“Hush, you,” Gisa says with amusement. “If you’re going to stick around, you’re going to need your own shop. Do you know what you’re going to call it?”
I freeze.
She lets out a crack of laughter. “That’s a no, then. Think on it. Nomi and Teren have you off to a fine start here, using their connections, and starting with a low-cost giveaway to get the word out, but you’ll go farther when there’s a name people can associate with your ice cream.”
Gisa takes the scoop of ice cream out of my panicking hands and idles off, whistling.
I turn wide-eyed to Teren. “What do people call shops? What isyourscalled?” I try to duck around him to see the sign on the stall, but he pulls me back.
“Nuh-uh. Don’t copy me. Anyway, it’s clear what your shop should be called.”
“It is?”
Teren gestures around us with a grin, but waits until the next customer has reached the front of the line to loudly say, “Is this not aTriumph of the Chill?”
Groans echo down the line at the pun.
I turn to Zan, point at Teren and just say, “No.”
“You tell him, lady,” the next customer says as Zan collects her payment. I hand her an ice cream and we exchange a nod of solidarity before she heads off.
Zan looks amused. “No? Are you notFreezing the Day?”
A bigger groan down the line, along with some snickers.
I gape at him. “Not you too?”
He lets out a sharp grin.
I mutter to myself and start scooping for the next customer, only to see there are two people together.
“Oh, let me help with another scoop,” Teren says. “After all,One Good Churn Deserves Another.”
The customers crack up.
“Really though,” the first of them says, already having licked a taste, “this is honestly the best surprise. Ice cream is always amazing, but this flavor is astonishing. We hope you stick around.”
They leave while I’m still struggling to figure out how to respond beyond ’thank you’.
“She really nailed it, didn’t she?” Zan says in a proud voice to the next person in line. But before I can be warmed by his praise, he looks at me with a smirk and adds, “InOne Fell Scoop.”
Teren about falls over laughing.
“I’m doomed,” I mutter, causing the next customer to snicker.
And that makes me blink.
I made them laugh.
Is that what Teren and Zan are really doing? Trying to distract me, get me to relax—
“Wait, wait,” Teren gasps. “It’s My Churnnow.”
I roll my eyes. Never mind.
“You should call itChurn Back Time,” Teren says earnestly. “You know, because of your prodigious age.”
I freeze again, but only for a second, because the people in line are laughing again.
