Page 63 of Bear's Heart

“How has the day been?”

“Good,” she said, gesturing to the spotless but empty gallery.“I’ve been able to get caught up on cleaning and some organizing.”

“But no buyers?”

“Not today.”

“Want to get out for a bit?Could you close up for a half hour?”he asked.

Nothing sounded better but she wasn’t sure.“What if that’s when the next serious buyer arrives?”

“A serious buyer can wait a half hour.Put a sign in the window that says you’ll be back at five thirty, and I promise to have you back by then.”

Josie could use a breather and a reset.It had been a long day.Hastily, she scrawled CLOSEDUNTIL5:30PMon a sheet of white paper, taped it on the inside of the front door, and locked up.

Outside, the temperature was warm enough that the late afternoon breeze felt particularly welcome.Just walking down Main Street felt good.She’d needed to stretch her legs and seeing Bear definitely lifted her spirits.

“Do we have a destination in mind or are we just walking?”she asked him, glancing at his profile.

“That new store across from the courthouse, the one you were so curious about this week, has opened.They just unveiled the sign today.Any idea what it is?”

She shook her head.

“Does a five-foot dancing ice cream cone help?”

“Ice cream shop?”

He nodded.“Tonight’s their grand opening, the doors opened at five, and I thought we should be one of the ones first in line.You do like ice cream, don’t you?”

“I love ice cream.”There were few things she loved more than ice cream—cones, sundaes, milkshakes.“And from what Cormac’s wife Whitney told me, there hasn’t been an ice cream shop here since Scoop closed after Covid.”

Bear had hoped they’d be one of the first in line at the new business, but as they approached the corner shop, a line stretched around the block, and down the street.“This might be longer than a half hour,” Josie said as they joined the line.

“Maybe not,” he answered.“Maybe they have a lot of servers working tonight.I imagine they would what with it being the grand opening.”

Many of the people in line were parents with strollers and excited kids, but there was also an equal number of adults without kids waiting for their turn.Fortunately, the dancing ice cream cone—a dancing strawberry ice cream cone—was doing her best to entertain the kids with tap dancing, a little comedy, and silly songs.Parents smiled indulgently, but Josie studied the exterior of Lily’s, charmed by the bold pink and white striped awning out front and the large old-fashioned, hand-painted sign reading Lily’s Ice Cream in pink, white, and gold in the window.

Josie loved to know as much about everything as she could and so she pulled out her phone and did a search for Lily’s Ice Cream Marietta, and discovered it was an original ice cream shop, founded by a fourth generation Montanan.

“Her great-great-grandfather arrived here from Germany via Chicago,” Josie read to Bear, “bringing with him his love of all things Christmas and sweet.A new emigrant, he was just twenty-three when he was hired to work in the kitchen at the newly opened Blackstone Hotel in downtown Chicago.It was at Blackstone that he learned how to make ice cream, which had become wildly popular, and when he moved to Montana a decade later, he continued to make ice cream for his friends and family.”

“Where are you finding all this information?”Bear asked.

Josie flashed her phone.“Her website.”

“She has a website up already?”

“Yes, and so should you.Even if it just saysComing Soon.”

“What good would that do anyone?”

“They’d know something was in the works, and it might help answer questions that people might have.People are curious what you’re doing with the Farrell Building.”

“Some people know.I’ve had a visit from the chamber of commerce already wanting me to join.”

“Did you?”

“Yes.”

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