‘Speaking of Jean, I heard a thing on the radio about telling the bees when someone is gone. Have you heard of that?
Just the word ‘bee’ was enough to conjure up a visual of Spencer. Clem’s heart ached. She’d done a lot of thinking in the fortnight since her great aunt’s death, especially in light of the revelation that Jean had also made arrangements for VAD. She knew she’d hurt Spencer, and made a snap judgement on an issue that she hadn’t researched or considered from the perspective of those left behind. Speaking with Fiona had certainly helped her see it from another point of view.
‘Tell me about it,’ Clem said softly.
She listened as her grandfather recapped the radio segment. ‘Some think they spread the message about a major event far and wide across the animal kingdom. They did it after Queen Elizabeth passed in 2022 and there’re poems and books about it, dating back hundreds of years.’
Clem chewed on her lip, unsure. ‘You’re not normally into folklore traditions, Pop. Do you really believe bees bridge the gap with the afterlife?’
‘That’s what they said on the radio, and I like the sound of it. You could ask Ian and Louisa about it, love. They’re beekeepers, they’ll know.’
She shook her head. ‘They’re packing up before the property changes hands. I think settlement’s directly after the play.’ Arthur tucked his walking stick into the front footwell and shuffled into the seat. Clem checked the girls’ seatbelts, then strapped herself in and started the car.
‘How about Spencer? He’s in charge of the bees until the new owners are up to speed, isn’t he? You know him, you can ask for me. If I’d known about this custom earlier, I’d have asked him at the funeral.’
Clem kept her hands on the steering wheel.Spencer was at the funeral?
But Spencer hated funerals. He’d told her that himself, and she’d also heard him mention it to one of the contestants during the TV show.
‘Jack might be able to ask him,’ Clem said as she stopped to drop her grandfather back at his retirement village.
‘Won’t you be seeing him at the play next month? And every rehearsal in between?’
Arthur gave her a quizzical look, before pressing his lips together, gathering up his walking stick and bidding them farewell.
I can’t ask Spencer for something after I was so awful to him. She knew she should apologise properly, explain that she’d reconsidered her position. But there was something, a little jagged edge in the smoothness of her heart, that refused to let it go. She hadn’t seen her psychologist in years, but she suspected he’d have a few opinions on why this was, or would at least probe her until she reached some conclusions of her own.
The waves looked as inviting as ever when they pulled up at Beachport.
Hazel and Maggie West could almost have been twins, and if Clem didn’t know the sisters, she might have assumed Alma was Maggie’s child, and Cormac belonged to Hazel.
‘Isobel’s here too!’ Indi clapped her hands. ‘This is the bestest day ever.’
Harriet unstrapped herself and then her sister as soon as the car rolled to a stop, and Indi was straight out the door, heading for the sand in an instant.
‘Indi’s wrong, the production night is going to be the bestest day ever,’ Harriet told Clem, helping unload the car. ‘Louisa said I’m the best young lead actress the theatre company’s ever had, and we’re going to bring the house down.’
Her confidence made Clem so proud. Thanks to the Brealys’ guidance, and a helping hand from Spencer throughout the dress rehearsals, Harriet’s lines were near flawless. It was a far cry from the non-speaking role she’d had in the junior primary play, and her role as the donkey on the Christmas float.
‘I bet you’re right! We’d better keep that sunscreen up, you don’t want to be sunburnt for your starring performance.’
Jeff and Mia pulled up just as Clem was ferrying the final load from the car to the shore.
Mia wrapped Clem in a hug, scanning her face. ‘How are you holding up? Is Selina going okay?’
‘Of course she’s going okay,’ Jeff said, helping Reggie from his car seat. ‘If my granny had left me a unit in Adelaide, I’d be the happiest seventeen-year-old going around. Especially after that stunt she pulled.’
Mia elbowed Jeff.
‘I told you not to say anything,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘I didn’t mean to tell him, Clem, honest. It slipped out when I was tired. Sorry!’
Clem shook her head, giving her friend a reassuring smile. ‘That’s okay, tiredness is the thief of rational thought. And it’s not really a secret, Selina told Ian and Louisa the other day. Jean knew Selina really regretted the way she’d acted.’
‘Even though she’d been tossing nails in front of your tyres and orchestrating your cafe’s ruin?’
Mia swatted Jeff’s arm. ‘Keep your nose out of this, blabbermouth.’ She turned back to Clem, groaning as she watched him blow a cheeky kiss in her direction before heading to the sand. ‘He tells me nothing, and despite my best intentions, I tell him everything.’
Keeping one eye on the children splashing with Isobel in the shallows, Clem took a deep breath.
