I Thought the Ice Cream Man Was Just Being Kind to My Daughter, Until He Gave Her a Note and Said, “Make Sure Your Mom Reads This”

picked this one when you were little.”

A strange chill moved through me.

Because he was right.

Strawberry shortcake had been my favorite.

Not occasionally.

Every single time.

Other kids loved rocket pops, drumsticks, and those character ice creams with gumball eyes.

Not me.

I always chose strawberry shortcake.

From the time my mother had to lift me high enough to reach the truck window until I was old enough to walk there myself with quarters in my pocket.

But that childhood had happened thirty years earlier.

Four hundred miles