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“Fancy meeting you here, Buchanan.”
“Ditto. In the mood for some ice cream, I see.”
“I am definitely that.”
“My boy and I are too.”
“What’s your favorite ice cream, Malcolm?” she asked, pulling back to look at him.
He pointed behind her at the display case. “The green one.”
Stevie turned around to take a look. “That green one?” she asked, pointing directly at the container of Daiquiri Ice, then Malcolm nodded at her. “That one is my favorite too.”
Just as she finished saying that, the Baskin-Robbins employee handed her a sugar cone with a giant scoop on top of it.
“Here, you can have some of mine,” she told Malcolm, and without any hesitation he licked her ice cream and then took a big bite of it. She started giggling and so did I.
When the Baskin-Robbins employee asked who was next in line, Stevie and Malcolm stepped to the side and I walked up to the counter to place my order. Once I had, I looked back at my son and the woman still holding onto him.
“So Daiquiri Ice is your favorite too?” she asked me.
“It is.”
We smiled at each other and I searched her eyes—caught up all over again in what they held within them. Besides their beautiful deep blue color with little flecks of gold in them, the embers of what we’d secretly shared this morning were still burning just like I knew they were still burning in mine.
“Here you go, sir,” the employee said from behind the counter, pulling me out of my enamored daze.
“Thank you.”
I took the two cones from him, handed Malcolm his, and then motioned to Stevie to walk over to the register. As we reached it, she told Malcolm that she needed to put him down for a minute so that she could get her wallet out of her purse.
“I’ve got this,” I told her and then handed the cashier the debit card I’d already pulled out of my shorts pocket.
“Well, thank you. I certainly didn’t expect you to pay for my ice cream.”
“I know you didn’t, but I’m happy to do it. Would you like to go sit outside on the patio?”
“I’d love to go do that. It’s a beautiful day.”
“Yeah, it really is—and not just because of the unseasonable summer weather that we’re having.”
Stevie glanced down at my mouth and then nodded at me. She knew exactly what I was talking about without having to spell it out. This day had turned into a beautiful one at the moment I saw her coming through the trees at the running trail, and it became even more beautiful as we began talking to and also touching each other. When Stevie left, I didn’t think my daycould get any better. That was until Malcolm and I came into this place to see a beautiful mermaid standing next to the counter.
After the three of us went outside, we sat down in the lounge chairs at one of the umbrella tables but Malcolm stayed glued to Stevie. He sat on her lap, and in between his licks and bites of his scoop of Daiquiri Ice, she wiped off his mouth and chin with a napkin. Her nurturing attentiveness was something that I’d never seen in Avery before and it warmed my heart so much for Malcolm. He was eating it up along with his ice cream.
Right after we finished our frozen treats, Malcolm surprised Stevie and me both when he asked Stevie if he could go swimming with her. He then told her to make her mermaid tail grow, and she looked over at me and grinned.
“Malcolm, remember Stevie’s tail only comes out at night,” I said.
“I wanna see it now, Daddy.”
He looked back and forth at Stevie and me, then placed his hands on her cheeks and held them there. While staring into each other’s eyes, neither Malcolm nor Stevie said a word. They just looked at each other and smiled, sharing a moment the two of them seemed to understand and also need.
I noticed Stevie’s eyes were welling up and then a tear started rolling down her cheek. She wiped it away, pulled Malcolm closer, hugged him and nuzzled his neck. He started giggling, and Stevie looked over at me.
“Are you okay?” I quietly asked her.
She sniffled and then shook her head. “Yes. This little boy of yours is just so precious.”
