Belly Literary Universe (part 2)

Myre's Enthusiasm Part 22: Private Dealings

The bell at Myre's door jingled. From her hands and knees behind the counter she called out to the newly arrived customer. "Hi! Welcome to Myre's Ice Cream! I'm closing up soon but I'll be happy to get you something."

"Actually, I have something for you this time." Evan's voice echoed.

Myre gasped and clambered to her feet.

In his extended hand, Evan held out a bouquet of deep brown roses skewered wooden sticks and wrapped in leaf patterned plastic. Despite the flowers lack of vibrant color, his cheeks were just about as red as a normal rose. "Sorry about the grease stained shirt. I took a shower at work so I'm actually fresh, but I didn't want to waste time driving home to get a new short. I really should have thought about that ahead of time. I just really wanted to come see you. I bought these for you."

Myre stood and stared for a moment - touched by the gesture. She gave a single laugh before scurrying around the counter to Evan and squeezed him into a bear hug.

"They're strawberries covered in chocolate. A bunch of chocolate. You - I didn't think you were a flowers type of girl. So I thought these would be nice. For you."

Myre grabbed his cheek and ran a hand against his stubble. With a gentle caress, she him into a kiss. "I love it! You didn't need to bring anything - I'm so happy to see you! But this is really great .Here, hold them and let me close up the shop then we can cuddle on the deck." Myre nearly pranced around the shop locking the front door and shutting the blinds. "You can always shower here if you want to. Next time, I mean. Anytime."

"Right."

She grabbed Evan by the hand and dragged him to the deck. She pushed him onto a love seat, then lobbed a few logs of ash and cedar into the fire pit. A handful of shredded bark and a strike of a match later and a growing fire warded off a cool dusk wind. With a giggle she plopped down next to him with her legs folded under her. Snuggling up to Evan made the soreness from being on her feet all day melt into the cushions.

With stilted and awkward movements he pulled a rose from the bouquet. And offered it toward Myre's mouth. "I wish I could see you more often. Tell me how the shop is doing! How's business?"

Myre picked a piece of dog hair off the chocolate - likely having come from the car seat - then happily took a big bite of the rose facaded strawberry. The fresh succulent fruit oozed between shards of dark chocolate and bathed her mouth with saccharin joy. "Goood. The shop is doing well. The few extra bulk deals this spring have given me a nice buffer. Summer will only help that."

"And what about that second shop?" Evan asked as he fed her the second bite of one of the roses.

Myre swallowed quickly to answer his question. "Ohh I haven't done much to start that. It'll take more than just a few thousand dollars to really start looking into a second location."

"What about a loan?"

"I could get one. But it would be a risky venture. Opening this one was risky enough. I don't know if I want to try my luck and risk losing what I've made."

"I think you're selling yourself short. You're a pretty woman, with solid business instincts, selling incredible ice cream. Wherever you open up a shop you'll do well! You could sell ice cream to a freezing Alaskan." Evan smiled and pushed another rose towards her.

"I bet I could." She agreed as she bit the whole rose off the stick. She covered her mouth to prevent the juice from leaking out of her lips as she laughed.

"Maybe you should hire someone to sell ice cream for the summer. With a second shop you'll have to have employees. You could start with just one. That'd give you more time to look into your options. And experience managing people before it becomes a more serious concern."