Becky nodded, trying to think of something intelligent to say. “Sean and I are going to Angel Wings Café for lunch. Would you like to join us?”
Ashley shook her head. “Thanks for the invite, but I’m meeting my cousin soon. I want to buy her some flowers for her birthday.”
Becky looked across the store. Laura was walking toward them. “That’s a lovely thing to do. Laura will help you. We made some pretty bouquets this morning.”
“I’ll have a look. Enjoy lunch.”
“We will. Bye.” As soon as the door closed behind them, Becky tightened her grip on Sean’s hand. “That was close.”
“Too close. Ashley didn’t say anything about the wedding, so Matthew’s secret must still be safe.”
“I hope so. I never thought I’d say this, but I can’t wait for their wedding to be over.”
Sean laughed and pulled her into a hug. “Do you want to know another secret? I feel the same way, too.”
Chapter11
Sean had a theory about the stomach-churning, heart-thumping side effects of stress. If you ate ice cream, they went away. By the time Mary returned from the visit with her grandma, Becky was more than happy to test his theory.
So, after dinner, he’d driven back into town to take Becky and Mary to his favorite dessert destination.
“You didn’t tell me they have more than twenty different ice cream flavors,” Becky said in awe. “I can’t believe I haven’t been here before.”
“It only opened last year.” As far as he was concerned, the Cold Stone Creamery should be included in the list of modern-day wonders of the world. It had almost every ice cream flavor you could imagine, along with homemade candies, and an impressive range of hot chocolate options. For anyone wanting to de-stress, this was heaven.
Mary stood on a platform designed especially for children. With an excited grin, she pointed to a large tub of ice cream. “Can I have the red one with gumdrops in it?”
“That looks delicious,” Becky said from beside her. “I’m going to try the chocolate and peppermint cream flavor.”
“It’s green.”
“That’s the peppermint,” Becky explained. “Would you like some?”
Mary scrunched up her nose. “No, thanks.”
Sean smiled. After sharing a few meals with her, encouraging Mary to eat anything green was pointless. To make their meals healthier, Becky had resorted to grating, finely chopping, and pulverizing as many vegetables into their meals as she could.
The sales assistant handed Mary a sample of the raspberry gumdrop ice cream and Becky tried the peppermint cream.
With more confidence than Sean would have managed at the same age, Mary licked the spoon clean, then dropped the wooden stick into the trash.
“That was yummy.”
“Would you like some more?” Becky asked.
Mary nodded and waited patiently for their bowls of ice cream.
Choosing which flavor he wanted wasn’t difficult. Chocolate fudge ripple was his go-to ice cream. With his dessert in his hand, he sat with Becky and Mary in one of the booths. “How is the ice cream?”
“Yummy,” Mary said around a mouthful of her sweet dessert.
“Totally delicious,” Becky agreed. “We’re definitely coming back with Molly and Jacob.”
“And Sean,” Mary said in a hurry. “Could Grandma come, too?”
Becky’s troubled gaze shot to him. Although they’d spent the last two hours together, he didn’t know what had happened at the hotel this morning. Neither, he suspected, did Becky.
“Your grandma doesn’t come to Bozeman very often,” Becky explained. “But, the next time she’s here, we’ll tell her about the creamery.”
