He looks at me in surprise, caught unaware. Then he smiles as if he’s happy I asked the question. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot, too.” He leans against a maple tree and pulls me close to him, like he needs to touch me when he talks aboutus. “In the beginning, it was…amazing. Wasn’t it?”
I nod. It was. I didn’t care that his family were douchebags because Aiden and I were doing great, and that’s all that mattered.
“But then the company started sinking, and I buried myself in longer and longer hours.” His hand strokes my shoulder, though it feels like he’s soothing himself asmuch as me. “That’s when the distance began. And when I stepped into the CEO role, it only grew. I didn’t balance my work and my marriage—I let Winter Financial swallow me whole. And in that space between us, I…let something dangerous in.” He clears his throat, his voice rough. “I developed feelings for Diana. Maybe not in a purely physical sense, but I leaned on her, relied on her. I enjoyed her company in a way I should have reserved for you.”
I find that his words don’t pierce the way they used to.
Diana, I have realized, was and is not the problem. Aiden doesn’t love her. He loves me. She was a distraction, yes, and a tangible proof of the issues in our marriage we were papering over—but she was not the cause of those issues.
“I didn’t tell you that I wasn’t happy,” I murmur.
“I should’ve known.”
I lean against him, letting myself melt into his warmth.
He’s shouldering the blame for our marriage unraveling because his sins were loud, visible, and impossible to ignore. Mine were quieter, harder to name, but they were there all the same. The times I stayed silent when his family cut me down. The times I swallowed my hurt when he missed anniversaries and milestones, pretending it didn’t matter when it did—when it mattered so much I could barely breathe.
“If I had told you, ‘No, stay with me’ or ‘Take me to Paris with you?’” I muse.
He looks at me. “Baby.”
I nod and then shrug. “Instead, I said I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”
“You did. But I knew it wasn’t fine, that you weren’t fine.”
“If we ever do this again, then we have to be honest and open.” The words slip out without me pausing to filter them.
He beams. “I absolutely agree.”
I roll my eyes. “I saidif, not when.”
“I got you toif, baby,” he says cockily. “Iwillget you towhen.”
I’m saved from revealing how much I want us to be back together, despite all the alarm bells ringing in my head, by Una, our tour guide. She’s a stout woman with silver-streaked braids and an encyclopedic knowledge of pollinators.
“Welcome to Little Wing Apiary.” Una greets as she hands out gauzy beekeeper veils. “We’re going to take you up to one of the hives, show you the process of honey collection, and yes, if you’re brave enough—” she winks—“you can hold a frame of the comb. The bees are used to us. Just stay calm, breathe, and don’t swat.”
There are six of us on the tour. An older couple from New Hampshire celebrating their anniversary, a mother with her teenage son, who looks like he’d rather be anywhere else, and us.
I lean in as we follow Una up a dirt path to the hives. “I’m going to end up getting stung in the face, aren’t I?”
“Maybe,” he whispers back, his lips grazing my ear. “But like they say, no pain, no gain. No sting, no honey.”
“Aiden,” I breathe.
“But the best honey in the world, baby, is between your gorgeous legs. Now, if I could lick that….”
My eyes widen, and heat pools between said gorgeous legs. Even after all this time, he gets me going effortlessly.
“Cut it out.” I slap his shoulder and put on my bee veil as defense against any furtherforeplay.
He laughs and dons his as well. He looks over, his eyes crinkling behind the mesh of his veil. “No way I’m cutting it out, baby, not when I know you’re wet.”
Alright then! Time and place, buddy. This ain’t it.
Thankfully, we reach the hives. Una goes into a practiced spiel about the parts of the box and how the bees maintain a perfect, humming society.
She cracks open the top of the hive with a hive tool and lifts out a glistening frame. It’s alive with movement, bees crawling and buzzing, golden comb shining in the sunlight.
