Elvis snorts, dabs at his eye, and straightens in his chair. “Oh, sorry, Mom. I meant balls.”
Jules slaps my brother’s arm and shoots him the look. The one our mother has perfected over the years. The very same one that always manages to get Elvis to shut up.
“Stop it, El. You’re being gross,” Jules scolds him, then she shoots me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, Calvin. That really does sound awful. But in all seriousness, are you okay? Did they have someone with medical training around to check to see if you needed to go to the hospital or anything?”
I shake my head, my cheeks burning with the intensity of an inferno. It’s bad enough that Mom even brought up the incident in front of Elvis, but in front of new company? Company who looks like she’s probably going to be sticking around for a while? There’s nothing I want more than to shrink down to the size of one of those frozen peas and roll away underneath the table.
“I’m fine, but thanks for asking. And no, they didn’t have any first aid or anything like that.”
Elvis’s eyes meet mine, and one of the corners of his mouth curls up. I glare at him, and he claps a hand over his mouth to keep from snickering. How did this immature asshat manage to get a girlfriend, anyway? Add it to the Seven Wonders of the World, I guess. Let it be eight.
With our pot roast devoured and plates clean, the three of us clear the table for Mom and get her settled into the living room for her nightly television-watching ritual. She loves a good trivia show before bed, and it’s nearly nine o’clock already. The day flew by in a blink. Dinner turned out to be more fun than I thought it would be, thanks to Jules.
When I step out onto the front porch, Jules follows me and closes the door behind her.
“Hey,” she says in a soft voice. Clearly, she doesn’t want anyone inside to hear us. “Did Elvis talk to you about the guild?”
I pretend there’s a smudge on my glasses and take them off to clean them with my shirt. Right. The bees. I’d nearly forgotten between the pot roast and the conversation.
“Uh, yeah, actually. But I’m not sure I’m going to be the right person for this,” I say, and bring a hand up to rub the back of my neck. Why am I like this? Always so nervous when talking to someone new? Even my palms are sweating, and yesterday’s embarrassment in the outfield comes creeping up over me in a sickly wave. Yeah. That’s going to haunt me while I’m lying awake at three a.m. for the next thirty years.
Jules shakes her head and says, “No, no! In fact, I think it’s the opposite. I like your brother a lot, but he can be … not the most responsible guy on the planet, I’m afraid. He makes up for it with his sweetness, though.”
I let out a snort. “My brother? Sweet?”
None of his past … yeah, no, I can’t call them girlfriends. Elvis doesn’t do girlfriends. He does one-night stands and friends with benefits. None of the women he’s slept with in the past have ever had anything nice to say about him, so this takes me completely by surprise.
Jules smiles at me, then hops up to perch on the porch railing. “I know, I know. When I joined the company two months ago, I couldn’t imagine talking to the guy, let alone going out with him. But when he asked me out, I said yes, and … here we are. A month in, and I’m not sick of his shit yet. What about you, though? Do you have a girlfriend?”
Frowning, I shake my head. “No. No girlfriend. Just a feisty, fluffy white cat named Scotch Bonnet.”
Jules laughs. “Oh my goodness, what an adorable name! I love it. You named her after a pepper?”
“Yeah,” I say, scratching at the stubble on my throat. “She’s the only girl in my life, besides Mom.”
“There are a ton of cute girls at the beekeepers’ guild, by the way,” Jules says, and her nose crinkles with a hint of mischief.
Oh, no. Eager to end this train of thought before it can leave the station, I inch toward the steps.
Jules laughs again. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to set you up. Just … please. Come over. I’d love to get to know my boyfriend’s brother a little more.”
I stare at her long enough for her cover to crack, and she lets out a soft groan. “Okay, fine. That, and your brother really, really wants you there.”
Wait, what?
“He’s been … working through some things. Don’t tell him I told you this, but he also just wants to spend more time with you. As brothers,” she says.
Okay, when she puts it that way … it’s a little difficult to say no. I scrub a hand through my hair and nod. “I want to. But… isn’t it on the other side of the city? Even without heavy traffic, it’s still a forty-five minute drive.”
Jules’s expression turns pensive for a moment. “Right. That would be an issue, yeah. We don’t want you to have to come all that way just for this.” A beat passes between us, and a lump forms in my throat. This is awkward. Jules gives me a reassuring smile and says, “How about this? You have that rooftop garden at your apartment, right? The one you were telling us about at dinner?”
I nod, curious where she’s going with this.
“I’m partially in charge over at the guild, so I have a lot of pull. I’ll tell the guild master the situation and we can move Elvis’s hive to your garden. How does that sound?”
I scratch my chin lightly. It’s hard to say no when she’s making it so convenient, so I nod. “Sure. That sounds doable. Thanks, Jules. I can still come for a meeting or two, though. Just to get the basics down.”
Jules’s smile widens as she pulls her phone out of her dress pocket. I didn’t even know dresses had pockets. “Perfect! Yay! Oh, this is going to be so much fun, I promise, Calvin! I’ll grab your number off your brother, and I’ll send you the time and place, okay? One of the meetings is tomorrow night. Is that too soon?” She looks up at me and winces.