Page 88 of The Sweetest Thing
Astrid smothered another yawn.
Tansy had been exhausted before she’d learned about the missing recipe and how much of an ass Harald Knudson really was. “I say we reconvene at six thirty?” Tansy suggested. “We could all use a few hours’ sleep before we get to work re-creating the honey recipe.”
Tansy headed upstairs for a long shower. Even if she didn’t sleep, she could use some time to digest the day’s events. She washed her hair twice and used a loofah to get all the grime and soot off her skin. When she was clean, she moisturized with some spearmint eucalyptus lotion and towel dried her hair.
Astrid was waiting for her in Tansy’s bedroom, sitting on the edge of her bed with Jammie on one side and Beeswax on the other. Astrid was stirring a cup of tea, and Tansy could smell the fragrant blueberry lavender honey syrup from where she stood.
Tansy smiled and sat on the bed beside Jammie. “Tonight was a lot.”
“Allof it.” Astrid turned to face her. “That Harald stole the clover recipe? What a...a horrible twisted little man.” She took a deep breath. “You can’t believe Dane would do the same thing. You can’t, Tansy.”
“I don’t want to. That’s the truth.” Tansy picked up Jammie and stared into the cat’s golden eyes. “Just like I don’t want Dane to believe we’d set fire to his property.”
Astrid giggled.
Tansy looked at her. “What’s funny?”
“Can you see us trying to start a fire?” Astrid shook her head, still giggling. “The way Harald Knudson said it was so dramatic.” She pointed at Tansy. “Anyone who knows us would know we could never do such a thing. Even if we wanted to, we’d have had to rescue all the bees first. That would certainly have slowed things down.”
Tansy grinned. “Good point. We would be the worst arsonists ever because of the bees. We’d also worry about burning any pollen sources or that the bees would get disoriented from the smoke. Burning down Texas Viking Honey sounds like way too much work. And not worth the risk to the bees.”
“He knows you’d never.” Astrid nodded.
“Does he? We’ve been back and forth so much, Astrid. But I need him to know I’d never hurt him.” It was suddenly very hard to breathe.
Astrid draped her arms around her shoulders. “I don’t think the wordssafeandlovenecessarily go hand in hand. But the way he looks at you...well, if a man ever looked at me that way—made my insides all fuzzy and tingly—I’d totally go for it.”
“Fuzzy and tingly?” Tansy stared at Jammie. “It sounds like Astrid needs an antacid, doesn’t it, Jammie? Poor Astrid.”
Astrid rolled her eyes and flopped back onto the bed. “You can pretend to misunderstand me all you want, but you knowexactlywhat I mean.”
Tansy lay down, too, watching as both cats made the difficult decision of which way to lie down. “Good?” she asked, neither cat responded so she pulled up the covers.
Tansy turned off the bedside lamp and stared up at the ceiling.
When Astrid said it out loud, it sounded silly. But when she thought about her reaction each and every time she saw Dane... “Fine. ‘Fuzzy and tingly’ works.”
“I know.” Astrid lay facing her but her eyes were closed.
She smiled and closed her eyes, but her brain wouldn’t cooperate. Her first thoughts were of the recipe. The contest. On Sunday, the contest would be over. They had to find the recipe, or re-create it, so they could enter. There was no other choice. If they had to live over the Hill Honey Boutique on Main Street, they’d make it work but without the bees, it would never, ever, feel like home.
Then, of course, Dane popped into her mind. Soot-covered and coughing and fearless—working to save the bees. If she thought too long about the danger he’d been in, her chest felt tighter and tighter. Hopefully he was sleeping. Hopefully, he’d wake up and not suffer any ill-effects from the fire so they could straighten out this nonsense once and for all.
DANEWOKEUPfeeling rough. His head hurt, an extra ten pounds of pressure compressed his lungs, his throat was sandpaper dry and he looked like he’d walked out of a boxing ring. But the sun was shining, coffee was brewing and he was going to see Tansy. He’d no doubt she’d want an explanation and, even then, she wouldn’t make it easy on him. He wouldn’t expect it any other way. After last night... He shook his head.
He couldn’t see a path forward without her being a part of it. All he had to do was convince her their path was one and the same.Easy. He snorted and took a long sip of coffee. The heat felt good against his throat. He rubbed his eyes and peered out the kitchen window over the sink where he spied his father talking to Silas Baldwin.
Dane felt that cold hollowness eating at the pit of his stomach. No more. He carried his cup of coffee to the front door, so he could hear.
“Wehaveinsurance,” his father said. “I don’t have the check in hand, but it’s coming.”
“I understand, Mr. Knudson. But it will take time for the insurance claim to be investigated and even more time for a payment to be processed.” Silas Baldwin braced himself. “As I mentioned, even with your insurance coverage, it’s not enough to cover the damages and thesecondmortgage.” His voice was sympathetic but firm. “While I realize you’ve experienced a substantial trauma, I can’t move the payment dates back again. I’m already under fire for giving you this much extra time.”
“You might lose yourjobover this?” His father’s voice was deceptively low. “I’m sorry to hear that, Silas.” Then he shook his head. “Iwilllose my home—my family’s heritage, hundreds of years of blood, sweat and tears down the tubes because of a cash flow problem.”
“Mr. Knudson, you agreed to all the terms when we went over the paperwork—”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing.” When his father got angry, he got mean. “Here I thought you were my friend. Really, you’re just an unreasonable, coldhearted, moneygrubbing used-car salesman, aren’t you? What kind of man shows up the day after a fire wiped out acres and killed thousands of bees, to give me my eviction date?”
