Chapter 36
MAISIE
“Can I get three swirl cones, please?” I order one for myself, Henry, and Miles at Scooped, the ice cream shop in Ruby Lake. Instead of going home after work, I decided to walk down to the Inn to surprise Henry—and Miles—with ice cream.
“You sure you got enough hands for that?” the cashier asks in a very monotone voice.
“I’ll figure it out,” I smile, “I’m not going too far.”
Handing over my card, she runs it through the register and gets started on filling the cones. Now that I’m here and with my thoughts, I’m starting to overthink a bit.
I’m not sure what we are and I know we’re not dating, but we did cross a line I originally wouldn’t allow myself to cross. I don’t want to come across like I’m his girlfriend or anything. But also what we are feels like we’re more than friends.
Now my mind is racing over wondering if I want to be his girlfriend or not?
I haven’t had this much fun with someone in a while, let alone a guy I’m attracted to. And he’s clearly attracted to me.
Could a long distance relationship work?
Would he want that?
What happens when one of us inevitably needs to leave the area we know?
Would he want to move to Ruby Lake?
Would I want to leave?
There are too many questions in my mind that I literally have to shake myself out of it. Coincidentally the ice cream cones are ready at that exact moment.
“Thank you, I hope you have a good day!” I somehow manage holding the three cones in both hands as I make my way out the door. Thankfully the door is a push or pull mechanism allowing me to open it with my hip.
I’m only a few buildings down and can see Henry’s truck parked out front. I have to give myself a pep talk to keep my legs moving in that direction.
“This isn’t weird,” I whisper to myself. “You literally sat on his face, you can buy him ice cream.” I nod, agreeing with myself and continue walking toward Dew Drop Inn.
It’s a beautiful day out, the skies are clear, and the sun is shining. The last month of summer tends to get busier as a lot of people and families make last minute summer trips.
Hearing the splashing of water and giggling of kids and teenagers reminds me of the summers Wren and I were teenagers and would hang out at the lake all day. We would blow up inner tubes and just float for hours talking about life, school, and boys—basically anything and everything.
I want to do that again; I miss the days when we didn’t have bills to pay or adult things to think about. All we cared about were boys and the new Hannah Montana episode that was coming out that week.
Since I don’t have hands to call Wren, I make a mental note to reach out to her when I’m on my way home tonight. I need another girls day.
As I’m about to reach the building, Miles coincidentally walks out and sees me then waves a hello in my direction. “Do you need a hand?” he offers.
“I actually brought these for you and Henry. I’m sure you’ve both put a lot of work in today and deserve a treat.” I smile nervously.
“Wow,” he stares. “That’s really sweet. Thank you, Maisie.” He walks toward me and I hand him a cone.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked so I just got everyone the best of both worlds, chocolate and vanilla swirl.”
“You know the way to a man’s heart.” He smiles a real genuine smile at me. “But I think the heart you really want is in there.” He nods toward the door.
“Yeah? What makes you say that?” I joke.
“Actually… can I talk to you for a second?” he asks. “It’s uh, okay if not too.”
“Oh yeah, of course.” I gesture for us to sit on the bench just outside the Inn.
“So,” he sounds nervous, “I wanted to talk about Henry… and you.”
I don’t say anything back, just nod. I don’t know what he has to say but I’m hoping it’s nothing bad.
“Henry has always been a very happy person, he can make friends with everyone in the room. Growing up with him, I was always so jealous of him for that. As we both got older I noticed his kindness and friendliness get taken advantage of time and time again.” He sighs.
“I won’t lie, I was skeptical of you when he first told me he wanted to get to know you.
I didn’t want someone from my town taking advantage of him because at the end of the day, he’s like a brother to me.
He’s someone I would jump in front of a moving train for.
“That being said, I’ve never seen Henry as happy as when he talks about you. His face lights up when your name is mentioned. He talks about you like you’ve hung the moon and the stars.”
I blush at his words.
“I don’t know what you guys are but I saw how you two looked at each other at your mom’s birthday. Hell, he spent a whole day cleaning up part of my property so that he could take you camping.
“Whether you guys continue to be friends or not isn’t my business, but I think you two should try to be more. You make him happy and I think he makes you happy too. I don’t think distance should be a deciding factor in your happiness around one another.”
“Wow, Miles. I—” I pause. “I honestly don’t know what to say.”
“I’m sorry if I overstepped. Henry doesn’t know I was going to talk to you,” he says. “I actually didn’t know I had this on my mind until I saw you with three cones.”
“You didn’t overstep.” I look down at my feet, laughing under my breath.
“I’m not sure where we’ll be in a few months, or if we’ll be anything, but what I do know is that I really like Henry.
Distance or not, friends or not… he has been someone who popped into my life at the right time—someone I don’t want to leave. ”
“That makes me happy to hear.” He smiles softly. “Just… think about what I said. Give what you guys have a shot. You both deserve to be happy.”
“Thank you, Miles.”
“Now that I’m done playing Dr. Phil, let’s go give him his ice cream before it melts. I can see you’re ignoring it slowly dripping down your wrist.” He chuckles.
“We were having a deep conversation, I didn’t want to ruin the moment.” I laugh back as we stand, heading toward the Inn.
But more importantly heading toward Henry.