The Twenty Year Triangle

Chapter Four

Summer 1998

"Holy buckets!" 

My eyes are as wide as saucers when the clerk hands Hunter his cone. We're in Honeyland, the next town over. My dad told us that the new ice cream place, Big-Scoops, boasts about having the biggest portions of ice cream known to Tennessee.

They weren't lying! Hunter's double chocolate brownie ice cream cone is almost as big as his head!

"Go ahead and order whatever you want, Kinz," Hunter says as he takes a huge sloppy lick from his cone. It drips down to his tee shirt and lands on Stone Cold's bald head.

"Oops," he laughs as he half-heartily attempts to clean it off.

The clerk, an older guy with white hair and reddened round cheeks, let out a hearty laugh and hands him a stack of wet wipes.

"What flavor can I get you, little Darlin?" The man asks in a thick drawl.

I find myself giggling at the name as my cheeks redden some.

"Wait, lemme guess... strawberry, right?"

A huge grin takes over my face as I excitedly nod. "Yes, please!"

"Cone or bowl?"

I glance down at my summer dress; it's yellow with sunflowers on it. Mama just got it and told me to save it for church, but I couldn't help myself. It's not every day I get to bike out of Sweet Haven.

"Better get a bowl," I say wisely.

What the man scoops up for me is more like a bucket than a bowl, and my eyes nearly pop out of my head all over again. 

"That'll be six dollars." He says as the register makes a ding noise.

I tucked a few dollars in my sock earlier and lean down to get it.

"I got it, Kinsey," Hunter says as he pulls out a crisp ten-dollar bill from his jeans pocket. The same one, my dad, gave him earlier today, after all his hard work on the farm all week.

"But you just got that." I frown and shake my head. "Don't you want to save up for a new CD or something?"

"No, I want to buy you ice cream," Hunter says.

"Word of advice, Little Darlin, if a nice young man wants to buy you an ice cream, you ought to let him." The clerk winks at me as he takes the bill from Hunter. I find my cheeks feeling hot again as the man hands him the change.

"Okay, then, thank you," I say softly.

"You're welcome; let's go sit outside and eat." Hunter sticks one dollar in the tip jar, and then heads outside, and I follow, where we sit at a table to eat our ice cream.

"You're blushing!" Hunter accuses with a teasing grin on his face. "You got a crush on the old guy!" 

"Do not!" I stick my tongue out at Hunter. "I just never got called darling before, is all. It's much better than Ragdoll or Bucky!"

Hunter frowns then, the teasing glimmer in his eyes fading away. "Those kids are idiots, you know that, right?"

I shrug, "I do have buck teeth, and most of my clothes are pretty ratty, I guess."

"So, what if your teeth stick out? You still have the prettiest smile in Sweet Haven." 

"You think so?" My blush is deepening now as I look at him, he's way cuter than Billy or any guy in town, and he thinks my smile is pretty.