Page 22 of Must Love Bees
He watched the girls, both of them too wrapped up in the dogs to worry about what he and Astrid were saying. “An accident...while cycling.” He nodded, blowing out a slow breath. That was enough. It had to be. His gaze wandered to the flowers by Rebecca’s birdbath, pushing back the images he couldn’t scrub from his brain.
Astrid’s breathing was unsteady but she didn’t say anything.
He took a slow, deep, calming breath.
“I’m sorry, Charlie. I...I didn’t know.” She was quiet for a time. “Truly.” Her hand rested on his forearm.
He shook his head.Don’t look at her.He should say something. But the tightness of his throat wouldn’t ease. Now she was touching him. Warm. Soft. Her hand gently squeezing his arm. Standing too close. Stealing the air. Sweat beaded along his upper lip.
“Losing someone like that—is something that never leaves you.” The grief in her words startled him. “But you have to keep going.” A long silence stretched out between them. Long enough for him to be acutely aware of her hand. Her nearness. The sound of her breath. A gust of hot wind blew one long strand of her hair along his forearm.
“I... I’ll go.” Her hand slipped from his arm. “I’m happy to have the girls visit, just so you know. You can work and I’d make certain to keep them safe.” She broke off. “They could play with the dogs and help me in the garden? Have some fun? And give you a break? Maybe... Think about it, please.” But she didn’t leave. She leaned around, forcing him to look at her. With a sigh and sad smile, she left him standing there, speechless and beyond muddled.
The girls gave Astrid and the dogs goodbye hugs while his mind scrambled to process her parting words. His eyes stayed glued on the path long after Astrid and her flowing skirts were out of sight. Now that she was gone, he found himself adding to the list of words that described his neighbor. Fascinating. Bewildering. Warm.Appealing.
He frowned at the now empty path she’d taken.Appealing?That wasn’t good. None of this was good. Their living situation was temporary, something he’d tried to make clear to Astrid Hill. But no, she kept coming back. Life was complicated enough without her dropping by or offering to “help out” and getting them worked up over two boisterous dogs. When she was here, he seemed to forget that Astrid was still a stranger. Rebecca had been old and lonely—she’d probably been glad for any company.Hedidn’t need company. He had the girls and the girls had him. He gripped the railing, feeling more and more the fool. He ran his fingers through his hair and pushed off the railing.
In the yard, Halley was whacking at some tall grass with the stick she’d been playing fetch with. Nova was hopping along behind a grasshopper, her curls slipping free from another of his failed attempts at a ponytail.
Amid all the things Astrid had said, one thing needled him the most. He could be fun. He and the girls could have plenty of fun on their own. He’d told the girls they’d do something this weekend and they would. He didn’t know how or where or what the hell they’d do but it would be fun, dammit. Loads of fun—without the appealing Astrid Hill tagging along.
CHAPTER FOUR
ASTRIDMOVEDSLOWLY. So far, the bees were behaving but she and Tansy had yet to start the removal process. “Good morning.” She kept her voice low and soft. “Tansy and I are here to move you someplace safe.” She peered inside the grill. “Looks like you ladies have been working very hard.”
There was no finer architect in the natural world than the bee. Astrid had seen hundreds of different hives and combs in her life but it hadn’t dampened her admiration for their work. Inside of Abner Jones’s barrel grill was a highly productive colony. Row after row of deep U-shaped stalactite-like comb hung, the colors varying from gold to deep amber.
“It’s a good thing Abner’s grill is heavy-duty.” She pointed inside the barrel with her gloved hand. “That’s a lot of honey. We should have brought another bucket.”
“Definitely should have brought another bucket.” Tansy leaned forward over Astrid’s shoulder. “I wonder how long it’s been since Abner used this thing? Or if these little ladies are just super productive?”
Astrid went back to inspecting the comb. Hundreds of golden bees crawled across the hanging comb. Feeding baby bees. Attending to the hive’s queen. Capping honey into the comb. Flying off to gather more pollen. Adding propolis to keep the combs securely in place. A bee was never still so a beehive was a very busy place. Bees were all about work.
Like Charlie Driver.Considering she was always one hundred percent focused when working with bees, the thought was surprising.But not exactly wrong.
“My smoker’s about ready.” Tansy pressed the bellows pump of her smoker. “Are we good to get started?”
She and Tansy were both fully suited—taking precautions since they didn’t know the temperament of these bees. In her pockets, she had her hive tools, a frame brush and a queen catcher. Tansy had the same. Beside her sat an empty nuc box to move the frames of baby bees, called brood, and some honey into. The two five-gallon buckets were for the honeycomb only. But she held up her hand before Tansy could start pumping smoke into the barrel. “Did you say hello to the bees?”
Tansy gestured at the hive with her smoker. “You said hello—that’s what matters. You’re the one whogetsthe bees with that mind-meld thing you have going on. You’re the bee whisperer.”
Her grandfather, Poppa Tom, had been the first one to call her that. When she’d been a little girl, she’d trailed after Poppa Tom to learn everything she could. She’d spent hours in his shadow, sitting and watching and listening and talking to the bees. She still did. Poppa Tom said the bees were so delighted with her interest and dedication and hard work that they had decided to make her an honorary bee. That was the reason even the worst-tempered bees wouldn’t sting her, he’d said. Whatever the reason, Astrid had developed a way of doing things. One of them was saying hello to the bees before working a hive. It was just good manners. “Tansy—”
“Hello, bees.” Tansy leaned forward. “I’m here, too. With Astrid. So, you know... Please don’t sting us while we move you someplace safe.”
Astrid gave her a thumbs-up. “Much better.”
“There you go.” Tansy pumped the bellows on the smoker and the buzz inside the metal grill grew softer. “It’s like bee valium.”
Astrid laughed as she reached inside the barrel grill. “I never thought of it that way before.” The cement-like propolis holding things in place gave with a pop and crunch and Astrid freed the stalactite-like comb. With a few light sweeps, she brushed the bees into the barrel grill, and put the sticky structure into the bucket. “All honey.” Astrid repeated the process. “You stay right here, safe and in the shade,” she said to the bees. Removing a wild hive was hard work. Removing a wild hive in triple digits made it twice as hard.
“At least they’re not aggressive.” Tansy turned the long comb she held. “More honey.”
“I can’t wait to see the queen. She’s got a high-producing team here. Honeyandbrood. Even though foraging is getting harder with no rain.” Queen bees had always fascinated Astrid. Beyond their size and oftentimes interesting coloring, there was something regal about the queen. It wasn’t just that she was the largest bee in the colony, it was the way the other bees parted and tended to her. Royalty, indeed.
It took a good forty minutes but she and Tansy managed to get the brood comb secured into frames and stored inside the nuc box and most of the combs of honey packed tightly into the five-gallon buckets.
“She’s a shy queen, I think?” Astrid was leaning into the barrel, peering into every seam and divot of the old metal barrel. “Can you imagine? You’re doing your bee thing and all of a sudden faceless white giants are puffing smoke into your house and taking things away. I’d be a little wary, too.” Tansy didn’t say anything so Astrid used her softest, most encouraging voice as she said, “I promise, we’re not going to hurt you. We’re going to give you a lovely new home. It’s like...like a bee resort.”
