"That's enough of that story," Brody interrupted.
"What?" I asked, trying to arrange my face into the picture of innocence.
"You know what. She's bratty enough as it is. Don't give her any ideas."
"Don't talk about my new friend like that," I retorted and pointed a finger at him. "She likes my favorite ice cream, which automatically makes us besties."
Jacks laughed, the sound light and musical. "He doesn't think I'm a brat," she said to me. "He just likes to pretend that I am."
Seeing Jacks and Brody together made my chest tight. When Brody told me about his ex and how she didn't want motherhood to interfere with her social life, it broke my heart for Jacks. But being around them today, I felt better. Their relationship seemed both loving and fun. It was clear that she was the center of his universe.
I imagined she would miss having a mother around as she got older, but I could see that he would do everything in his power to keep her from feeling the true depth of that absence.
"I'll take that brownie fudge sundae you mentioned with the vanilla hazelnut," Brody said.
I nodded and set to work getting Jacks' order first.
Her eyes lit up when I handed her the cup. "Thanks, Cam!"
"Go ahead and grab us a table. I'll be there in a few minutes."
She was too busy stuffing ice cream in her mouth to speak, so Jacks nodded and walked over to an empty table.
I tried to ignore the way my skin tingled as I set to work making Brody's sundae. I knew he was watching me. When I was younger, it made me uncomfortable because I was certain he was picking me apart in his mind, finding things to comment on.
Now, I wasn't so sure.
I put the finishing touches on his sundae, including a pretty flourish of whipped cream.
"How many cherries?" I asked out of habit. The way he looked at me made my cheeks flush, but I rolled my eyes. "Grow up, Murphy."
He grinned and more than my cheeks heated. How was I going to keep from drooling over him now that I actually liked him as a human being? He was off-limits. Our history was too twisted and fraught with harsh words.
"Three, please."
I topped the sundae with three cherries and handed it to him across the counter.
"How much do I owe you?" he asked.
I shook my head. "On the house. As the father of my new bestie, you don't pay when I'm here."
Yes, I know I swore I would charge him full price, but that was before he apologized. And I'd seen how he interacted with Jacks.
"That's no way to run a business," Brody said with a frown. "Friend or not, I'm paying."
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him without a word. We'd played this game before and he should have remembered that I could out-stubborn him any damn time I wanted.
But the shithead only smiled, pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and slapped a fifty on the counter. "Unless you give me the actual total, I'm gonna leave this right here."
Before I could argue, Harmony, my other part-timer, swooped in, picked up the fifty, and rang him up. She handed him back his change with a sweet smile.
Brody shot me a triumphant look and tucked a ten-dollar bill into the tip jar next to the register. "Thank you," he drawled.
He grabbed his sundae from where he'd set it on the counter and headed toward the table that Jacks had chosen.
"He's hot for an older guy," Harmony said to me, her voice loud enough to carry across the shop.
I bit back a laugh as Brody stopped in his tracks, his shoulders tight. "Inside voice, Harmony," I whispered. "I think he heard you."
Her cheeks turned bright red and her eyes shot to Brody, who'd resumed his walk toward his table. "Oh, shi-shoot. Do you really think he heard me?" she asked, much quieter this time.
"Probably not," I lied. "I'm going to grab a couple of other flavors from the freezer. Hold down the fort."
Somehow, I managed to hold in my laugh until I made it inside the freezer. Then I leaned my butt against one of the shelves and wrapped my arms around my belly as I laughed so hard that my face hurt.
I would have given that fifty-dollar bill to see the look on Brody's face when he heard what Harmony said. I bet it would have been worth every cent.
I shrieked when the door to the freezer flew open to reveal Sierra.
"What's so funny?" she asked. "I could hear you laughing all the way from the office."
My guffaws had died the moment she scared me, but I still had tears running down my face.
I wiped my cheeks and answered, "Brody and Jacks dropped by. We were in a stand-off on whether he would pay for his ice cream when Harmony swooped in and took his money. Then, when he was walking away, Harmony said..." I giggle-snorted a couple of times before I continued. "Said that he was hot for an older guy."
Sierra's face broke out into a wicked grin. "Oh my God. What did Brody say?"
I shook my head. "Nothing. He had his back to us, but I would have given the fifty-dollar bill he put on the counter to see the look on his face."
"A fifty?" she asked, whistling. "Damn, he's not playing around."
I wiped my cheeks again, glad that I wore waterproof mascara in the summer because it would have been smeared all to hell if I wasn't. "Wh-what do you mean?" I stuttered.
"He definitely wants your attention, Cam. And that's just one way to get it."
"Will you give up the whole Brody Murphy has the hots for you stuff? He's off-limits and I'm off-limits. It's the little sister of your best friend rule. Even if we aren't fighting anymore, it still takes precedence."
Sierra shook her head but didn't argue with me.
"Lee Prescott is coming by later for her interview. Don't forget."
"I won't," I promised, straightening from my position against the frigid shelves. I grabbed two tubs of ice cream—vanilla-hazelnut swirl and pistachio. "I hope you have some idea of what questions we should ask her because I've never interviewed someone for a management position."
"Neither have I," Sierra replied.
I carried the ice cream out of the freezer and kicked it shut behind me. "Then we'd better think of some fast because she'll be here in a couple of hours."
Sierra took the top container out of my hands and followed me out into the front of the store.
Harmony took the vanilla-hazelnut swirl from my hands. "Awesome. Thanks for bringing this out. I just sold the last of the other tub."
I watched as she took the empty one from the case and inserted the fresh one. Then she took the pistachio ice cream from Sierra and put it in an empty spot off to the side, ready and waiting until the other container was gone.
She grinned at us as she carried the empty container into the kitchen to wash it out. "Be right back."
I watched her go and shook my head slightly.
"What is it?" Sierra asked quietly.
"I don't know. She calls in sick at least one Sunday a month but she works really hard when she's here. I thought maybe she just didn't want to work when something more fun came up, but she comes in whenever I call her to cover for Kelly. I feel something's going on and I don't know what it is."