crystal-blue eyes and plump figure and not a single memory came to mind. She flushed with embarrassment.
“You don’t recognize me, do you?” the woman prodded genially. “Mary Margaret Connors. I sat in front of you in just about every class.”
Abby suddenly recalled a scrawny girl who’d worn thick glasses and barely said a word. She couldn’t reconcile that image with the effervescent woman in front of her.
“I’m so sorry,” Abby apologized. “It’s been a very long time.”
“Plus I was a nerd, so we didn’t exactly hang out,” Mary Margaret said without any hint of censure. “Welcome to Flavors.”
Abby glanced around and mentally compared the bright, cheerful decor of today with the drab, dark interior of the beachfront ice cream parlor she’d remembered. “Didn’t your parents run this back then?”
“My mom did,” Mary Margaret confirmed. “I took over a few years back. I renovated and brought the place into this century and started making my own ice cream. By the way, I just go by Mary now, Mary Whittier. I married Sandra Whittier’s grandson, Kyle.”
Abby flinched. “Then I imagine you’ve been hearing quite a lot about me lately.”
“Oh, yeah,” Mary confirmed, her eyes twinkling. “Kyle and I have both been trying to sell Sandra on your plans, but she’s stubborn as the dickens. Just give it time. There are plenty of people on your side. Businesspeople in town know this is a real good shot at improving the economy.”
“Abby’s not the patient kind,” Seth chimed in.
Mary chuckled. “If you’re going to survive life around here, you’ll have to be.” She gestured toward the freezer display of ice creams. “I know what Seth wants. He always gets a double scoop of the praline. How about you? What can I get you? The mango gelato is real popular.”
“Then I’ll have that, just a single scoop,” Abby said.
Once they’d been served, Mary headed toward a back room. “Just holler if you need something,” she told them. “I’m experimenting with a new flavor. The last batch was disgusting, but I’m determined to figure it out.”
When Abby and Seth had taken seats by the window looking out toward the beach, Abby took her first taste of the gelato. “Oh, sweet heaven!” she murmured. “This is amazing. Who would have thought there’d be anything this fabulous created right here?”
“I hear a couple of the specialty stores on the mainland have begged Mary to mass-produce some of her tropical flavors of gelato for their stores. She’s refused. She says she’d rather draw tourists out here if they want to taste it.”
“Interesting,” Abby said, momentarily forgetting about her gelato as she considered what Seth was saying. “I wonder why Sandra didn’t mention anything about Mary when we were at lunch. Clearly her granddaughter-in-law is an example of a young person who’s not only stayed here, but is doing her part to build the economy. She was certainly doing her best to try to contradict Jenny’s characterization of Seaview Key being in danger of dying. Mary and this business should have been a prime example.”
“Maybe she didn’t want the two of you in cahoots,” Seth suggested. “You seem to be like-minded. And Kyle’s a good guy. He took over his father’s bait-and-tackle store. He’s found a way to expand it by setting up a website and selling to fisherman all over the country.”
“So obviously not everyone on Seaview Key or even in the mayor’s own family is living in the Dark Ages,” Abby said thoughtfully.
“Change is coming out here,” Seth agreed. “It just has to find its own pace. It can’t be rushed.”
Abby nodded. “That’s just another way of telling me I have to learn patience.”
“Exactly.”
She savored another spoonful of the gelato, then leaned toward Seth. “So, if I have to wait before taking the next step with
