“We will do this together, Liam. Just tell me what you need so you can get out of the car.”
I met her eyes. Again, there was zero judgment. She had no idea why we were here or how significant this place was to me, but it didn’t matter to her.
“When we get inside, I’m honestly not sure what will happen, but what I need is for us to sit at the third table on the right and we need to order two ice cream cones. I don’t care what flavor.”
She held out her hand to me.
“Okay. Come, we can do this, Liam. Together.”
Nodding, I slipped my hand inside hers and we entered the ice cream shop. It was cold, like usual, and it smelled of milk and sugar. For a minute I froze, but Bella squeezed my hand and walked to the table. We sat, and I could see she was growing concerned.
“Mr. Covington! We haven’t seen you here in a while. It is nice to have you back. And I see you have a different companion this time.”
I looked to Mrs. Wilson, who winked at me, and prayed that she didn’t say anything else.
When I didn’t say anything, Isabella responded, “Hi, I’m Isabella. Liam actually lost his voice. We thought something cold would help. Can we get two cones? Whatever flavor you’d recommend.”
The woman smiled.
“Of course, dear. I know exactly what he’ll like. I will be right back.”
When Mrs. Wilson left, I reached my hand out and Isabella slipped hers into it. She held it tightly, her eyes never leaving me. I hated worrying her, but right now, I just needed to be quiet and wait for the vice on my heart to release me.
“You don’t have to answer this, but is this a place that used to make you happy before?”
All I could do was nod, and then she bit her lower lip.
“Will it help or hurt if I do something right now that will make it happy again?”
I looked at her, confused. The truth was, I didn’t know. Before, I was sure I needed to come here to punish myself, but maybe that’s not what would help me. Because as every happy memory of this place flooded through my mind, my heart did not seem to be healing. It just ached and reminded me of what I had lost. Maybe what I really needed was to find a way to keep the happiness of this place alive.
Shrugging, I whispered, “I think it might help. Why? What are you going to do?”
Isabella smiled.
“Make a complete and utter ass out of myself.”
She rose then, and I saw her rush over to the jukebox in the corner. I had forgotten they even still had it. A minute later, Nat King Cole was blasting through the shop singing “L-O-V-E” and Isabella was actually lip-syncing to it as she started dancing over to me. There was seriously no way I could not smile at it. Laughing, Mrs. Wilson handed her our two cones, and Isabella licked one as she started spinning around at me.
Once she was closer to the table, she handed me our cones and laughed as Mr. Wilson came out from behind the counter and started to dance with her. At the end of the song, he twirled her and she collapsed into her chair as the rest of the shop started applauding. She plucked one of the cones out of my hand, and those beautiful wide brown eyes met mine. I knew there were tears in mine.
She reached out to me.
“Oh my God. I made it worse. I’m so sorry.”
I shook my head and brought her hand to my lips.
“You didn’t make it worse. You… did everything perfectly.”
The tears were inevitable and embarrassing, but it was out of my control. For the first time in a year, my heart felt complete. Happy even. Isabella, in her own precious way, had just made the final piece of my broken heart fall into place. Isabella reached over and wiped some of the tears away, but more just kept coming.
“We can skip bowling.”
I shook my head.
“Step two… we have to finish. It is important.”
We sat silently, finishing our ice cream. After almost a year of trying to correct all my past wrongs, I finally felt ready to move forward. Now, all I needed to do was find a way to make sure Isabella got to the same place as me because if she wasn’t meant to be mine, I was pretty sure my heart would break all over again.
