“One more dragée... and we’re done!” Freddie topped the last cupcake. It was already placed in the cupcake box along with all the others. Three more of the pink boxes sat on the counter, two stacked one atop the other and bagged, and the last waiting for its partner before being packaged.

“Pretty,” Reagan Ann remarked. She sat at the table, her arms folded in front of her. Her chin rested in the crook between her arms. “So pretty, Daddy. Can I have one?”

“I’m sorry, sweetie.” Freddie closed the box and pulled a tab of tape from the dispenser to seal it shut. “The cupcakes are for a client. What would you say to ice cream instead?”

Reagan Ann’s eyes lit up, and she lifted her head to smile at him. “Yes, please!”

“Then after this delivery, let’s go get some ice cream. I think we’re both long overdue for a trip to Cone Heads, don’t you?”

“Yes!”

Freddie brought the box to the counter and set it atop the singular box on the counter. He taped them together to make sure they wouldn’t slide, then worked the sturdy plastic bag he’d set beneath the bottom-most box up until both boxes were contained. Reagan Ann pushed her chair back from the table and hopped down to follow him as he took the bags one at a time to his car. When he’d secured the second bag in the trunk, he turned to face her. She beamed up at him, her head lifted so her brown pigtails fell down her shoulders. At five years old, she was as cute as a button, and he knew for a fact he was wrapped around her little finger. There wasn’t anything Freddie wouldn’t do for his daughter.

He scooped her up into his arms as she giggled.

“Daddy!” she cried in delight. “Can we go for ice cream now?”

“I’ve just got to lock the house,” Freddie said. He held her in one arm and tickled her, and she shrieked with adorable laughter. “And I think a little miss needs to get strapped into her booster seat.”

She was too busy laughing to reply.

Freddie opened the car door and set her into the red booster seat installed in the back of his car. He hummed softly as he strapped her in, already in a good mood. Not only was his tiny cupcake business doing well, but he had a feeling something monumental was about to happen. It was the kind of feeling he always got when the weather changed and his nose picked up on fresh air — the kind of boundless feeling that made him feel free and uninhibited.

“Do you think you can be a good girl today while I make my delivery?” Freddie asked as he kissed her forehead.

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Then I think there’s nothing else we need to worry about, is there? I’ve got the delivery, I’ve got you, and I’m just about to lock the door.”

A noise disrupted Freddie, and he looked over his shoulder to see what it was. It sounded like a metal bucket being knocked over, but when he looked, he saw nothing that could have made the noise. Maybe, he thought, it was the neighbors. The houses here were all built so closely together that it wouldn’t surprise him.

He closed the door, activated the locks to make sure nothing happened to Reagan Ann while his back was turned, then went to lock the front door. It had been left ajar. Most likely, Reagan Ann hadn’t closed it completely on her way out. These days she was more eager to prove she was a big kid than ever, but a lot of the time, she under-performed. It didn’t bother Freddie all that much, but he was doubly glad he’d gone to check the door.

He closed and locked it, then returned to the car, popped the locks, and sank into the driver seat. He turned the ignition and got the radio going while he checked his mirrors. Reagan Ann was tracing her fingers along the bottom of the window, watching something on the lawn with childlike fascination. Freddie looked where she was looking, but saw nothing. He shrugged it off, started the car, and carefully backed down the driveway.

“Are you ready to start our fun day out?” he asked as he paused at the end of the driveway, waiting for the one incoming car to pass.

“Yes!” Reagan Ann explained. She clapped her hands.

“Then let’s get moving.” The traffic passed. Freddie pulled out and began his delivery route. “There’s ice cream waiting for us.”

* * *

The eightieth birthday party he’d been asked to deliver cupcakes to was still being set up when Freddie entered the venue. A few people were hanging streamers on the walls while others were pulling tablecloths over the tables. One young man busied himself with an overhead projector and the video input connected to it. It looked like Freddie was on time.

He set one of the bags down and knocked at the side of the door. Everyone turned to look his way, and one of the women laying the tables left her station to come greet him—he remembered her from the tasting appointment she’d attended. Sarah was older than the rest of her crew, probably somewhere in her fifties. Freddie wondered if she had her kids helping her set up.

“Hello!” she said. “You must be Freddie. Thank you so much for coming all the way out here to deliver. You’ve seriously made our day.”

Freddie smiled. “It’s not a big deal. I’m glad to help out where I can.”

“It’s a big deal to us.” She looked down at Reagan Ann, who was holding onto Freddie’s pant leg. “And my lanta, look at you! Who might you be, sweetheart?”

Reagan Ann bunched her shoulders and looked at her feet shyly. “I’m Reagan Ann, ma’am.”

“Reagan Ann!” Sarah chuckled. She squatted down to Reagan Ann’s level. “Well aren’t you the cutest thing I ever did see? Did you help your Daddy make any of those yummy cupcakes?”

“No, ma’am,” Reagan Ann said shyly. She looked up at Sarah, then looked down again, startled. “Daddy lets me watch, though. He’s very good at making cupcakes. He says one day when I’m older that maybe... maybe I’ll be able to help, too. But not until I’m a big kid. He says that I can’t even lick the frosting out of the bowl.”

Sarah laughed, and when she stood up straight and met Freddie’s gaze again, he was delighted to see that she was charmed instead of off-put. There was a soft look in her eyes that said she was taken by Reagan Ann already.

“Well, if I’d known that there was going to be a little helper delivering the cupcakes today, I would have ordered some extra for her to enjoy.” She winked at Freddie. “I guess that means Daddy is going to have to make sure that she’s paid for her hard work.”

“Oh, he is,” Reagan Ann insisted. She looked up, halfway between terrified and enthusiastic. “We’re going to have ice cream after this. Daddy said.”

“That does sound like a good deal.”

“Y-Yeah.” Reagan Ann looked away again, but she was smiling this time. “I like ice cream.”

“What’s your favorite flavor?”

The conversation was getting a little out of hand. Freddie appreciated southern hospitality as much as the next man, but after ice cream, he had a few phone calls to return to potential clients, and he wanted to make sure he got on that before the sun set.

“Bubblegum!” Reagan Ann exclaimed. She looked at Sarah, no longer shy. “With sprinkles.”

“Is there a place Reagan Ann and I can set these cupcakes down for you?” Freddie asked kindly. He smiled at Sarah. “We can’t be too late for our ice cream date.”

“Oh, right, right!” Sarah waved them over to one of the longer tables. “If you could set the boxes here, I’ll take care of the rest. Thank you so much for all your efforts, and for coming out here today. Your cupcakes will be making my father a very happy man, let me tell you.”

Freddie set the cupcakes where he’d been asked. Reagan Ann followed him the whole way, sometimes sneaking looks at Sarah, as if she wasn’t sure whether Sarah was a stranger she shouldn’t trust, or a friend she should trust with everything.

“I’m glad to hear it.” Half of the fun of running his own business was bringing joy into people’s lives. Most of the clients he’d worked with were planning events for big, celebratory moments in their lives — birthday parties, engagement parties, weddings, and graduation parties. There was something really wonderful about working with perpetually happy clients. Freddie loved it far more than he had his desk job, even if he was sometimes worried about finishing a month in the red. “It was a pleasure to work with you. Have a fantastic party.”

“Oh, we will! If we ever get the hall set up!” She laughed. “The two of you enjoy your day now, too, all right? Enjoy all that yummy bubblegum ice cream.”

“I will,” Reagan Ann promised. She smiled. “Have a really fun party!”

Freddie took her hand, and after a final goodbye to Sarah, he directed her to the door. She skipped all the way, gone from shy wallflower to the adorable source of eternal energy she was at home. They left the building, then headed across the parking lot. Reagan Ann’s pigtails bounced with every leap she made.

“Ice cream time,” Freddie said as he unlocked the door and lifted her into her booster seat. He strapped her in. “What do you think you’ll do after?”

“Color!” Reagan Ann announced. “And play with Princess.”

Princess was their tabby cat, and she was fiercely protective of Reagan Ann.

“What if Princess doesn’t want to play?” Freddie asked.

“She will,” Reagan Ann said wisely. “She always does. Just sometimes, she doesn’t know it.”

He held back a laugh and shook his head, then closed Reagan Ann in and got started on getting settled behind the wheel. There was still a little while to go before he could get back to work, and the less time he spent standing around, the sooner he could get to it.