Page 37 of Wanted

Nothing. It’s empty.

Where the fuck could it be? My phone is dying, and I need it to call my mother. Knowing her, she must be going out of her mind because she hasn’t heard from me. I need an update on my bees, too.

Taking care of them is a precious task and I love it, but there are no days off. Bees have no vacations or weekends. A beekeeper who hopes to gather quality honey without harming the hive, has to check the chambers frequently and at specific times. Don’t even get me started on what needs to happen when it’s cold or raining.

To keep stability, the hive needs to stay at a temperature of around ninety-five degrees, the brood cycle needs to be taken care of as the future of the hive depends on them.

On top of all the daily maintenance, our trustworthy customers are waiting for their orders to be fulfilled in a timely manner. I have an inventory of the jars, lids, and labels on my phone, but I’m not sure if my mother has made any extra sales. After all, our income depends on it. My mother’s house relies on the sales as well as the rent for mine.

Lionel sips his coffee while watching me.

“Hocus pocus!” he says, moving his hands dramatically in the air.

“Don’t be a jerk, Lionel, this is serious.”

“I’m trying to help,” he says, looking me in the eye. “Take it easy, I’m sure it’s somewhere.”

Maybe I should cut his head off?

“I don’t know where else to look. I’ve already emptied my suitcase.”

He looks at the kitchen’s white ceiling for a second. “Could you have left it at the hospital?”

“I’m sure that’s it,” I agree with him as I think about what I’m going to do next. We can’t leave home and ordering a charger online will take a couple of days to arrive. “All my business information is in there, and I need to speak to my mother.”

He takes one of my hands, gently caressing my fingers. “Don’t worry. My phone is yours.”

That makes me smile. “Thanks! That’s a partial solution. I still need to check my inventory. My mother must be going crazy with the hive.”

He tightens his grip on my hand. “I was serious when I offered to pay someone to help your mother.”

I look at him carefully. The martians better come and explain what they did to my husband.

“Why the sudden interest in my things?” That makes me really curious. “You never cared about my business beyond the money to pay for the house expenses.”

The look of disbelief on his face says it all. He’s clearly shocked, although he tries to hide it. “You’ve decided to stay, and I want to take care of you, Stella. So I’m going to do my best to make things easier for you in Kentucky. Tell your mother to look for someone to help her, or better yet, I could send your mother money…”

A groan comes out of my lips, I can’t help it. “Don’t even think you’re going to buy me off, Lionel Kral.”

He rolls his eyes before answering. “What’s mine is yours, we are married. And we don’t have a prenuptial agreement, I must add.”

“I told you I don’t want your money, call your lawyer.”

He makes a hand gesture like saying, forget about it. “Okay, one problem at a time. Get a charger, tell me what phone you have, maybe mine will work for yours.”

That’s a great suggestion, and the solution to one of my problems. Well, definitely the most urgent one.

“An iPhone,” I reply smiling.

“Just like me, let me go get it.” And he leaves the room.

While Lionel is upstairs, I open the refrigerator thinking about what to fix for breakfast. With all the time I wasted, I decide to make us something quick.

“Last night we didn’t have a chance to cut the pie,” he says from behind me. This man is like a ninja, he scared the shit out of me.

“Dessert for breakfast?”

“There must be some white cheddar cheese somewhere,” he mutters. “Let it be our new tradition, from this day forward this house will serve dessert for breakfast.”

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