Page 91 of Building What's Meant to Be

“I’ll spare you that story. Suffice it to say, Barney did live to walk again. Anyway, Benjamin must’ve seen Bubba and me talking at the dance the night before. He got jealous and did the old bump-and-spill move. My girlfriends hollered at him because that wasn’t the first time.” She shakes her head.

“That creep.”

“Bubba took one look at my ruined shirt, kissed me on the cheek, and said, ‘Don’t hate me for what I’m about to do.’ Suffice it to say, Benjamin never bothered me again and Bubba replaced my soda. Every evenin’ about nine o’clock, after the restaurant closed, we’d come out here, sip a soda, talk about our days, then do it all over again the next day.”

“That’s so sweet.”

“How about you?” Beatrice asks.

“How about me what?” I ask, knowing full well she refers to my love life, but not knowing that for some reason I cannot seem to speak the wordsI love youto Aiden.

“You’ve been smiling like you’ve been sippin’ soda with someone.”

“Me? Well, I was, we, you know—”

She smiles like she understands then shows me a piece of paper with two hand-drawn honey bees face to face, kissing, andsurrounded by a heart. Across the top, it says,B & B Blossom Honey. Then on the bottom,Butterbury, Georgia.

“Blike Bubba and Beatrice,” I say, making the connection.

“Blike brave,” she says.

“Like my dog?”

“Sure, but also be brave. You might’ve had your misgivings about small-town life, but you’ll never go wrong when it comes to taking a chance on love.”

“That’s just it. I’ve never taken a chance on it.”

“Tinsley, have you ever pondered the miracle of all the things that could happen but haven’t? For instance, we could be struck by lightning in this very spot.”

I glance at the sky. “It is clouding over.”

“What I mean to say is to think about the miracles that do happen. Love is one of them. It would be lucky to go through your life without getting struck by lightning. It would be a shame to go through your life and not open yourself to love.”

My rocking chair goes still when Aiden pulls into the driveway in his truck at that very moment.

Beatrice chuckles and passes me the paper and winks. “How about you hang onto this? I can just picture jars of honey for sale at Bubba’s, Sweethearts Bakery, and the Boutique.” She winks. “Oh, and remember to be brave. I wouldn’t object if you changed the name to that. Still works with the B’s.”

I smile and hug her. When we part, we watch Brave, the wet and muddy dog gallop in Aiden’s direction before giving him a doggy version of a hug in the form of a full body press. Brave nearly knocks him over.

When I meet him with a smoosh, he says, “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m going to a worksite.”

On the ride to Bubba’s, I tell him about Beatrice and Bubba Senior meeting at a dance in Texas.

“I know it’s not a competition, but our first-time meeting is better. We met in jail.”

“Would we really tell that to our kids?” I blurt, and my heart thrums at the notion.

Aiden chuckles as the truck rumbles down the Baskin’s driveway.

I can’t help the way my gaze objectifies how good he looks. From his tousled brown hair, to the stubble along his masculine jawline, to the powerful muscles hiding under his shirt, and the way the ones on his arms flex as he shifts gears.

This man kills me with how he looks as good in a suit as he does in a pair of boots. I’ve said and done all the things that a girlfriend who loves her boyfriend would do except speak those magic words.

“Last day. You ready?” Aiden says, pulling me from my thoughts as he pulls into the parking lot at Bubba’s BBQ.

I’m not ready because I don’t know what’s next. We haven’t talked about it, and I’m afraid Aiden thinks that things will continue as they have been with me staying in Toby, working at Sweethearts, and tending the bees.

I can’t live in his trailer in perpetuity. What about my life before? What I left behind? My future?

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