That was all this was.
"You want coffee?" The words came out before he'd fully decided to say them. "I've got a pot on in the barn. It's not fancy, but it's hot."
Chloe blinked, clearly surprised. Then a small smile tugged at one corner of her mouth. "Sure. My hands are frozen."
They walked toward the barn together, Corin matched his pace to hers without thinking about it. She was shorter than him by nearly a foot, and her stride was quick to compensate. He liked the way she moved. Purposeful. No wasted motion.
His bear rumbled, a low sound of approval.
He told it to shut up.
Inside the barn, warmth wrapped around them from the space heater he'd set up near his workbench. Corin poured two mugs of coffee from the old percolator and handed one to Chloe. She wrapped both hands around it, breathing in the steam.
"This is good," she said after the first sip.
"It's coffee."
"Good coffee." She looked around the barn, taking in the stacked hive boxes, the tools hung neatly on pegboard walls, the bags of soil amendment lined up by the door. "You're very organized."
"Bees like order. Rubs off on you after a while."
That earned him another small smile. He found himself wanting to earn more of them.
They drank their coffee in comfortable silence. Chloe leaned against his workbench, close enough that he could smell her beneath the mud and cold air. Something green and fresh, like crushed herbs. It suited her.
"Same time Thursday?" she asked when her mug was empty. "If the ground's thawed enough, we can check that well."
"I'll text you."
"You have my number?"
He didn't. He'd never asked for it.
"Freya can give it to me," he said.
"Or I could just give it to you now."
Right. That made more sense.
She rattled off the digits and he saved them in his phone, trying not to notice the way his bear practically hummed at the development. It was just a phone number. Practical. For coordinating work.
"I should get back," Chloe said, setting her empty mug on the bench. "Freya's expecting me and I have my own starts to try and reanimate."
"I'll walk you to the gate."
"You don't have to."
"I know."
He walked her anyway. Watched her climb into her little hatchback and drive off down the gravel road until she disappeared around the bend.
Then he stood there for awhile, cold seeping through his coat, wondering why the barn felt emptier now than it had before she'd arrived.
It was nothing. He'd just been alone too much lately. Spent too many hours with only the bees for company. Of course he'd enjoy having someone else around, especially someone as easy to work with as Chloe.
She was smart. She was capable. She was beautiful, with those green eyes and that quiet determination and the way she talked to plants when she thought no one was listening.
Any man would enjoy her company. That was all it was.
