The Gruffs and the Ice Cream Princess

Part Five

In two days' time, the store was gleaming and their inventory filled the shelves. "We look like a legitimate business!" Sam exclaimed. Lance hefted their trusty old cash register onto the counter and opened it with a ding.

"I think we're ready to open!"

Lance flipped the sign on the door to "OPEN." He could hear his middle brother taking deep breaths and knew Sam and Mason were as nervous as he.

After a few minutes the bell on the door jingled. It sounded like a choir of angels to Lance. When he turned to greet their customer, he saw it was in fact, an angel. The girl with the rainbow hair stood in the entryway smiling, arms full of ice cream. "Hi!" her voice floated like a soapy bubble toward him. Sam shoved Lance, jolting the words out of him, "Hello! Welcome to Gruff's. How can we help you?"

She cocked her head, a lavender curl spilling to one side. "I brought you welcome to the neighborhood sundaes." Sam rushed toward her and relieved her of the desserts.

"Ice cream!" he gushed, "I've never had ice cream!" he dug in immediately and Lance shrugged an apology for his brother's savagery.

"Wait, what?" she looked confused. "How is that possible?"

Lance shrugged again, "We didn't have adorable ice cream shoppes in our old town." Adorable? Did I just say adorable? This really was a day of firsts.

"Ohmygolly!" She laughed her bubbly, airy laugh and Lance found himself laughing with her, unsure what was funny, but not really caring either. "You guys need to make up for lost time then!" Mason and Sam were digging in, but at least they remembered their manners, "This is so good. Thank you!" Sam cooed. Even Mason, who wasn't prone to theatrics, was gushing, "This is the best thing I've ever tasted in my whole life."

Rainbow hair smiled, "I'm so glad you like it." She stuck a hand out to Lance and he noticed her tiny nails matched her multi-colored hair. He took it, planning to say "I'm Lance," or something normal, but what came out was, "You're cold!"

A colorful giggle. He put his other hand over hers, to warm it. "Hazard of the job!"

Finally, he managed, "I'm Lance."

"Felicity,"she said, "Felicity Sprinkle," and Lance released her hand, buttucked her name into his heart.

**