“No wonder you’re so happy.”
“Right?!” Charlie brought out a plain white ice cream tub with a red lid. “This is the vanilla base for the Cheery Cherry.” He put about a tablespoon in three bowls and then slid one to Nash and Kenzi while keeping the third for himself.
Nash dug his spoon into the creamy, cold goodness. He lifted it to his mouth, and paused when he saw that neither Kenzi nor Charlie had taken a bite. They were both holding their bowls close to their faces and smelling the ice cream.
“The cream is too strong—I can’t get the vanilla.” Kenzi brought her bowl down and swirled her spoon across the top like a kid writing their name in the sand.
“What did you have for breakfast?” Charlie asked.
She sighed as if she were about to confess a sin. “Peppered bacon and eggs.”
Charlie smiled, triumphant.
“In my defense, I didn’t know you’d have me sampling today.”
He went to a large, circa 1950s carafe and brought back a small cup of herbal tea for both of them. “Clear your palates and we’ll try again.”
Nash sipped the tea. Kenzi slurped and swirled it around in her mouth.
“Okay, you’re freaking me out,” he told her.
She laughed, almost spewing the tea across the counter. Charlie handed her a napkin, and she blotted her chin. “I can only guess what this looks like.”
“This is one of those moments that my mom would smack the back of my head if I said what I was thinking.”
“I appreciate your mama.” Kenzi’s smile faltered for just a moment before she got it back. He wondered if she was thinking about her dad. How she managed to be here today and wear a smile was a miracle. Perhaps there was something to the idea of pre-grieving a loss. “Whether people know it or not, eating ice cream involves all five senses.”
Charlie jumped in. “Everybody knows about taste and touch.”
“Right.” Kenzi took the moment of instruction back. “Everything from the way the ice cream looks, to the sounds of eating it, and finally the flood of emotion that comes during that first bite, all contribute to the experience.”
“When someone eats any food, they see it first, smell it second, and then they finally taste it.” Charlie pantomimed eating a spoonful of ice cream.
Nash picked up his small bowl and sniffed. “The creamisstrong.” He closed his eyes and took in a long breath. “Ahh, that time I could smell the vanilla, it’s …” He breathed in again. “Shallow? Is that the right word?”
Kenzi smelled her bowl. “Maybe not the technical word, but it’s sufficient.”
“Gee, thanks.” Nash rolled his eyes.
Charlie laughed. “Don’t be offended. Kenzi doesn’t hand out praise to just anyone—especially not in this room.” He turned affectionate eyes on her. “I begged her to go into food science—she has a gift. Instead she takes business classes.”
“Charlie,” Kenzi scolded. “What more could I learn in a classroom than I learned from you and Dad? I’d be teaching the class thanks to you two.”
Charlie’s color deepened. “Oh, go on with ya.”
Kenzi filled her spoon, turned it over, and laid it on her tongue. She closed her eyes and her mouth moved in all different directions.
“She’s coating her tongue with the ice cream so all her taste buds get a shot at the flavor.”
“Aren’t there different zones on the tongue?” Nash asked, staring transfixed at Kenzi’s mouth. Had he really just about kissed her in the hallway? If Charlie wasn’t such a nice guy, he might just hold his interruption against him.
“There are, and we use every one of them in developing the smoothest, tastiest, and best-selling ice cream in the nation. If I do say so myself,” replied Charlie with a confident tilt of his shoulders.
Nash copied Kenzi’s technique and did his best to determine what might be wrong or right with the vanilla-flavored treat. It tasted like ice cream—high-end ice cream, but ice cream nonetheless.
Kenzi finished first and pushed her bowl aside. “It still needs work. We’re using cherries for this?”
“Yep.”
