Page 11 of Sweet Surprises

Even if you can’t be nice to me,she didn’t add.

There was a terrible pause, and she wondered if she was about to be fired. It would be kind of a shame. In spite of everything, she was already sort of falling in love with the town.

Then came the unexpected sound of Tag Lawrence chuckling.

“We have black and white Holsteins and brown Jerseys,” he said after a moment.

“Thank you,” she told him.

“I have to come into town to get something from the hardware store,” he said gruffly. “I’ll swing by while I’m there and tell you a little more about the farm.”

“Oh good,” she told him. “Maybe you can explain what a creemee is.”

“It’s the giant machine behind you,” he said, sounding a little stricken. “I sincerely hope my little sister showed you how to clean and prep it before she put you to work.”

“Oh, she did,” Charlotte told him quickly. “I guess I’m looking for the why, not the how.”

He didn’t say anything else, and when she pulled the phone from her ear, she saw he had hung up. She had practically forgotten the lady at the counter, who looked a little horrified.

“It’s my first day,” Charlotte explained. “He said the cows are black and white Holsteins and brown Jerseys.”

“How about just a bottle of water?” the lady asked.

“Okay,” Charlotte said, feeling terrible that she’d said what she had to Tag in front of a customer as she grabbed the water out of the refrigerator and rang the lady up.

“If you come back tomorrow I promise I’ll know more,” Charlotte told her as she handed off the change. “I would love to be able to answer all your questions and make you a happy customer.”

“You just did,” the lady said, winking and dropping her change in the little tip jar on the counter. “See you tomorrow.”

Charlotte sighed in relief that at least she hadn’t burned any bridges with a potential ice cream eater.

She decided to sweep up the clean floor one more time, feeling oddly nervous for Allie’s brother to stop by, although she had no idea why.

4

CHARLOTTE

Charlotte was running out of things to clean when the bells over the door jingled merrily.

She looked up, expecting the grumpy man from her phone calls. Instead, a mom with an adorable little girl came in, both of them wearing big smiles.

“Welcome,” Charlotte said. “How can I help you?”

“What do you think, honey?” the lady asked her daughter.

“Strawberry,” the girl whispered loudly.

“One strawberry milkshake, please,” the mom relayed.

“Coming right up,” Charlotte said with a smile.

As she dug into the strawberry ice cream with her scoop, she realized her arm was getting a little sore. Scooping out the ice cream was turning out to be a real arm workout, and she was motivated to do it as quickly as possible with customers watching.

If I can get this place really jumping, I’m going to have one very strong arm.

Of course, making an ice cream shop profitable in the dead of a Vermont winter should have felt like an impossible dream. But with all the activity she’d been watching in the park across thestreet all day, it actually seemed like it might be a real possibility. Once she’d spent a few days observing, she would be able to make a plan. It would feel good to put some of what she had learned at school to work.

Charlotte poured a little cream and strawberry sauce over the ice cream she had in the pitcher and then set it on the base of the blender as she reached for the lid.

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