“Good job,” he said, realizing that only added to the inadvertent condescension. “I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why I’m being so awkward.”
“You’re not any more awkward than I just was.” She laughed and took a pencil into her fingers to begin her sketch.
“You weren’t awkward at all. You were great.”
She gave a little snort. “I tend to go on and on when I get an opportunity to talk about bees. It’s hard to get me to shut up about them once I get rolling.”
“Because you’re passionate,” he said, leaning closer. “That’s a good thing.”
Eyes lifting, she looked right at him. “Sometimes my passion makes me a little…”
“Crazy?”
“I was going to say dramatic.” Her eyes were wide with mock offense. “But I guess they are two sides of the same coin.”
J.P. picked up his pencil and tapped it on his lip. “You love your bees. I get that. And I’m sorry I ever suggested doing something that might harm them.”
“It’s okay.” She looked back down at her drawing that was beginning to take impressive shape.
“It’s not.” This time, his hand didn’t land on her back, but cupped her free hand resting by the side of her piece of sketch paper. “I’m sorry, Nora.” He clutched it lightly. “I was wrong about the bees, and I owe you an apology for that.”
He couldn’t get past the niggling feeling that he was wrong about much, much more than just the bees.
Chapter Seventeen
Nora moved the microfiber towel over the surface one last time until the computer desk absolutely gleamed. She had already cleaned two houses that morning, with another quick office cleaning scheduled that afternoon, which she’d just completed. It was more than she usually tackled in one day, but she wasn’t in the financial position to turn down employment opportunities.
The tension in her shoulders made them bunch to her ears as she twisted the small rag between her hands. She draped the towel over the side of her bucket. She would need to do some serious yoga to loosen these tired muscles. That, or fall into bed and not wake until morning. Maybe not even until next week.
But she didn’t have that luxury. She’d promised to help J.P. with the removal of the bees in the interior wall the following day. If she waited any longer, she feared he’d take things into his own hands, and she just wasn’t at the point where she trusted him not to do something stupid.
But shewantedto trust him.
Something about the way he regarded her last night during Chloe’s drawing class was different. It wasn’t the judging, calculating glare he often gave her. It was softer. Less edgy. And if Nora could be completely real about the thoughts jamming up her muddled brain, it was undeniably handsome.
Hewas handsome.
Of course, she’d known that from the first time he stormed up to her porch, but an ugly personality was enough to mar anyone’s good looks. And his had been a doozy.
Was it all so ugly now? Sure, most of their interactions resulted in frustration, but Nora could sense him working hard to be civil. That counted for something, even if it was just alittlesomething.
She tucked her cleaning supplies away and punched the alarm code for the insurance office before exiting the building. Just as she reached her vehicle in the parking lot, her phone buzzed within her back pocket, giving her a start.
It was Pearl checking in to see if Nora had any availability to clean her son’s apartment again the following week. Nora doubted it even needed it. The apartment had already been pretty orderly prior to her first visit. But she also wasn’t about to give up a paying job. That wasn’t in her nature, or in her savings account’s best interest.
She typed back that she could clean after church on Sunday. That was the only day she could possibly fit it in. She didn’t like having to work on what should be her day of rest, but she didn’t have any other options. Within seconds, Pearl’s thumbs up reply confirmed the date.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in the shed out back, gathering the things she would need for the following day’s colony removal. Nora’s goal was to safely extract as much comb as she could and transfer it into a new hive. She would set up an extra box near the existing colony and—if they were successful at retrieving the queen—they might have a decent chance in transferring a good majority of the bees to keep the hive going. Some bees would be sacrificed in the process. She knew that was unavoidable. But she endeavored to save as many bees as she possibly could. It was a better future for them than the one J.P. had planned.
Several years back, she had assisted in another swarm removal, but that was a cluster on a low branch of an old oak tree, not an entire colony wedged inside a wall in a rundown house. Still, Nora figured the methods were the same and her previous experience would serve her well. She knew what to expect.
Plus, this had to work. She’d been so adamant with J.P., to the point of hostility. If, for some unforeseen reason, she wasn’t able to remove and relocate the hive, her ego would take a hit she wasn’t sure she could come back from. Why did that bother her so much?
Sitting on a bench near her garden, the late evening sun dipping past the horizon in a spectacular, color-splashed sky, an epiphany settled upon her. She knewexactlywhy it bothered her.
Connor.
He had questioned her from the very beginning of their relationship, made her feel small in ways she didn’t fully understand…even now. And when J.P. had challenged her right off the bat, all of that pent up frustration transferred squarely onto him. Nora was tired of proving herself to the men in her life. Not that J.P. was in her life in that way. But she knew her value and didn’t like it to be in question. So she stood up to J.P. and dug in her heels, something she’d never dared to do with Connor.
