The Blueberry Swirl Waltz

By Maria Imbalzano

After a family crisis, Katie Hathaway must return home to help out in the family's ice cream shop. She leaves behind her dream job of teaching ballroom dance to spend her summer scooping ice cream and mixing milkshakes.

Chaz Hollander, Katie's high school crush, has also returned to town to work in his family's business. After Katie treats him to a blueberry swirl sundae, he invites her to the town's upcoming dance. The only problem is he has two left feet.

When Katie starts giving Chaz dance lessons, their chemistry ignites, and the postponement of her dream doesn't seem as ominous. But financial woes and a suspicious business deal cast a shadow on their budding relationship.

• Language: Unknown
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Jun 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781509231676

Maria Imbalzano

Maria Imbalzano is an award-winning contemporary author who writes about strong, independent women and the men who fall in love with them. She recently retired from the practice of law, but legal issues have a way of showing up in many of her novels. When not writing, she loves to travel both abroad and in the states. Maria lives in central New Jersey with her husband--not far from her two daughters and granddaughters. For more information about her books, please visit her website at http://mariaimbalzano.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter.

Book preview

Inc.

My hands are sweating. He wiped them against his slacks.

Don’t worry. She would take Chaz’s perspiring hands any day if it meant he was holding her close.

She ran through the steps with him over and over, each time picking up the pace. Don’t overthink it. Feel the rhythm. After a while she was able to synchronize with the music on the radio, and they were doing the first simple steps of the jitterbug. Together.

This is fun, he admitted, before stepping on her foot again. Sorry.

She laughed. I’m glad you like it. Let’s try a turn now.

She showed him the underarm turn and the inside turn, which they practiced during the next few songs. Katie could have gone on for hours, but Chaz had hit his limit.

He pulled her over to the stools, and they sat. I need a break. Please, teacher, please. But he never released her hand.

His smile dimmed and his eyes grew serious. She could barely breathe.

He lowered his head, and his lips were inches from her mouth. She gazed into the depths of his aqua eyes and spun into his cocoon. His lips brushed against hers, fleeting, delicious. She wanted more. Needed more.

Praise for Maria Imbalzano

Maria has received many honors for her work, including the ACRA Readers’ Choice Heart of Excellence Award and the Wisconsin Romance Writers Write Touch Readers Award. She was also a finalist for the New England Readers’ Choice Award, the NJ Romance Writers Golden Leaf Award, the RONE Award, and the Book Buyers Best Award.

~*~

Praise for SWORN TO REMEMBER

The Sworn Sisters Series

The romance between Samantha and Michael is slow burning but once they got together, they were electric.

~N.N. Light

The author beautifully incorporated themes of love, loss and of course friendship!...Highly recommend.

~Leanne Treese, Author

~*~

Praise for SWORN TO FORGET

The Sworn Sisters Series

Nicki and Dex have amazing chemistry and their heat is scorching, both in and out of the bedroom.

~LJT—NetGalley

The emotions of the characters really tugged at my heartstrings. The pacing was quick, and the writing smooth.

~Roni Denholtz, Author of One of These Nights

The Blueberry Swirl Waltz

by

Maria Imbalzano

One Scoop or Two

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

The Blueberry Swirl Waltz

COPYRIGHT © 2020 by Maria Imbalzano

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Debbie Taylor

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

PO Box 708

Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Vintage Rose Edition, 2020

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-3167-6

One Scoop or Two

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

For my mother, who is the inspiration for my heroine.

Thank you for your never-ending support,

love, and dance critiques.

And for my grandmother (Baba),

whose ice cream store in Roebling, NJ,

inspired the setting of this book.

Chapter One

Central New Jersey, June 1951

I got the job? I got the job! Katie Hathaway spun on her toes, her yellow swing dress ballooning over her legs as she hugged the air around her. When she came to a stop, Mr. Grant, the manager of Arthur Mueller’s Dance Studio in Trenton, stepped back, as if afraid she would kiss him.

That’s quite a response to a job offer. His usually stern face showed the hint of a smile. I’ve never seen that reaction before.

Probably because no one worked as hard as she had to learn the five audition dances perfectly, not only during weekly dance lessons, but in her sparse room at the boarding house where she’d pushed the solid but chipped furniture to the wall to give her twirling space.

Katie attempted to rein in her exuberance and show her professional side. Thank you so much, Mr. Grant. When do I start?

A week from today. Next Saturday. Be here by ten a.m. His top lip barely moved beneath a gray, manicured mustache. You’ll work until six. Also, three nights a week from six to nine. I’ll let you know what nights when you start. He pivoted and disappeared into his paper-laden office.

Exhaling did nothing to remove the smile bonded to her lips. Even her cheeks hurt, which she massaged with her fingers while planning her next step. She’d have to request a revised schedule at Lily’s Department Store where she’d been working full time as a sales clerk in the dress salon. Saturdays were busy there, but her boss knew how much she wanted to teach dance. He’d understand.

Breezing out of the studio into the center of town, she hit a wall of humid June heat, but not even ninety-degree temperatures could slow her down. She had to tell someone, but her friends at the boarding house were either working today or taking advantage of the summer sunshine. On a whim, she hopped on the bus to her hometown of Roebling.

Her mom would be thrilled, knowing how hard Katie had worked to get this opportunity. Besides, she owed her mother a visit, and this was the perfect news to deliver in person.

The fifty-minute bus ride from Trenton was an excruciating exercise in restraint as she fidgeted in the well-worn leather seat while holding back from sharing her good fortune with any stranger who would listen. When she finally arrived at her destination, she ran up the street—past Mason’s Bar, Joe’s Barber Shop, and the empty cobbler shop—keeping to the balls of her feet so her dance heels wouldn’t get stuck between the red bricks of the sidewalk.

The screen door to Pop’s Confectionary and Ice Cream Shoppe banged behind Katie as the thrilling words tumbled from her mouth. Ma, Ma, I got the job! Bubbling excitement spilled from her pores. Ma, where are you?

The delicious aroma of hot fudge overpowered the lesser scent of beeswax-polished floors, and Katie closed her eyes to take in the familiar smells. Her sister Holly skidded from the house into the shop through the connecting doorway, a bleak look on her adolescent face.

Where’s Mom? Katie scanned the empty stools in front of the soda fountain counter, the dark lights, the quiet pinball machine. The shop was usually packed on a Saturday afternoon, especially now that it was the end of June. Teenagers met their friends, acting cool while making plans for the evening. Preteens counted their leftover allowance to buy candy, ice cream, or soda. Parents stopped in with their younger ones after playing in the park.

Pinpricks of anxiety squelched her joy from moments before. What’s going on, Holly?

Mom’s at the hospital. Her face paled. I think she broke her arm.

When? How? Dread mixed with compassion reeled through her.

This morning. She was carrying empty boxes down to the basement and fell. She said she missed a step.

Their brother, Henry, had often begged Mom to let him deal with the inventory in the basement. The rickety steps were a hazard, the boxes too heavy for her to carry upstairs. She obviously felt taking empty boxes down was still on the approved list.

Is Henry with her?

Yes. He promised to call with news, but we haven’t heard from him.

Poor Mom. She was always on the move, never allowing any illness to waylay her. But a broken arm would force her to sit on the sidelines, a position she’d buck but would be unable to control. Why didn’t you and Tina open the store?

Holly shrugged, eliciting a twinge of annoyance that Katie didn’t hide. Holly was sixteen and more than capable of running the shop in their mother’s absence. Their sister Tina, just two years younger, was also competent.

Katie switched on the lights with a huff, turned the sign on the front window from closed to open, and grabbed an apron to tie around her favorite dress—her audition dress. She had carefully chosen this outfit for her interview that morning, sliding on a full petticoat underneath, which worked well in demonstrating the dances she hoped to be teaching. And now she would. It was an ideal supplement to her day job at Lily’s, and a bridge to becoming a competitive ballroom dancer.

The rush of joy returned momentarily. She had gotten the job. Three nights a week and all day Saturday, she’d be doing