Page 64 of Must Love Bees
She beamed up at him. “I don’t know.” She relaxed against him with a sigh.
He took a deep breath, smoothing her hair from her face. She was always so happy, like her mother, that it was easy for him to forget she was so young and vulnerable. He shouldn’t. Protecting her shouldn’t only be about keeping her physically safe, but emotionally, too. His childhood should have taught him that. He didn’t want his girls to feel as alone and lost as he’d been. Everything and everyone had seemed against him then; he’d been so scared of the world. Halley and Nova shouldn’t feel that way.I’ll do better, Nova. I promise, Halley. I’ll do better.
He tucked an arm around his little girl. His laptop could wait. Phone calls could wait. Right now, this was more important. It was a privilege that he could ease Nova’s—and possibly Halley’s—fear. A privilege that, starting now, he wouldn’t take for granted.
IKNEWYOU’DCOME. I knew it.
Halley said Charlie didn’t want to be with them but that was wrong. “I told you,” Nova whispered to Scorpio.He loves us. He is our dad.And now she and Scorpio were cuddled up on his lap.
“What did you tell Scorpio?” Charlie asked.
“That you would come.” She smiled up at Charlie. “And you did.”
He nodded.
“You should try the lemonade, Charlie. Nova made it.” Halley took a sip from her tall glass. “NovaandAunt Camellia made it.”
“They didn’t add salt. They used lots of sugar and honey. Aunt Camellia puts honey in everything. That’s what Tansy said.” Nova didn’t want Charlie to think the lemonade was nasty.
“I thought you were going to wait to come over until it stopped raining,” Halley said.
Nova wrinkled up her nose.Don’t tell, Charlie. Halley would be so, so mad if she knew Nova had taken her phone.
“I changed my mind.” Charlie glanced down at her and smiled.
Because we have a secret.She smiled back and gave him a thumbs-up.
“And if we hadn’t come home, we’d have missed out on all of this.” Astrid was back and she wasn’t dripping wet anymore. Her hair was dry again.
She and Halley agreed that Astrid was the prettiest person they’d ever seen in real life and not on the television or in the movies. After Mommy.
“Youwereall wet and drippy. But you’re not sick?” Nova asked. “No knee-money-yuh?”
“Nope.” Astrid sat in the chair next to Charlie’s. “Ooh, did you make these?” She reached for a scone.
“Yep.” Nova nodded, yawning. “They are yummy.”
“Everything made in this kitchen is yummy.” Benji laughed.
“It is,” Miss Nicole, Benji’s mom, said. She had green hair. Not all of it, some of it. She got to do that because that was her job. Charlie would never let Nova have green hair. But, if Nova were going to color her hair, she’d rather have blue or pink or purple. Not green.
“Mom.” Benji leaned away from his mom. She liked to mess up his hair. She did that a lot. Benji said he didn’t like it but it made him smile so Nova figured he was pretending. Like Halley. To be cool. Halley liked to act cool.
Nova didn’t like that. Being cool meant not being able to dress up or talk about dinosaurs or crawl on the floor and pretend she was one of Aunt Camellia’s puppy dogs. Cool was boring.
“Want more tea?” Astrid would be a good mommy. She liked taking care of people.
Halley said she thought Astrid liked Charlie.Likeliked him. If that was true, then maybe Charlie would marry Astrid and they’d be able to stay here with all the dogs and cats and Astrid’s family. Nova liked having aunts and she loved all the cookies and treats and laughing, too. The laughing was her favorite.
“I’m fine. Thank you, Astrid.” Charlie didn’t sound grumpy when he talked to Astrid. He did still act weird around her, though. Halley said it was because Astrid made Charlie nervous. But if he liked her, why was he nervous? As far as Nova was concerned, grown-ups were weird.
“You’re welcome, Charlie.” Astrid’s smile wassopretty. And she didn’t even have to wear lipstick. Halley said it was cool that Astrid could be so pretty and not wear lipstick and Halley loved lipstick so Astrid must bereallycool.
Cool couldn’t be all bad if Astrid was cool.
Nova shrugged. Her eyes were feeling heavy. Even with the loud thunder booming, Charlie was here and it would all be okay. She hugged Scorpio against her and turned into Charlie.
“Tired?” Astrid whispered. “I have a big, comfy bed upstairs, if you want to nap.”
