Page 47 of Must Love Bees
But then, for the briefest of moments, the corner of his beautiful mouth quirked up and Astrid couldn’t think or breathe or remember what she should or shouldn’t do or say or feel or—
“Haven’t we, Astrid?” Tansy asked, almost laughing. “Astrid?”
“What?” She was so startled, she poked the cherry tomato with such force that it shot across the table and smacked Charlie in the chest—spattering juice all over his impeccably clean and pressed button-down oxford shirt.
There was an audible intake of breath from the entire group.
Charlie looked down at his shirt to assess the bloodlike spatter stain seeping into the fine cotton shirt.
“Uh-oh.” Nova’s eyes were round as saucers.
Uh-oh is right. “Oh, no.” Astrid was up.
Charlie slid his chair back. “I can spot treat it later—”
“If you wait, it’ll set.” Aunt Magnolia was up, too. “A little dish detergent and hydrogen peroxide will take care of it.”
“It looks like you shot him.” Dane pointed at the spot. From the grin on his face, he was enjoying this far too much. It didn’t help that Tansy kept elbowing him in the side.
Astrid’s mortification doubled.
Charlie eyed the stain again. “It does. Good aim.”
“I’m so sorry.” Astrid glared at Dane—which only made him laugh.
“He has a lot of shirts,” Nova offered. “It’s okay, isn’t it, Charlie?”
Charlie nodded. “Accidents happen.”
“If it was an accident,” Dane mumbled, still smiling.
Tansy’s elbow slammed into his ribs with added force.
“Come with me.” Aunt Magnolia waved Charlie to follow.
And, to his credit, he followed.
Astrid debated going after them but decided against it. The fact that all eyes were on her might have played a role in that decision. “What was the question?” she asked, taking a deep breath.
“I was telling Nova that chickens can be very helpful to the bees and that we’ve set up a few backyard hives close to the chicken coops.” Tansy propped her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand.
“Yes.” Astrid had no idea when the conversation had turned back to bees but she was grateful. Bees were a safe topic—and had nothing to do with Charlie Driver.
“The bees don’t sting the chickens?” Nova asked.
“Very rarely.” Tansy was studying Astrid closely. Too closely.
“Can you have chickens for a pet?” Nova asked.
“I don’t see why not.” Astrid went back to her seat.
“There’s this chicken on TikTok that has, like, a million followers,” Halley said. “Probably more now. Not that I can check. My phone has no reception and sometimes it doesn’t work. Like, at all.”
Dane held out his hand. “I’m pretty handy with smartphones.”
“Leif taught you well.” Tansy’s grin was all mischief. “Maybe hold on to your phone and ask Leif, Halley.”
Halley gave Tansy a thumbs up.
