I nodded.

“An art project he’d been working on for three months . . . and it was you?”

“It was me.”

“Whoa. And he failed his art class to keep it. That’s . . . that’s kind of poignant.”

“I kind of thought that, but I wasn’t sure if I was reading it wrong.”

“How can you read that wrong? It’s so romantic I could die!” She bent over, nearly in half, pretending to sob in a very unflattering way.

“That’s ugly,” I said, trying to stifle a grin.

“It’s soooo beautiful! I can’t stand it! Agh ha ha!”

“Stop,” I said, scooping M&Ms into the cup of vanilla I’d just pulled out.

She stood up. “Sorry. I had a moment.”

I handed the M&M Blizzard to the little girl. She turned on her heels, revealing my next customer, Alder. Her eyes were red, and she was beyond pissed.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice already breaking.

“We were just joking around. What can I get you?” I asked.

“Fuck you. You know what I’m talking about, Easter,” she seethed.

My mind raced for a response, but she hadn’t come for a fight. She was alone, and that wasn’t like the Erins.

She cocked her head a bit, impatient with my silence. “Answer me. And don’t you dare pretend to be innocent. We both know what’s been going on.”

Frankie stood beside me. “She’s working, Alder. You can talk about this later.”

“No, I can’t,” she said, her eyes glossing over. “Because I’m leaving in half an hour for South Padre. I was supposed to be riding with Weston, but he’s suddenly decided that he doesn’t want to go, so I’m riding with Sonny. Explain to me why that is, Easter.”

“I can’t speak for him.”

“Well someone’s going to have to. The only thing he said was that it wasn’t working out between us.”

“He broke up with you?”

Alder put both of her hands on the little counter in front of the window, palms down. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

“I never expected him to,” I said. It was the truth.

“He didn’t have a lot of time to go into details, because he was taking some stupid drawing to Ponca City to have it framed.”

I choked. “He . . . what?”

“So you can tell me, Easter. Why are you doing this to me?”

“I’m sorry,” I said, that same anger I felt with Sara bubbling up again. “Why am I doing something to you?”

“Has he been cheating on me? I deserve to know!”

Frankie put her hand on her hip. “If he broke up with you, does it really matter?”

Alder’s eyes targeted Frankie. “Oh, go push out another kid, Frankie.”

Frankie slowly moved me to the side and leaned down. “You need to leave right now, or you’re going to have to try to enjoy your senior trip with no boyfriend and a new black eye. Because I will come through this window at you.”