Page 74 of The Things That Hold Us

I bounce my pointer finger on my chin, looking over the different flavors.

“What all do you have?” I ask him.

He starts naming off the flavors, and I stop him when he gets to mint chocolate chip.

“I’ll take that, please. One scoop in a waffle cone.”

He nods, but Logan says, “Only one scoop? No, give her two.”

The man laughs, and nods. I just look over at Logan, my mouth hanging open.

“Excuse me sir. What if I only wanted one scoop?”

He laughs, meeting my eyes. “It's ice cream in a cone, one scoop doesn't do it. One just fills the cone, the second one sits on top.”

“Fine.” I roll my eyes but laugh.

The man hands me my cone, then turns to Logan.

“For you?”

“I'll get the same thing.” he says, and I look at him.

“Are you copying me?” I tease.

He smiles, then says, “No, mint chocolate chip is my favorite.”

Butterflies weasel their way up, and I feel myself blush. I’m not sure why something so simple as sharing a favorite ice cream flavor has such an effect on me, but it does.

He catches me watching him.

“What?” he asks.

Shaking my head, I say, “Nothing.”

The ice cream man hands Logan his cone, and we start walking.

There’s a gazebo in the middle of a roundabout that's in the center of town, so we make our way over there.

There's twinkly lights strung up everywhere, and soft music playing from who knows where, and I love it so much.

I sit down, Logan sits next to me, and we eat our ice cream in silence.

After a moment, I nudge Logan with my leg.

“Thank you.” I pause, “for this.” I wave a hand, gesturing around me.

I don't have to specify, he knows what I mean.

He nudges me back.

“No need to thank me. I enjoy..this.” he says, his eyes meeting mine.

He doesn't have to specify, either. I know what he means.

“Me too.” I whisper.

We finish our ice cream, then sit in silence for a minute.

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