Moana
Sophia didn't ask about Edrick again after that. I knew that she could tell that something more was going on than I was leading her to believe, but she didn't pry any further and just enjoyed the remainder of the walk with me. We talked a bit about her plans with the foundation a bit as well as her need for a secretary to help her out; up ahead, as we talked about the secretary, I swore I could see Edrick glancing over his shoulder at us as though he was listening intently.
Finally, we made it to the ice cream parlor. It was a cute little mom and pop shop on a small strip of quaint little stores, and when we went inside it was like stepping back in time. There was a long counter with stools to sit at and there was a nice older man working behind the counter wearing a red and white striped uniform.
"Well, hello there!" the old man said cheerfully as we entered. "So many little ones!"
Sophia and I smiled and helped the children sit at the counter. Once they were all seated, we stood with Edrick as there were no chairs left.
"What can I get for everyone?" the old man asked, leaning on the counter and beaming at the children, who all looked over at Sophia expectantly.
"Go ahead and tell the nice man which flavor you would like," Sophia said in an encouraging tone. Almost all at once, the children started bombarding the old man with the flavors of their choice, but he somehow managed to get all of their orders just right. Sophia also ordered a bowl of chocolate ice cream, and I ordered French vanilla. The old man handed us our ice cream and Sophia thanked both him and Edrick profusely while Edrick paid.
The ice cream was refreshing after being outside on such a hot day. French vanilla was always a favorite flavor of mine, and I couldn't help but smile a bit as I tasted the sweet coolness of it on my tongue.
I noticed, however, that Edrick didn't seem to get himself any ice cream.
"Aren't you going to have any?" I asked, furrowing my brow. It felt a bit odd having him pay for all of us but not get anything for himself.
Edrick shook his head. "I don't really eat ice cream, so I'm not sure what I would have," he admitted.
The children's mouths dropped almost in unison.
"You don't eat ice cream?" Clara insisted. "That's crazy talk!"
"Clara, be nice," Sophia chimed in, stifling a laugh. I could tell that Edrick didn't quite know how to react, so without thinking, I scooped up a bit of ice cream on my spoon and held it out for him.
"Here," I said. "Try mine. It's not too sweet."
Edrick's eyes widened for a moment. He seemed to be struggling over whether he should move his mask down to taste the ice cream, but I had been comfortable since the moment we came in here as the nice old man was the only other person here and seemed to be the type to be entirely indifferent to celebrities. Edrick, seemingly coming to the same conclusion, finally tugged his mask down a little and ate the ice cream right off the spoon without even taking it out of my hand like I had expected.
I noticed that his cheeks turned a little red as he tasted the ice cream on his tongue, but he quickly nodded and turned away before I had a chance to tease him about it.
"I'll take whichever flavor she had," he said.
"French vanilla it is," the old man replied with a smile. Edrick watched intently, almost in a childlike way, as the old man plopped two scoops of ice cream into the bowl, drizzled a little caramel on top, and handed it to Edrick.
As we ate, listening to the children as they prattled on to each other about this or that, I couldn't stop thinking about how good Edrick's attitude was now compared to this morning. Even though I was still a bit hurt after everything, it was nice to see him acting so friendly and open with Sophia and the children, and his offer to take everyone out for ice cream was still a shock.
Not only that, but the fact that he ate the ice cream right off of my spoon with very little hesitation and seemed to like it enough to order some for himself was blowing my mind.
But, then again, I knew that there was a good chance that he was only acting so sweet to make his daughter happy; not that that was necessarily a bad thing, and it was all I really wanted from him to begin with, but I supposed that there was still a part of me that secretly wished that the Alpha billionaire would be kind like this out of his own heart and not for any particular reason. Still, I knew that beggars couldn't be choosers, so I decided to take it for what it was and just be happy that he even showed up to begin with.
At one point, Sophia turned toward me and stifled a chuckle. "You have ice cream on your cheek," she said, gesturing to her left cheek.
I felt my face go red and grabbed a napkin to wipe it off, but missed.
"Nope," Sophia said, stifling another laugh. "A little to the left."
Once again, I missed and felt my face go even more red.
Beside me, Edrick stopped eating his ice cream and peered over to see what was happening. He caught my eye for a moment, but his gaze quickly shifted over to my cheek and he shook his head. "Here," he said, holding his cup of ice cream in one hand and walking up to me. Without hesitation, he took me completely by surprise and reached out. "I'll get it."
He rubbed his thumb along my cheek before I could even comprehend what was happening. As if my face wasn't red enough as it was, I was certain now that I was the exact shade of a fire engine and felt my heart leap in my chest. His hand lingered on my cheek for a moment as he wiped the ice cream away, and at that moment, I forgot where we were entirely as we looked into each other's eyes.
But then, suddenly, our brief trance was broken.
"Eww!" one of the children, Joshua, exclaimed as he pointed his stubby little finger at us. "They're gonna kiss!"
The rest of the children erupted into a chorus of "eww's" and gagging noises. Edrick suddenly pulled his hand away and stared at his thumb for a moment before wiping it on his napkin. Now, his face was just as red as mine.
"There," he said, stepping away. "Got it."
"Alright, alright," Sophia said with a laugh, calming the children. "Be nice. Come on, everyone. Let's finish up so we can go home."
The children quickly returned to their ice cream, but my heart was racing too fast now to finish mine. And when I glanced back up at Edrick, I swore I caught him glancing at me out of the corner of his eyes