Free Laura's Solo Honeymoon - The Ice Cream Shop Boy #1 (Erotic Romance) by Mimi Strong Page A

to blush, and he looked down at his feet. “I know most guys don't notice that sort of thing, but—”
    He was cut off by someone coming in the door in a flurry. She stepped right up to the counter, in front of me, as though I wasn't even there.
    He said hello to her and leaned across the counter to kiss her. On the mouth.
    Figures, he'd have a girlfriend.
    As they talked, I wandered over to the wooden counter along the front window and had a look through the local newspaper. The front page news item was about a busted water main.
    A dog barked. I whirled around and saw the source of the barking, a dog inside the girl's purse. The dog had a pink collar on, with rhinestones, so I assumed it was a female. She yipped at me excitedly.
    The girlfriend groaned and dropped the purse on the floor, so the dog could climb out. She ran over to me, wagging her gray, fluffy tail.
    “Hello ...” I knelt down and checked her collar, “Princess?”
    Princess put her little front paws on my knee and licked my face. I laughed and petted her around the ears, making gooey baby talk at her. I'd had a similar dog, my beloved Sascha, bless her soul.
    The girlfriend said, sharply, “Stop it!”
    I startled and pulled away from the dog.
    She said, “Princess, don't lick strangers. We don't know where they've been.”
    I looked up, expecting the girl to say something lighter to me, or to apologize, but she didn't. With narrowed eyes, she gave me a look that was pure malevolence, the exact opposite of the reaction I was used to getting from folks around the small town.
    I stood and turned back to the newspaper, ignoring Princess, and her awful owner, but I was still listening.
    The girl was angry at her boyfriend, and giving him hell about … something.
    He tried to calm her down, saying, “Baby, I swear I overslept. I didn't forget on purpose to piss you off.”
    “Yes you did!” she said, yelling. “You're so selfish, and you do stupid things. You know, Eric never treated me like this. He didn't take me for granted!”
    “Aw, come on, Sharise, let's not bring Eric into this. Now let me make it up to you. Do you want an ice cream? My treat.”
    “Don't play cute with me,” she said angrily. “I don't want a free fucking ice cream. Are you trying to make me fat, so I have a big fat ass and nobody else will fuck me?”
    “Sharise,” he said, bringing his voice down low. “There are people in the store.”
    “Her?”
    I turned back to look at them, in time to catch the girlfriend giving me another hateful glare, and him, the poor guy, looking completely flummoxed. Something told me whatever he'd done, he didn't deserve the treatment he was getting.
    I knew girls like Sharise. She probably had emotional problems, but until she grew up enough to get some help or take responsibility for her own emotions, she was going to take it out on anyone around her, as emotional punching bags.
    Lots of people do this, not just women, or men, and not just young people. Lars had quite the temper when we'd started dating, but I'd tried to show him patience, forgiveness, and understanding, while he worked his way through his issues. For the first few years, I believed him that every time he got angry at me, it was my fault. He blamed me for every failure in his life, and I'd believed him. Over time, he'd softened, and grown to trust me more, but right up until the end, we'd still had terrible fights about … I couldn't even tell you what. Half of the arguments were about whose fault it was we were arguing.
    But I was there to forget Lars, so I tried to put him out of my mind. I picked up the newspaper and pretended to be engrossed in the story about the broken water main.
    I probably should have just left, left them to their privacy, but … I didn't want to.
    The little dog started to bark, agitated that her owner was upset.
    I knew if I walked out, the girl would stay there, reaming out her boyfriend, and worse, I wouldn't get any ice cream. I held my