Page 85 of Scoop Me Up
“Alright, Bug,” I said, sliding a stool up to the counter where the waffle iron waited. “Here we go…”
It didn’t take Ellie long to get the hang of making waffle cones, and soon she was pulling perfectly crafted waffles off of the iron and rolling them into cones.
“I have an idea!” Ellie said as she made the cones, struggling a little to seal the bottoms as she went. “What if we put a marshmallow in the bottom? Then the ice cream wouldn’t drip out.”
“That’s a great idea,” I said.
“I saw it at a different ice cream shop.”
I gasped in mock indignation and held my hand to my chest. “You went to adifferentshop?”
She giggled and rolled her eyes. “Mommy took me.”
“I guess I’ll forgive you. Gabe, do you think you can go in the back and find the mini-marshmallows?”
A few minutes later, we were stuffing the cones with marshmallows as we went, and I had to admit, it was a clever idea. As we were working, Cooper came in with a huge bouquet of balloons bopping around behind him.
“Where do these go, boss?”
“On either side of the door, outside.”
He nodded and saluted me before heading out to position the balloons. As I helped Ellie, Gabe came up from behind and slid an arm around my waist before pressing a soft kiss to my cheek. I hummed contentedly.
“Gross,” Cooper said as he came back inside.
Ellie spun to see us standing there and shrugged before going back to her work. “Uncle Cooper, do you want to help make waffle cones?”
He shook his head. “Looks like you’ve got it under control there. I’ll help you stack them once they’re cool. How about that?”
“Okay,” she agreed.
Cooper came up to stand next to me and Gabe. “You two are getting soft.”
I snorted. “How so?”
“Look how sappy you are. What happened to my skeptical-about-love best friend?”
Gabe shot Cooper a look, eyebrow raised, grin a mile wide. “I happened.”
With that, Cooper sighed. “I wonder if I’ll ever find someone or if I’m destined to be single forever.”
“With that attitude, single forever, I’m guessing.” I laughed and shook my head.
Before we could continue, Ellie hopped down off the stool. “Done!’ She looked around, probably trying to find more ways to help, when her eyes lit up. “The mayor is here!” She ran to the door and opened it. “Hi, Mayor!”
The mayor came in, holding something in her hands that looked like just a plain rectangle of stained wood. “Good morning, everyone. Ready for the social?”
“Almost,” I said. “What can we do for you? Early samples?”
She laughed and held up what she’d been carrying. “I wouldn’t say no to an early sample, but what I really came for was to give you this. The town council had this made up for you, as an anniversary gift.” She turned it toward me—a plaque that read,Life is sweeter thanks to Scoops on Maple.
“Thanks. This means a lot.” I offered the mayor a sample of our newest flavor, Maple Ever After, while Gabe went ahead and opened the shop for the day, with the help of one of our summer employees, Blake. It didn’t take long for a line to build up, and even with everyone scooping and working the register, the line grew. There were kids playing hopscotch out front, a live band was set up in the parking lot, and we debuted ice cream nachos, our new sample pack that came with four flavors, four toppings, and waffle cone chips on the side.
When things began to die down and the sun began to set, Jennifer stopped in to help us close up shop. With all hands on deck, it didn’t take long for the shop to be tidied and ready for business the next day.
“Get your things, El. You’re with me tonight,” Jennifer said, wiping down the last table.
Ellie nodded. “Sam, can you help me?”
