“Hmm, it might. If you’re lucky, maybe she’ll bring them by.”
“Ooh, you think?” Lilah looked enchanted. “Would a kitten be tame enough if you got it young? I mean, you’d have to take it to the vet and everything, right?”
“You sure would.” He smiled to himself. Better Sophie than him saying no to a feral kitten. He could just picture that scene. “So if you want to go, there’s a flight out of JFK Saturday morning, and there’s still a few seats left. It’s eight a.m. so we’d have to leave early.”
She bolted up. “ThisSaturday? That’s like two days from now!”
“Yup.” He tousled her hair as he stood. “Better start packing. One suitcase please.”
...
Glenn’s stomach clotted with unhappiness as he swung into the Linden’s driveway and spotted the beekeeper. It appeared Cassie had gone and hired someone else. Three weeks and she’d already replaced him. Not that he was here about the bees, but it stung just the same that she’d moved on so quickly. Like he’d never existed. He peered out the window. What the hell was the guy doing, standing on a ladder for Christ’s sake, trying to lift out a frame.Who did that?It irked him that she’d gone and hired some amateur.
He idled the truck, debating whether to stay or go. He’d come straight from dropping Lilah at the airport, had been upbeat and positive even though it killed him. Maybe he should have given himself some time before coming over, but he’d waited too long already. He owed Cassie an apology but she’d clearly moved on, the beekeeping part anyway. His gut churned miserably. He’dbeen a fool, tied up in knots over the whole Weber thing when it really didn’t matter.
Oh crap. Beekeeper 2.0 had noticed him. Glenn gave a half-hearted wave, but the guy didn’t wave back. Just climbed off his ladder and started across the field. With a deep sigh Glenn killed the engine and got out of the truck, the gravel crunching in a familiar way. He didn’t want to deal with this new guy; he just wanted to find Cassie and see if he could make things right. He squinted into the sun. The dude was small, something familiar about him. That purposeful walk.He knew that walk.
Cassie! Clomping toward him in her dad’s bee suit. His heart kicked into gear as he legged across the grass to meet her. She probably thought he was being a dick, waiting for her to come to him. This was sonothow he wanted things to go.
She shrugged out of her veil when she got close. “Hey.”
“Hey,” he said cautiously. “How are you?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Carrying on.”
“Sorry I haven’t been by. It’s…uh…it’s been…” He’d rehearsed what he was going to say on the ride from the airport, trying to get it right. Maybe if he explained how her keeping quiet about Weber had dredged up all the old stuff about Sophie, maybe she’d understand. But his heart was pounding, and he couldn’t grab hold of his thoughts. Everything he’d worked out on the way over had flown out of his head. “I um…wanted to apologize,” he finally managed.
She looked at him. “I must have called you twenty times, and you never called back.”
He shifted from one foot to the other. “I did call the other day.”
“After almost three weeks.” Her face was flushed from the heat, and wisps of hair had gotten loose from her ponytail. Her dad’s bee suit engulfed her. She was beautiful.
“I meant to call sooner. I’m sorry. For all of it—the way I reacted and then going AWOL. But you weren’t exactly open either.” His heart was a tight fist in his chest. They’d both messed up, but he’d messed up big by walking away. “I should have called. It just got hard.”
“I called you so many times. It was like you fell off a cliff.” She’d left a hive open, and bees were drifting around. “I need to close that up,” she said. “Want to walk back with me?”
They fell into step, and he waited with a faltering heart for her to speak. For the first time it felt awkward between them. A distance he didn’t know how to bridge.
“I’m sorry too,” she said finally. “I should have just come out with it about selling to Weber. I guess deep down it felt wrong, and I didn’t want to hear about it. I wasn’t honest and that was wrong.”
“Yes, it was.” He’d hoped for her apology, but now it almost seemed beside the point. She’d withheld and he’d withdrawn. He didn’t know who was at fault anymore; it just felt miserable.
A frame with brood was propped against the open hive. “I wouldn’t have left it open,” she said, “but I saw your truck.”
“I’ll close it up for you.” Glenn went to pick up the frame, but she stepped past him.
“No need, I’ve got my trusty ladder.” She gave him a slightly embarrassed smile. “I could tell you didn’t know it was me.” She climbed onto the stool and slotted the frame back into the box. He had to admit the stool made sense, gave her a better angle. But there weren’t nearly as many bees as there should have been. The colony looked depleted. “What’s going on with the mites?” he said.
“The mites are the least of the problem. We got invaded by wasps.”
“Oh Christ.” He came closer for a look. “You put in entrance reducers. That was smart. Did your dad think of it?”
“I figured it out.”
“You did? Good for you.” He looked at her, impressed. “So have the wasps been back?”
“Yeah, but not as many are getting in. I haven’t seen a big invasion like that one day. They killed a lot of bees though.”
