“Are you ready for the best ice cream around?” he said.
His close proximity set off her treacherous heart, betraying her again by pounding so loudly she was sure he could hear it. “I am,” Shelby said. She wished her reply was more clever, but just getting her voice to work around him was hard enough. It was like she’d never been around a boy before. Which she had. Some. Mostly from a distance.
“Have you been to Redd’s since his daughter took over?” he asked.
“Just once,” she said.
Logan motioned for her to walk in front of him and up to the path toward town. “After you.”
A gentleman, she thought.
“The place is better than ever,” he said. “Those waffle cones are amazing. And they added new flavors, too.”
She kept pace with him as they continued along the grassy path that Shelby followed every day with her dog walking clients. To their right, the lowering sun shifted the lake reflections to the colors of jewels. A white pelican with black-tipped wings dove into the water, rewarded with a fish for dinner.
“Thousands of pairs of white pelicans nest in and around the lake every year,” Logan said. “They make an awesome sight.”
Only inches from her, Shelby was intensely aware of his presence. Was this her first real date? Did it count? She looked up shyly at his striking, carved profile, and it took her breath away. He didn’t seem aware of how handsome he was, or didn’t act like it anyway, like some of the boys she had known.
A few blocks from town near the public plaza, the traffic picked up and the sidewalks were full of people walking their dogs, exploring the town with family and friends.
“So tell me where you learned water rescue like that,” he asked.
“I took lifeguard training at our local swimming club back in Las Vegas. I didn’t expect to get to use it this summer.”
“Makes sense now,” he said. “Did you move here with Alice, or just visiting?”
Shelby hoped he hadn’t seen her peeking out the window at him and his brother that one time. Or maybe twice. “She’s my grandma. I guess I’m here for the summer. My mom is on an extended vacation. You?”
“Same sort of thing. We usually come just for the summer, while my dad works in the city. I’m not sure how long my mother will stay this time.”
The tone of his voice indicated that it was not an easy answer for him either. Nothing in her life was simple. Or maybe it was very simple. If and when her mother came back, she would have to leave. But that was in the future and right now she was where she wanted to be, on her way to an ice cream shop with a very cool boy.
“With my lifeguard job,” he continued, “I plan to stay all summer at the lake until I leave for college in September.”
“Oh, of course,” she said. That sounded stupid even to her own ears. He was soon to be a college boy and she was only going to be a junior in the fall. At least she had just turned sixteen, so he couldn’t be that much older. But he probably saw her as a kid still. A sigh escaped her lips.
Logan stopped and gave her a concerned look. “Something wrong?”
Shelby’s face felt aflame. She waved her hand to dismiss any worries. “I’m fine.” More than fine, she thought, staring back at him. But of course she didn’t say that.
Logan’s eyes searched her face, looking for something. Thank goodness he couldn’t read minds. At least, she hoped not. “You can tell me if we need to sit down, or something.”
His concern made her knees buckle. Logan reached out and supported her by the side of her arm. “Steady,” he said.
How could she be steady if he kept touching her? She took a small step back and tried to laugh it off. “I think an ice cream will fix everything.”
“Ice cream it is then,” he said.
The irresistible scent of homemade waffle cones wafted through the air as they approached Redd’s Ice Cream Parlor.
“Not fair,” Logan said. He pointed to a back window of the shop. “They have a fan blowing out of their kitchen right toward us.”
Shelby smiled. “And the problem is?”
He laughed and held the red Dutch door open for Shelby to enter. The inside was packed even more than a few days ago when she’d met Steph and Josh. The old-fashioned tin ceiling had been