Page 10 of The Beekeeper

“The daddy monster.”

My eyes bulged. Thankfully, I was basically a fly on the wall to the two of them.

“That’s right. The daddy monster gets rid of them every time.”

Holy…daddy.

I snapped my jaw shut just in time as Blaze looked over to see if I’d heard their conversation.

“All right. It’s time to go though. Uncle Wade is on his way to take us home.” Blaze picked her up and carried her by me back to the shed where the truck was parked.

“Dad, did you know baby bees can’t sting?”

“No, pumpkin, I didn’t know that.”

“Guess how many bees live in a hive?”

I smiled to myself, keeping a few paces back, as Paisley peppered Blaze with questions and facts that I’d just taught her. Watching the two of them together like a scene inside a snowglobe. Idyllic. Charming. A world that was out of my reach.

“Can we work on my project tomorrow?” Paisley asked me over her dad’s broad shoulder.

Blaze cocked his head and gave me a small nod of assent.

“Sure,” I said. “I have to go pick up some stuff from my brother in the morning, but you’re welcome any time in the afternoon.”

We made it back to the shed then, Wade’s SUV parked and idling behind the truck. Blaze’s older brother got out for a quick greeting, not bothering to hide the slight surprise on his face that Blaze and Paisley had ended up here…with me.

“Bye, Harper!” Paisley waved to me as Blaze buckled her into her car seat.

“Bye, Paisley.” I waved back until Blaze closed the door, fighting to hold onto my smile as he faced me.

“I’ll let you know about tomorrow,” Blaze said gruffly, and then climbed into the passenger seat.

His eyes claimed mine for one split second of something searing, and then it was gone. As they pulled away, I convinced myself the only reason his look burned was because of how coldly he regarded me.

Funny how I’d worked so hard to avoid the man I couldn’t help my attraction to, and in a single afternoon, I’d not only brought him back to my sanctuary, but somehow, guaranteed his return.

Chapter 3

Blaze

“All right, pumpkin, let’s go find Harper…” I brought my daughter down from her car seat, her feet hardly touching the ground before she was skipping toward the hives.

For the last twenty-four hours, all I’d heard about was bees. How many lived in a hive. How they were all girls. How they found their homes by scent. How soft they were to pet. The same facts followed by a hundred more questions I didn’t have answers to.

I could’ve looked up all the things Pais wanted to know, but I refrained. I didn’t want to diminish her excitement or quell her anticipation because it was the most out-of-her-shell she’d come since we’d left Boston and maybe—probably—even before that.

She was always timid and indecisive. Like she was afraid to do or say anything with her mom gone. We’d made a little progress with chocolate ice cream and crayons, but after Boston even that progress had mostly regressed. It had taken three weeks of being in Stonebar for her not to cry when we had to leave the apartment because she was so afraid of what would be waiting for her out the front door.

But she wasn’t afraid here with the bees, I realized, walking quickly to keep up with her as she tore through the tree line with a shout.

Here with Harper fucking Hamilton.

I had no idea what flipped this switch for her. Maybe it was just seeing the bees and having a good time with Harper. Maybe it was petting one and realizing what she thought could hurt her, didn’t. I’d flipped through a Rolodex of reasons in my head before deciding I didn’t need to know the reason why it worked, I just needed to know it worked. That it made my daughter happy. Even if it was torturous for me.

“Hey, Paisley! Welcome back!” Harper’s voice was like warm sugar to my brain, sweet and addictive.

Today, Harper was in a different variation of yesterday’s outfit: less-ripped jeans and another graphic tee, this one with a bee with heart eyes and the caption You’re the bee’s knees. Her hair was up in a high ponytail and though there was hardly a curve of hers in sight, my body still tightened.