A Dangerous Scoop (A Seaside Ice Cream Shop Mystery Book 12) by Angela K. Ryan

Author:Angela K. Ryan [Ryan, Angela K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Paul Publishing
Published: 2025-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

By the time Anna returned to the ice cream shop, it was after 5:00. She hopped behind the counter for a little while, but between the early morning at the bank, the nearly six hours of driving to and from Newport, and all of the conversations, she was dead on her feet. After an hour, she went home for dinner and a relaxing evening.

When she arrived at Bella’s Dream on Tuesday morning, the shop was already bustling with activity. She glanced at the time on her phone, thinking she was late for work. But it was only 10:00.

“What’s going on in here?” she asked when she spotted Velma, Wanda, and Daniel. They had pushed together several of the tables in the dining room and were sitting at the head. There were about ten others, and everyone was wearing a baby blue t-shirt that said, ‘Ask me about the Taste of Seagull Cove Contest.’

“Hello everyone,” Anna said. “Nice t-shirts.”

Wanda tossed Anna one of the shirts. “This one’s for you.”

“Thanks,” Anna said, throwing it over her shoulder.

“We’re debating whether we should encourage silly names for flavors or only serious ones,” Wanda said. “I vote for serious, but some are opting for silly ones for comic relief.”

“I agree with Wanda,” Daniel said. “The silly ones are all pretty disgusting. We want entries that are actually usable.”

Wanda smiled at him. “Thanks, sweetie.”

He returned her smile, and Anna thought she saw him blush.

“What are some examples of the silly ones?” Anna asked.

“I heard someone suggest ‘Clam Chowder Crunch,’” a woman with a blond ponytail sitting halfway down the table said.

Anna crinkled her nose. “That’s pretty gross. You’re right, we don’t want entries like that. Finnegan’s Creamery would not be happy with us if they had to create that one.”

“And I don’t want to be treating people for stomach problems,” Daniel said with a playful grin. He was a general practitioner approaching retirement.

“All right. We’ll steer people away from those kinds of entries. And remember, the judges will only vote on the finalists. Those are the only flavors Finnegan’s will actually be making. If a flavor is too awful, it won’t make it to the final stage,” Velma said.

“Who are the judges?” Anna asked. “Joe Wiggins, Jeremy Russo, and Chuck Collins mentioned that they were invited.”

“We also thought we’d give the young folks a vote by asking one of the younger staff members to be a judge.”

“That makes four,” Anna said. “What about someone from Finnegan’s Creamery?”

“Ooh, great idea. Maybe Kerri will do it,” Velma said. “We just have one more to go. It shouldn’t be too hard to think of another person.”

“All the publicity is done, and the entry forms are printed. We’re about to set up the submission station, and then we’ll be ready to go,” Wanda said.

“I can’t wait to see what our new flavor will be,” Anna said. “Thank you everyone for all the time and effort you are putting into this, and a special thanks to Velma and Wanda for initiating this endeavor.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.