‘How’s the baseball going, Ern?’ I asked. ‘Still making the front page with your hits?’
‘Yep!’ He nodded enthusiastically. ‘Have you seen Sealy? Let me show you Sealy!’ He ran off into the back room to fetch whatever Sealy was.
‘His giant seal plushie,’ said Soraya, laughing. ‘It’s almost as big as he is. And it’s multi-functional. It’s a pillow, a chair, a table. Basically, whatever his brain can dream up.’
Ah, the one he’d been showing off at the Summerween Festival.
‘It sounds like we all need a Sealy.’ It was good to see Soraya looking so happy and relaxed. The last few times I’d seen her, she’d been desperately trying to rework the chill charm that made her ice cream so famous.
‘Sealy has three plushie brothers, so you’re welcome to borrow one. Oh, here he comes.’
Ernie had returned with a giant squishy toy seal that was easily as large as Soraya had described. Bar his skinny legs and charm-covered Crocs, Ernie was entirely obscured behind it.
‘Wow, you were right about Sealy! He’shuge.’ I turned to Soraya. ‘Looks like you have a great helper here.’
‘Keiko at the Summer Camp was having trouble with her arts-and-crafts spells,’ said Soraya. ‘Youdon’twant to be in the room when a thousand googly eyes and five hundred pipe cleaners suddenly make a break for it.’
‘I think I actually do,’ I said, laughing. ‘But it looks like your ice cream is doing better than Keiko.’
‘It is!’ Soraya exclaimed. ‘The no-melt charm is working again, as of about ten minutes ago. We had that gust of magical wind that went through, and whatever was interfering with my charm suddenly wafted off. I honestly thought I was going to have to close up for the rest of summer.’
Her phone rang. ‘Hang on, it’s Keiko. Hello?’
‘Uh oh,’ I said to Ernie. ‘Is Sealy becoming … a spaceship?’
I used my magic to lightly set the seal plushie aloft. Ernie squealed with delight, clapping his hands. ‘Higher! Higher!’
Soraya grinned as she watched our shenanigans. ‘Oh, that’s great. I’ll drop him over within the hour.’
She hung up the phone. ‘Keiko says that her spellcasting woes have been resolved as well. Whatever was in the air, it’s gone now. And thank goddess, because I have so much to catch up on after these past few days.’
‘I can walk him down to Keiko’s if that would make life easier for you,’ I offered.
Soraya’s face lit up. ‘Are you sure? Oh, you’re a superstar.’
‘Sure. Any excuse to say hi to Keiko – she was a formative part of my childhood.’
When we were younger, Mom and Rosie had signed uskids up for various day camps with Keiko, and we hadn’talwaysbeen on our best behaviour. I had plenty of memories of coming home covered in mud, or with a backpack that definitely wasn’t mine. (This had been part of a concerted swapsies effort that had delighted the kids and infuriated the parents.) Thankfully, Keiko was a good sport and, like Soraya, had become a firm family friend.
‘I’ll text her to let her know you’ll be dropping Ernie off. Would you like some ice cream for the road? I can pick the flavour if that helps.’
It did indeed help, or Ernie would’ve been an hour late getting to his camp programme.
‘Baklava and vanilla bean,’ said Soraya, handing me a gift bag filled with a small tub.
‘Tell Finn I said hi,’ she said, giving me knowing wink.
My ring fizzed. Of course: the last time I’d come in here it had been with Finn. And he hadn’t been subtle in his playfulness. Nor I in my reciprocity. Soraya probably assumed we were a couple.
Werewe a couple? Where was the line between flirting and something more?
The six-year-old tugging at my skirt meant that was a question for another time.
I looped the gift bag around my wrist and hoisted Ernie’s yellow John Deere digger bag over my shoulder.
‘I’ll do the backpack if you promise to carry Sealy,’ I told him.
He hugged the plushie so tightly it almost exploded, then hurried off out the door, his sneakers lighting up with every step. He was so cute – but wow, I had no idea how Soraya kept up with his energy. He was like a million Finns condensed into a tiny, fluffy-haired package.
