Melodies of the Heart

Chapter Seven

Kassidy

The songs of the birds outside her bedroom window were more melodic, the sun was shining brighter, and Kassidy was riding along a high like she'd never known before as she pulled herself out of bed.

The night before, she'd gone out for ice cream with Levi Thayne and it still had her heart fluttering. Even when she thought about it to herself and how silly it all was, it didn't matter. Going for ice cream was the kind of thing she did with Jacob Hoffman when they were eleven and too scared to hold hands.

But she was an adult now and Jacob had moved away in the tenth grade when his parents had split up. Not that it mattered much to her, they were only middle school sweethearts, but it was Gillian who had been devastated when he'd moved three states away with his father while his mother had stayed behind in Pinewood Grove.

Now it was a rock star that she'd spent some time with at the old ice cream shop and she was glad the place was still standing. Kassidy couldn't think of a better way to have spent the night getting to know Levi, even though there were a few dark clouds on the horizon that she was fighting hard to ignore.

The first was the fact that at some point he was going to leave her and Pinewood Grove behind. He'd go back to LA or New York or wherever it was that rock stars spent their time, but she struggled to stay positive as she got ready to start work at eight in the morning.

He might stay, a tiny voice inside her said, and she fought even harder to ignore that one. Getting her hopes up was even more dangerous than ignoring the truth. It would only lead to a broken heart and a heap of embarrassment when she was proven wrong.

The other cloud was knowing her parents would find out she'd lied to them at some point. She'd told them it was Paul Larson she'd gone for ice cream with, not Levi, and the wrong person mentioning it to them would lead to a very awkward and very painful discussion about respect.

No, she told herself as she pulled her long hair back in a braid. They hadn't passed anyone on their way to or from the shop, and the ice cream shop had been empty, save for them and the waitress. Pinewood Grove was a small town that could lend itself to gossip, but that didn't matter. No one had seen them, and she had to keep hoping that stayed true.

Despite the two forces inside her that were competing to spoil her good mood, Kassidy was all smiles when she got downstairs and pulled on an apron for work.

"I've got a cake to finish," her mother said. Saturdays meant weddings and that meant her mother was more than busy. "I need to go deliver it over in Stoville at one." She was a perfectionist and that meant the cakes were entirely her baby. Mrs. Olsen didn't trust anyone to do the cakes but herself, including delivery.

"Want me to do some rolls?" Kassidy asked. She knew what she was doing, but always wanted to be in back for more practice. If this was going to be her store, she needed to be in the kitchen more.

"No, your father is doing that," she said. "I need you on cash."

"But mom, it's dead," Kassidy argued, but one look from her mother silenced her.

"It'll pick up," she said. "It's Saturday and tourists might be coming through town on their way to the camp ground up the highway. I need you out here so I don't get distracted while I finish adding the sugar flowers to the cake."

"Okay," Kassidy said, resigning herself to another day of cash duty. If she was really going to take over, she needed to be working on the cakes with her mother. They kept the place in business and Kassidy knew she didn't have enough time under her belt creating the intricate desserts.