Page 29 of Must Love Bees
His gaze came up and landed on her hand. “Does it hurt?”
“A minor irritation.” She offered him a smile.
He went back to staring at the ground. “Lemonade.” Without a backward glance, he headed toward the house.
As far as days went, today had been quite eventful. She wanted to ask about the men that were here. Charlie’s reaction suggested he knew something about Stinson Properties. Did he know why they’d be surveying the place? A commercial survey, no less. Did Charlie have plans for the property he hadn’t mentioned? If he did, would he tell her?
No. At the moment, all she should care about was ensuring the Junior Beekeepers got their service hours and doing damage control on Rebecca’s almost destroyed hive. She’d give the bees a little time to calm down, get supplies from Tansy and set the colony’s world to rights.
Her eyes swept over the tall, straight figure of Charlie Driver and his ankles peeking out between the bee suit cuffs and his well-worn oxford business shoes. “I’ll bring over a larger suit next time.”
“Next time?” He didn’t look back or stop walking.
“It might come in handy if you have to rescue more bees.” She tucked a strand of wayward hair behind her ear. “I can’t wait to tell the girls of your heroic efforts.” She knew his girls would be proud of him. And, in turn, Charlie would be happy. There was a high probability that he wouldn’t let on he was happy but Astrid held on to a sliver of hope that she might finally get to see Charlie Driver smile.
JUNIORBEEKEEPERS?Why did such a thing exist? After what he’d just seen, the idea of putting bees and teenagers together was a surefire recipe for disaster. As far as he was concerned, the bees hadn’t needed any help. One look at Trey’s face and there was no doubt the bees were more than capable of taking care of themselves. So why was she still worrying over her battle-worthy bees? Especially when they’d repaid Astrid’s efforts with a sting?
The truth was, he hadn’t given a thought to the bees. He’d heard her yell and some as-yet-undiscovered instinct kicked in. Something had been wrong and he’d needed to get to her. The whole damn morning had been unsettling.
They reached the house to find both girls waiting on the back porch.
“Charlie.” Nova came running down the steps. “You are in a bee-fighting suit.”
It had been close. The fighting part, anyway. If there was one thing he’d learned today it was just how dangerous bees could be. Which made Astrid’s request even more ridiculous.
“Beekeeping.” Halley corrected her. “How’d it go?”
He was hot and tired and more irritated than he wanted to admit—none of which his girls would be interested in knowing. He was still trying to formulate an answer when Astrid spoke up.
“It was...different.” Astrid glanced his way, then went on. “Every day with the bees is a new experience but I’ve never experienced anything like today. And I’ve been a beekeeper since I was your age.” She winked at Nova—who instantly took Astrid’s hand.
He watched the exchange, marveling at how free and easy the girls were with Astrid. Affection was still hard for him. Yasmina had been the hand-holder and bedtime-story-snuggler. He needed to try harder. He liked the idea of Nova looking up at him like that—like he was someone who made her day better.
“What happened?” Halley leaned forward on the porch railing.
“Charlie was amazing.” Astrid wiggled Nova’s arm. “A real hero.”
Both girls were staring at him now. Halley, in disbelief, and Nova, in awe.
Yeah, yeah.He wasn’t buying it, either.
“Charlie?” Halley asked dubiously, holding open the back door for them.
Charlie sighed but didn’t defend himself. Apparently, Astrid was superhero material but he was...not.
“Yes, Charlie.” Astrid nodded. “An appraisal crew wound up on Rebecca’s property by mistake, found one of the hives, and, somehow, it was accidentally knocked over.”
“Seriously? How did that happen? I bet the bees weren’t happy.” Halley followed them inside.
Nova clung to Astrid’s hand. “Are the bees okay?”
Charlie shot a glance Astrid’s way. Would his daughter be this concerned if they’d seen Trey’s bee-stung face? He sure as hell hoped they listened to Astrid and went to the ER.
“Oh, the bees will be fine.” Astrid sat in a kitchen chair and unzipped her bee suit. “I do need to call my sister for supplies.” She bent forward to slip the elastic band from under her foot, unzipped the legs of the suit, then stood and shimmied free. She wore a thin T-shirt and snug-fit jeans. “Hopefully, we’ll get them settled before nightfall and they’ll forget all about today.”
He’d never seen her in jeans before. She wore skirts or dresses—all flowy and loose and feminine. These clothes were too tight. And...and not at all Astrid-like. Her braids slipped loose and her hair fell down her back. It seemed he had some odd fascination with her hair, too. But he was not going to stand here and stare at her. Again. He tugged on the zipper at his throat, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried again.
“Oh.” Astrid was up and hurrying to him. “Hold on, this zipper snags sometimes.” She reached up, gripping the zipper pull-tab with one hand and tugging the fabric tight with the other. “We need to order some new suits but Aunt Magnolia tends to hold off on new purchases until she deems it necessary. I suppose, other than the zippers this is still a good suit.” Her green eyes bounced from his face to the zipper to his...mouth.
