His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 91

#Chapter 91: Sweet Affection

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.