Page 14 of A Poisonous Plot

“Do you have other plans?” Flynn asked.

“No.” She tapped on the table. “I just thought Glynis might stop by. I haven’t seen her the last two days. She specifically told me she was going to call in.”

Flynn looked at his watch. “She’s usually here earlier than this, isn’t she?”

“Yeah. I guess she isn’t coming today. We should go and put the posters up.” Since Flynn had gone to so much effort, it would be rude not to. Also, she needed to stop letting fear rule her. She’d put the flyers up and open the shop. Everything would be fine. She sucked in a deep breath. “First, I need to get your opinion on the menu for opening day.”

With his usual level-headed approach, he went through it all with her, then waited while she called the garden centre to put in an order for herbs and berries. Then she called the supermarket and gave them her order for cream, sugar and other ingredients.

It was almost midday when they set off for their walk around the island, pinning and taping flyers as they went. Several people stopped to see what they were doing and just about everyone enthusiastically said they’d come along to the opening.

“What if I don’t have enough ice cream?” Lily said as they made their way towards the Mermaid Inn – the last stop on their tour.

“What?” Flynn asked.

“What if too many people turn up on opening day and I don’t have enough stock?”

“Make a lot of stock,” he said, opening the door and holding it for her. “Given how little there is to do around here, I imagine you’ll get most of the islanders calling in.”

“Don’t say that!” She glared at him as she stepped inside. “If everyone comes, I definitely won’t have enough ice cream.”

“Okay, not everyone will come, but you have a lot of freezer space. Just make more than you think you’ll need. Better to have too much than too little.”

She shook her head as they headed for the bar. “Earlier I was panicking that no one would come. Now I’m worrying about the opposite. I would never have thought opening an ice cream shop would be this stressful.”

“I’ll be there with you,” he said, resting an elbow on the bar. “Everything will go perfectly, but if there are any problems, I promise to cause some kind of distraction so no one notices.”

“Like what?” Lily asked, amused.

He looked thoughtful. “If you run out of ice cream, I’ll claim there are too many people in the shop. I’ll spout something about legal capacity and kick everyone out.”

Lily’s eyes widened. “Is there a law about how many people I can have in the shop at one time?”

“Oh, my god!” Flynn laughed loudly. “I need to stop opening my mouth because it feels like anything I say is going to stress you out.”

“Who’s stressed?” Seren asked, appearing from the kitchen with a plate of food in each hand.

“Guess?” Lily said. “It seems like an easy one though… have you ever known Flynn to get stressed?”

“Good point.” Seren moved out from behind the bar. “I’ll be right back.”

They watched as she delivered food to a table nearby, then returned to the bar.

“What are you stressed about?” she asked.

“This.” Lily held up the flyer. “Can you put it up somewhere?”

“Yes.” Seren’s eyes lit up as she took the paper. “Yay! You have a date. Why are you stressed? You should be excited.”

“Tell that to my nervous system. Apparently, all I can focus on are the things that could go wrong.”

“Nothing will go wrong,” Seren said. “Are you going to employ someone to help out?”

“I don’t know.” She had pondered the idea, but then she’d put it out of her head and forgot to come back to it. “Maybe.” Her eyes flashed to Flynn. “Should I?”

“Sorry,” Seren said. “I didn’t mean to cause you more stress.”

Lily pressed her lips together. “I don’t know how busy it will be so it’s hard to judge if I’ll need someone or not.”

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