Page 4 of Unlikely You

“You can go, but remember your sunscreen, please.”

She answered me with an eyeroll. Letting her get in the car with another teen driver made me feel like I was going to break out into hives, but my parents were far more laissez-faire about parenting. It was hard being the only strict one, because I wasn’t Ember’s mom. I was her older sister and I had less authority, especially when what she wanted to do coordinated with what my parents allowed.

Ember squealed and ran off with her bag, which no doubt had a change of clothes in it so her friends didn’t see her wearing her Holloway Apiary T-shirt.

“Well, it’s just us now,” I said to Archer and Ellie. Archer was already gaming, but Ellie gave me a smile. Of all the kids, she was the one who helped the most.

“Wanna help me hand out tea and samples?” I asked her. She nodded. Ellie was friendly, and with her almost white-blonde curls and bright smile, people were just drawn to her.

A few potential customers wandered over to see what was going on and I handed out some honey stick samples and gave out cups of tea. I hated the waste of using disposable cups, but at least the marketplace had recycling bins, and the cups we used were also made from recycled paper.

I chatted with people, giving the history of how the farm was started as a hobby by my parents after they retired from teaching music and then turned into a family business. I also handed out the postcards with the family picture on them and more information on the back.

“And we do tours and classes all year round,” I added. That was another area where my parents excelled. They hadn’t wanted to monetize the classes and tours at first, but I’d had to sit them down and give them the cold hard reality that if we didn’t diversify our income as much as possible, the farm wasn’t going to survive. They might not like to think about things like bills and taxes, but those things could put us out of business.

In addition to working for the farm, I also had a side hustle removing and relocating bee colonies and had grown a following on social media when I posted videos of my work. Jobs were few and far between, but I also did short videos centered on education around bees and how we made our honey and beeswax candles and balms. I’d honed my public speaking skills from doing dozens of tours, and the videos did fairly well after I’d done some experimentation. It also didn’t escape my notice that when I was in the videos with full hair and makeup and wearing something cute, they did better. Irritating, but true.

The kids wanted to get in on the videos, but I’d only agreed to let Ember and she didn’t want to. Archer and Ellie were still too young. Besides, I had an additional reason to keep Ellie specifically out of the spotlight. No views were worth potentially exposing my trans sister to the horrors of the internet. Her life so far had been mostly sheltered and I wanted to keep her in a safe place as long as I possibly could. My parents and I were on the same page about that at least.

“Yes, they’re all handmade,” I heard Bren say. Her voice might have been bright, but I’d heard her enough times to know she was tired. Bren was never directly rude, and she was always smiling (somewhat), but I could see the strain on her face by Sunday afternoon. I knew exactly how she felt. I just managed to hide it better.

Ignoring Bren wasn’t an easy task. Not only was I obsessed with everything she made, she was also completely and utterlygorgeous. Silky dark hair and brooding dark eyes and a mysterious vibe about her that made me want to lean closer so she could whisper secrets in my ear.

That she was a hard worker only made her more attractive in my eyes. She busted her ass every day with no help. I’d offered many times to watch her table so she could take a break, but she always turned me down.

Determined to do it on her own, I guess. Something I could understand, but eventually, you had to let someone help you. I might have had to pick up the slack for my parents, but I still had them and wouldn’t have been able to run the farm without their work and passion.

Bren was beautiful and having her so close made it so hard to focus that my siblings had started teasing me about her. Luckily, I didn’t think Bren had heard any of it, or else I would have died of mortification.

Bren wasn’t the kind of woman who went out with someone like me. The most I could ever hope for was “cute,” but Bren was stunning and sexy and could have anyone she wanted.

And then there was the fact that I knew my family annoyed her. She probably thought she hid it well, but she didn’t. I’d catch her rolling her eyes and clenching her jaw when we’d sing in the morning. My parents were very musical people, as well as bee enthusiasts, so not a day went by when we weren’t singing together. I think if my mom had been able to have more children, she might have forced us to become a traveling singing group instead. My siblings all played various instruments, me included, but singing had always been what I’d enjoyed most. If I’d gone to college, I might have majored in vocal performance. Maybe. There was no reason to speculate because it didn’t happen.

I let myself have another glance at Bren. I made sure I didn’t look at her too many times per hour, and once I’d used up my looks for the day, I was done until we said goodbye.

I still remembered the first time we’d set up our table and how chaotic it had been. My parents had argued about where everything should go, even though we’d already agreed on the setup and I’d drawn a layout to make sure everything was in the right place.

I’d looked over at Bren and she’d given me this absolutely horrified look that almost made me laugh out loud before she’d turned away, her cheeks going a little pink.

“She’s pretty,” Ellie had whispered to me.

“Yes, she is,” I’d agreed.

The rest of the day, I’d barely been able to focus on anything but on Bren. I’d strained my ears to hear her voice when she talked to customers or to see her face when she didn’t know I was looking.

“Pretty” was an insult to her. Bren was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen in my entire life, and that was no exaggeration.

Growing up, I’d always known girls and women were lovely, but it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realized not everyone thought the way I did. My parents had been both unsurprised and supportive when I came out as a lesbian. I guess I’d kind of paved the way for my siblings because Ellie had come out as a trans girl and Ember was questioning her sexuality and hadn’t settled on a label yet. Archer grumbled that he was the token cis and heterosexual kid in the family.

Bren sighed and my ears picked up on it. I seemed to be attuned to her every breath now. So distracting.

Normally I wouldn’t do anything, but after a quick glance over at her, I could see that she neededsomething. We had a lovely orange spice tea today that was absolutely heaven with our honey, so I poured a cup, added honey, and stirred it to make sure it was incorporated before straightening my shoulders and walking a few feet to her table.

“It’s on the house,” I said, holding out the tea as she glanced up at me. Bren almost never sat down, so that was how I knew things were serious.

“What?” she asked, confused at my bad attempt at a joke.

“Sorry. I just… You seemed like you could use this. There’s no caffeine in it, though.” Great, now I was babbling. She brought it out in me.

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