Love as sweet as honey

Honey Lambert’s life is full of all work and no play…until a handsome stranger sits down next to her and fills her world with new possibilities

- Chris Maday Schmidt

Although it’s been a year since I opened the Honey Stand, I still spend too much time work ing and not enough time doing anything else. So today, with my employee, Ally, manning the stand and after paying for a scoop at the ice-cream truck, I settle at a table beneath a massive umbrella to observe the passersby.

As I spoon a bit of ice cream into my mouth, a Jeep pulls up to the curb and an attractive blond man dressed in jeans and a T-shirt exits. He’s definitely not a local—no doubt passing through our small town. I tuck a lock of unruly hair behind my ear and when he catches me staring, I nearly choke on a peanut butter cluster. A traitorous blush creeps up my neck under his appreciative regard.

“Looks good!”

Smooth as the honey I sell, the man’s voice flows through my veins before I realize he’s admiring my dessert.

I clear my throat. “You can never go wrong with chocolate, in my opinion.”

“A woman after my own heart.”
The man winks and I tamp down a sudden influx of butterflies. Ally was right—I did need to get out more.

He approaches me minutes later, a cup in hand. “Do you have an opinion about sharing your table with a stranger?”