Page 35 of Must Love Bees
“Maybe we could even reach out to Wholesome Foods?” Astrid asked Tansy. “I bet they’d be all over it—since Benji volunteers on the farm?”
“I’ll call.” Tansy scribbled a note on the paper napkin.
“Next, you’ve received an offer on the salon? This might not be bad news.” Shelby handed Bea another teething biscuit. “Isthe offer too good to refuse?”
“I haven’t read it,” Nicole confessed, looking ashamed. “I couldn’t. She was shoving it down my throat—heaped with how wrong it was that she even had to ask me to agree to it since the shop should have been hers, blah, blah, blah...” She leaned forward to cover her face with her hands. “I need strawberry pancakes. With extra strawberry syrup.” She sighed. “And a mountain of whipped cream.”
“Oh, that sounds good.” Astrid waved over their waitress and everyone ordered.
“I think you should look at the offer.” Shelby sipped her coffee, then added another packet of sugar. “If it’s that good, you could sell and start your own shop without having to be partners with your mother. If it’s not, don’t sell. It’s that easy.”
“To be fair, Willadeene Svoboda never makes anything easy,” Tansy murmured.
Shelby stared into her coffee, stirring it slowly with a spoon. “I’m so sorry you have to put up with all that, Nicole. I can’t imagine. And from your mother, of all people. My parents thought I was the sun and moon and everything else. And Mags is like this together, badass, take-charge woman that I’m in awe of. And she likes me, too, so...” She frowned.
“Did you say Aunt Mags likes you?” Astrid laughed. “Mags adores you.”
“I was about to say.” Tansy rolled her eyes. “Shelovesyou.” She took a sip of coffee.
Shelby’s smile lit up her whole face but conversation paused while the waitress slid plates of mile-high pancakes, whipped cream, fruit and little pitchers of syrup onto the table.
Shelby gave Bea a small bite of pancake, then glanced Nicole’s way. “Did any of that help? I guess I came across sort of bossy—”
“Not bossy. I was wallowing and you offered solutions.” Nicole cut up her pancakes, making sure each bite was covered in cream, berries and syrup. “Thanks, Shelby. Thanks for calming me down.” Nicole smiled around the table at them all. “I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”
“You’ll have to do without me this weekend.” Tansy pointed at her with her fork. “Dane and I are going to Weaver’s farm to look at their agribusiness. Until then, Astrid and Shelby have your back.”
“You’re going? Wait.” Nicole’s eyes went round and her fork paused midway to her mouth. “You’re legit considering Dane’s idea of opening the farm to tourists? Are there pigs flying outside? Did... What... How... Words fail me.”
Which was fair. Astrid had pretty much thought the same thing when Tansy had told her—not that she was going to offer that up. Instead, she ate her pancakes in silence.
“Maybe.” Tansy’s cheeks were reddening. “And thanks for not making it into a big deal.”
Nicole was laughing then. “I’m not laughingatyou. I love you two together—it gives me hope I might find someone someday.” She hugged Tansy with one arm. “And, as far as I’m concerned, an extra revenue stream is never a bad idea.” She rested her head on Tansy’s shoulder. “I’m happy for you too, really.”
“We all are happy for you two.” Astrid took a sip of orange juice.
“I just wish he had an older brother.” Shelby winked at Tansy and shared more of her pancake with Bea.
Bea’s father was a mystery. In the time since Shelby’s arrival, he’d never once come up in conversation. But, like Mags, Shelby kept those sorts of things to herself. They were a close-knit group but they also respected one another’s privacy.
At times, it was hard for Astrid to believe it hadonlybeen six weeks—six weeks of life-altering events. Winning the honey competition and financial freedom for Honey Hill Farms. Tansy and Dane’s relationship. Shelby and Bea’s arrival. Van and Aunt Camellia’s courtship. It looked like there was a plan for Nicole and Benji, too.
And her last visit with Charlie and the girls had gone well. He hadn’t shied away from her gaze once—he had the most soulful eyes she’d ever stared into. And she’d done plenty of staring. He was the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on. It was true. It was also true that she liked being with him. Him and the girls, of course. She couldn’t be sure he felt the same but he’d been genuinely concerned about her neck. She’d like to think that was progress. And, for now, she’d take it.For now.
ITWASTENand Charlie had yet to have a cup of coffee. And that was only one of a half a dozen irritations he’d been greeted with this morning. Work was...work. Having coworkers who didn’t pull their own weight but still wanted praise was hard. He’d been up most of the night, staying ahead of a super-aggressive computer virus that almost breached one of their biggest clients’ firewalls. Nova had a bad dream, insisting the rat monster was trying to get in through the skylight, so he’d sat in the rocker by her bed. Instead of getting up and going back to work when she’d dozed off again, he’d fallen asleep in the rocker and woken up with a massive crick in his neck.
Then there was Halley. She wanted to invite her best friend up for a week because she was “so bored her brain was melting” and it was her best friend’s birthday. But Halley’s best friend was dramatic and hyper and loud. Charlie wasn’t good with loud. Hyper or dramatic, either. Besides that, Nova would be left out of whatever the older girls did. Halley hadn’t taken his “no” well.
There’d been no coffee, but he managed to choke down Nova’s singed pieces of toast for breakfast with the orange juice he split between the three of them. Sadly, that didn’t hold any of them for long. Around nine thirty, he stared into the empty pantry and accepted what was to come. They were going out to eat. In town. Surrounded by the nosy people of Honey, Texas. There was no one to blame but himself. If he’d stayed on top of things, this wouldn’t have happened. But he hadn’t. And now...
“Girls, get dressed.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Let’s go into town for lunch and go to the grocery store after.”
“Really?” Halley hopped up, the pout replaced by an excited smile. “Like, in town with people? At a restaurant?”
He managed not to sound deflated. “Yep.”
“We’re going on an adventure.” Nova held up Scorpio so she was eye to eye with her stuffed toy. “Hurray.” She ran to the steps. “Can I wear my space suit?”
