“This is Glenn Marsden, he’s helping Grandpa with the bees. This is my son, Andrew.”
They shook hands, and Cassie was struck by how fragile Andrew looked. Five days of rest hadn’t done much for him. If anything, he looked more wrung out than ever. She would make chicken soup tonight the way he liked with bits of potato. Shewas still hoping she could convince him to go back to school, but time was running out. His flight was on Wednesday.
Phil, of course, had hit the roof when she told him Andrew didn’t want to go back. “He has to go back,” he’d said. “No discussion. He’s four finals away from the end of the semester.”
“He’s in a bad place, Phil.” She was whispering in her old room upstairs so Andrew, across the hall, couldn’t hear.
“He didn’t say anything to me. How did this suddenly come up?”
“It didn’t just suddenly come up. If you’d spent more than ten minutes with him he might have told you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? He was here for three days.”
“And I’m sure you were working most of it.” She didn’t add the part about Natalie and the kids. Provoking Phil wouldn’t solve anything. What leverage did they have anyway if Andrew refused to go back to school? She hated the thought of him walking away right before finals, but he was on the edge. Even getting out of bed was an effort. At least she’d made him an appointment with Dr. Milburn.
Glenn helped her dad into the truck, then handed him the bag of powdered sugar.
Cassie smiled. “I have to see this.”
“Powdered sugar?” Andrew said but ambled down the driveway with her. “Does this bee guy know what he’s doing?”
“More than I do. Actually, he’s been a lifesaver.”
Her father, who thankfully had put on a veil, was given the job of holding the frames flat as Glenn sprinkled the bees with sugar. They immediately went into motion, hurrying away like animated white raisins, a few lifting off in a powdery haze.
“Let’s do this quick,” Glenn said, sliding in the first frame and removing another. “Before they get too annoyed.”
Andrew, blinking in surprise, leaned in for a look.
Glenn offered him the sugar. “Want to try?”
“Um, sure.”
Cassie was about to protest that Andrew wasn’t wearing a veil, but she had to smile at the sight of him in his pajamas sprinkling sugar over the tray of bees, like a kid making Christmas cookies.
Glenn handed her father another frame and Andrew dusted sugar over that one too, laughing as the bees turned white. “Mom, you should try.”
“Me?” Her stomach seized at the thought of cozying up to a frame full of bees.
Glenn raised an eyebrow, another frame at the ready.
“Um…I really don’t…”
“Oh, come on. It’s fun.” Andrew handed her the sugar, looking happier than he had in days.
She took the bag, eyeing the bees apprehensively. They oozed over the wooden frame, a wiggling black mass of movement. A few lifted off right in front of her nose, and it was all she could do not to jump back. She crept closer and sprinkled a little sugar on top.
“Look close,” Glenn said, “you can see them grooming each other.”
Andrew’s eyes went big. “I see them!”
“Oh, my goodness.” Cassie let go a laugh. “I see them too. It’s like a little salon. One right on top of the other.”
Andrew laughed, a real laugh, which was the best sound she’d heard all week.
Once the bees were dusted, Glenn replaced the bottom boards with the screened frames and attached a sticky mat beneath each one. The bees were wound up now, zooming around their heads. Wait. What was that?Oh my God, she had one in her hair!
She let out a shriek, swatting at her head the way you weren’t supposed to.
