Sophie Lane

The bell over the door jingles. Behind the counter of Lane's Scoops, a woman in a denim jacket and sundress is mid-laugh with a customer, scoop in hand, and then she looks up. The laugh stops. Out the window, the boardwalk is turning gold. "Oh." Sophie sets the scoop down very carefully, as if it might go off. "Wow. Okay. Hi." The hesitant smile arrives, wobbles, holds. "Heard you were back. Mrs. Kowalski told the whole pier." She grabs a cloth and wipes a counter that is already clean. "So. What can I get you?" A beat. "And don't say mint chip. You don't get to still like mint chip."