“I like the vanilla flavor,” Shea said again, her voice less sure this time. She took the sample cups from him anyway, and he helped her fill them with various different flavors.
“I’m going to go get a smoothie,” Fiona told them as she walked to the front of the shop and placed an order with the clerk, keeping note of the two of them out of the corner of her eye.
Slowly, Shea tried each one and her smile grew as she did. Fiona tilted her head to the side and watched with confusion as her little sister laughed, actually laughed, as Kieran made a funny face at a sample he’d just tasted. Between laughs, they were talking in hushed tones conspiratorially, and Fiona wondered what he was saying to her. Shea looked happy, like any other child you’d see in a frozen yogurt shop.
The moment warmed her heart. She wanted for Shea everything that other kids had. They were already at a disadvantage with the loss of their mother and the fact that their dad had not stuck around for more than a few days after Shea’s birth, so Shea’s autism only added to the difficulties. Fiona frowned at the thought, sipping her smoothie after the clerk handed it to her.
As the cool drink slid down her throat, she turned back to watch Shea and Kieran. They were finished with samples and were now filling up regular bowls. Shea’s was already loaded high with toppings, and Fiona pursed her lips, worrying about the consequences of too much sugar.
She decided she could overlook it today. After all, despite whatever difficulties had been placed in their lives, Fiona didn’t want Shea to be any different. Her disabilities aside, Shea had the most gentle and sincere spirit of anyone she’d ever known.
She’d never want that to change.
“Look, Fi!” Shea called her by her nickname, and Fiona’s brows raised. She hadn’t heard that name in a while. She hadn’t even realized it until now, but she had really missed it.
“That’s a lot of ice cream, Shea.” Fiona smiled at her little sister.
“It’s not ice cream. It’s frozen yogurt, but it tastes kind of the same. I didn’t get the vanilla flavor today. I got cookies and cream with caramel and Oreos and peanut butter cups and cookie dough pieces.” Shea proudly held the bowl out in front of her, surveying it from all sides.
“Wow! Sounds delicious,” Fiona said as Shea triumphantly marched out of the store and sat at a patio table out front. She pulled her earmuffs over her ears and dove into her bowl of sugar, causing Fiona to smile again at the seriousness on her sister’s face.
Kieran walked up to where she was standing at the cash register and the clerk rang up a flat rate for all three of them.
“Let me get this,” he said.
“Oh, no, don’t worry about us. I can pay for mine and Shea’s.” Fiona opened her purse to find her wallet as she put her smoothie down on the counter.
“Not a chance, flower girl. The man always pays on a date.” He handed the clerk a large bill and accepted the change, then the duo headed toward the exit to join Shea.
“This is not a date, Kieran,” she informed him, her head held high as she tried to avoid direct eye contact with those mesmerizing blues. It certainly felt like one, though.
“Then why’d you let me pay for you? Sounds like a date to me.” He smirked, glancing sideways at her.
“I said not to!”
“Oh, yeah, you really fought me on that,” he teased, his smile as wide as ever. “That whole let-me-dig-around-in-my-purse-just-long-enough-to-look-like-I’m-going-to-pay scheme. I’m onto your games, flower girl.”
“I didn’t—” she opened her mouth to say something more because she was definitely not that kind of girl and had every plan to tell him so, but the words vanished from her tongue. His close proximity and the hungry way he looked at her—it unnerved her. Forgetting what she was going to say, she shot him a dirty look instead as he held the door open for her and they stepped outside.
“I’m just messing with you, Fiona,” he said, before lowering his tone and whispering softly in her ear. “Plus, I like to take care of my woman.”
Fiona shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold drink in her hands. Kieran stepped around her and joined Shea at the patio table.
“How’s the chocolate explosion?” he asked her. She looked at him in confusion before pulling her earmuffs off.
“What?”
“How’s the chocolate explosion?” Kieran patiently repeated his question.
“I like this much more than the one I used to get. I’m going to get this every week.” Shea spooned another heaping bite into her mouth.
“Uh, I don’t know about that,” Fiona intervened, wondering if this was going to backfire on her.