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The whole room, including Sophie stirring a steady stream of transparent liquid nitrogen into Sophia’s five-gallon bucket, retreated. The sweet-smelling fog billowing from the brew only enhanced the feeling of unreality.
His mouth had betrayed him.
Dale wasn’t someone people turned to for comfort, but he couldn’t turn his back on Ralph’s blatant distress. Social niceties weren’t going to do it. Neither would Dale throwing himself under the ice cream trolley.
Ralph drew a shuddering breath and nodded. “Yeah. I could have worked for him, if things were different.”
The man standing in front of them glared over his shoulder.
Dale flinched.
Ralph grimaced and clanged his teeth together.
The man turned back to the ice cream alchemists.
Dale’s relief and guilt surged. It’s not that Da
