Page 16 of Her Rock Star's Dark Secret

“We just had cake.”

“Without ice cream. Everyone knows cake and ice cream go together.”

“Ice cream!” Penny called from the couch. At some point, she’d abandoned the adults at the kitchen table and had gone back to her cartoons. Lauren hadn’t even noticed. That was the kind of mom she was. The type who zones out and isn’t even aware of what her kid is up to half the time.

But ice cream did sound good. And Lauren felt like celebrating because she was going to get help with her project, and she could see light at the end of the tunnel.

Chapter 6

Chase pushed open the door of the ice cream shop for Lauren, Penny, and Alexis. Penny bounced on her toes in excitement as she took in all the ice cream flavors. It did his heart good to see the joy on her face, and it gave him the urge to spoil her rotten. Who knew what a rush it was to bring joy to a kid’s life like that? He was well versed in bringing joy to adults through his music, but he didn’t know much about kids. And Penny was as cute as they came with her straight, white-blonde hair.

“What flavor do you want, Penny?” Chase asked as they stepped up to the counter. Penny pressed her little face up to the glass and looked at the rainbow of ice cream colors.

“I want the pink one!” Penny squealed, pointing.

“Strawberry?” Alexis asked, scooting up to the window.

“Yes! Strawberry!” She clapped her hands together excitedly and hopped from one foot to the other.

“One strawberry in the kids’ size, please,” Chase said to the wide-eyed teenaged girl working behind the counter.

“Of course, Chase!” the starstruck teen said. “Is there anything else I can get for you? Anything at all?”

“Just two scoops of Rocky Road on a cone and whatever these two want,” Chase said, indicating Alexis and Lauren

“What are you doing?” Lauren asked, turning to Chase. Her pretty forehead was furrowed into a glare.

“I’m getting ice cream for us. Is that okay with you?” Chase said.

“I’m perfectly capable of providing ice cream for myself and my daughter.”

“I’m glad,” Chase said with a smile.

“You’re infuriating,” Lauren told him.

“Oh, no. I’m such a bad guy. Better watch out for the ice cream-buying dude. He’s really out to get you.” He really wished Lauren would lighten up and let them have some fun. He suspected that the real issue was that Lauren had forgotten how to have fun herself. How long had she been this way? He remembered her being fun in high school too. When had she lost that?

He’d hoped that his light joking would help Lauren loosen up, but it seemed to do the opposite. She folded her arms and glared at him.

The girl behind the counter watched the exchange with her big brown eyes. Chase had a feeling she’d be talking about this encounter with her friends for the next several days.

“I’ll have a scoop of the blueberry cobbler ice cream,” Alexis said, stepping up to the counter. “What do you want, Lauren?” she asked.

That seemed to snap Lauren out of her bad mood. She sighed loudly, clearly exasperated, and said, “I’ll have two scoops of the Rocky Road.” Then she added in a quiet voice like she was almost embarrassed to say it, “In a cone.”

Chase rose his eyebrows. She was ordering the same thing as him? Was that part of why she was so angry? Because she didn’t want to have something in common with him? Interesting. “See?” he said, “That wasn’t so bad.”

He stepped up to the register and paid for the four of them. He was surprised Alexis hadn’t thrown a big fit that he’d bought her ice cream as well.

He’d spent the day at the furniture store, picking out a new couch for Alexis. He’d put a lot of effort into choosing a couch he thought Alexis would like. He found a bright blue couch with modern lines and yellow-and-white throw pillows. Alexis loved that shade of blue, and he’d already noticed that she had some vases and picture frames the same color that were sitting around her living room.

He’d spent a fair amount of time in the store, stretched out on the couch to make sure it would be comfortable enough to sleep on while he was there. It wasn’t his expensive mattress at home, but it was decent enough to sleep on while he was staying with Alexis. And the couch matched the trendy, modern style she’d used to decorate her bakery. He knew she’d put all her money toward decorating her bakery, and her house had been left by the wayside.

He was wondering how Alexis was going to react when they delivered the couch. He hid a smile just thinking about it. He just hoped she liked it and didn’t get too mad at him for going behind her back to buy something as huge as a couch for her place. If she didn’t like it, she could take it back and pick something else. He made sure of that when he was it. But he wanted her to keep it at least for a week so he could get some decent sleep.

When everyone had their ice cream, Penny led them to a table next to a freezer full of ice cream cakes. She started digging into her strawberry ice cream and ended up smearing it all over her face as it melted. Lauren wiped her face with a napkin and kissed the top of her head. The intimate gesture warmed his heart.

He loved seeing Lauren with Penny. He could tell she was a good mom. It was attractive to him. He was used to being around so many clawing, posturing women, always trying to use his fame to their advantage. He was so sick of it. He wanted someone wholesome, focused on her home and family. He didn’t know if Lauren was that person, but she had a lot of traits that he admired.

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