Page 10 of Love is a Roller Coaster

“You never know.”

He shakes his head at me, then something behind me catches his eye. “Want to get some gelato?”

I turn my head to see the same gelato shop we had frequented years ago. “That sounds amazing.”

He places a hand on the small of my back, and tingles erupt down my body. Icouldtell him to let go, but…I don’t want to.

The line is surprisingly short for such a busy evening on the street. There’s nowhere to sit in the actual shop, since the store is full of customers, and they have ten options of flavors and only two workers.

I stand in front of the flavor options, almost drooling at the thought of ice cream.

“Coconut still?” Tyler asks, interrupting my perusal.

“I think so,” I reply, still looking through the options. “I haven’t had ice cream in a year.”

Tyler says nothing, so I turn to look at him. His mouth is dropped open in shock.

“What?” I ask.

“You…the queen of gelato…”

I snort at the memory of his nickname for me.

“Haven’t hadice cream,” he continues, undeterred, “in a YEAR?!”

I shrug a shoulder. “I had to fit into my wedding dress.”

Tyler is silent, his face sobering. And that’s when I realize it’s the first time I’ve mentioned my failed wedding to him.

After an awkward moment of silence, Tyler clears his throat. “Well. Let’s remedy that.” He turns to the workers of the shop. “A triple scoop of coconut gelato for the lady.”

“What? No!” I protest, but Tyler just waves me off.

“And a double scoop of hazelnutfor me.”

They serve up our gelato, and I reach into my clutch for my wallet, but Tyler places a hand on my forearm. “I’ve got it,” he says.

“No, it’s fine,” I say. I don’t want him to get the impression that this is a date.

Because it isn’t.

Right?

He shakes his head. “It’s fine.” He nods at the workers, and they just wave goodbye to him without making him pay.

“Oh,that’swhy you didn’t let me pay,” I say with a smirk.

He shrugs. “I send so many of my guests here, they let me have free gelato whenever I want. We have a good thing going.”

We walk out of the store and back onto Main Street, and I take my first lick of the creamy, delicious frozen treat. I let out a small moan. “This. Is. Incredible.”

I glance at Tyler, who’s watching me with heat in his eyes. “I’m glad,” he says, his voice a little hoarse.

Shoot. Maybe that was a little much. I clear my throat. “So! Where to?”

He looks up and down Main Street. “We could go to another gallery, but I think we have to finish our ice cream first.” He points across the street to the beach. “Want to sit on a bench and finish our cones?”

I press my lips together. Thisreallyfeels like a date. I’m almost certain we spent an evening exactly like this five years ago. But what other option do I have?

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