Page 6 of The Burbs and the Bees
“I thought you were smarter than that.”
I slam the gate, and with my body temperature back up to normal, I shrug from the blanket. I don’t care who sees me in my boxers. The damn thing is scratchy. My brother stares as I toss the blanket into the back along with my wet clothes. I climb into the cab, and Tyler slides into the passenger seat. With more force than necessary, I shut my door and shove my key into the ignition.
“Seriously, dude? What the fuck happened?” He buckles himself in, and I glare at him for swearing. He ignores me. As usual.
“It was an accident.” I begin to inch from the parking spot, when a Tesla—with none other than Alyson in it—circles my truck and cuts in front of me. I slam on the brakes. “Jesus,” I say. “That woman is going to be the death of me.”
Tyler sits up straighter and rolls down his mud-streaked window, compliments of last week’s heavy rainstorm, to get a better view. “You know her?”
“No.”
“Then why is she going to be the death of you?”
Okay, I stand corrected. Tyler’s incessant chatter is what’s going to put me six feet under and provide a year’s worth of fertilizer for the orchard next door.
“Wait, was she in a blanket, too?” he asks.
Christ, nothing gets by the kid. I pull out behind her and carefully negotiate the busy, winding road. Tourists from all over flock to Peggy’s Cove fishing village this time of year. I usually avoid it during the busy season, but it’s our brother Beck’s birthday, so Tyler and I make the thirty-minute drive to bring home a feed of lobster.
“Hello, earth to Jay.” My brother leans into me and waves his hand in front of my face. I swat it away before we swerve off the road and end up in the ocean. One dip on this windy, Saturday afternoon is my limit, thank you very much. “Was she in a blanket, too?”
“Yes,” I say, hoping to shut him up but knowing it will only bring on more questions.
“Were you two…” He pauses to tap his clenched fists together.
“Fist pumping?” I laugh. “Yeah, that’s what we were doing, Ty. We were fist pumping.”
I rake my wet hair from my forehead, and he snorts.
“You know what I mean.”
“You’re my kid brother. I don’t want to know what you mean.”
He pushes back in his seat and kicks out his long legs. “I’m seventeen, dude.”
Yeah, seventeen, almost as tall as I am, and a total chick magnet. I toss up a silent I’m sorry to my late father. I was a hellion at that age and don’t know how he ever lived through it.
Tyler aims that crooked grin my way again. “Old enough to know better, and too young to care.”
My heart pinches as he recites Dad’s favorite phrase. He’s been gone for five years now but when I look at Tyler, see the stark resemblance, same dark eyes and hair, it’s like I’m looking at a younger version of my dad. I still miss him, and goddammit, I plan to make him proud— I owe him that much.
“Like I said, you’re too young.”
“Okay, old man, what’s gotten your goat?” he asks as he flips through the radio stations.
Old man? Yeah, I might be the father figure in the family, but I’m only twenty-nine. Still, Ty might be right. After taking over the Vegetable farm, and starting an apiary, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have fun.
“Are you going to answer me or are you too caught up in thinking about the hot chick in the blanket?”
“Her name is Alyson, and I’m not thinking about her. I don’t even know her and have no plans to change that. You, little brother, have one hell of an imagination.” He opens his mouth, but I cut him off. “Can we stop talking? I have a lot on my mind.”
“I will, once you tell me how you ended up in your boxers.”
I follow Alyson’s car along the scenic route. Okay, so she’s not a dumbass tourist who has no idea how volatile and dangerous the ocean can be, but she’s a tourist nonetheless, and I didn’t need to see the fancy-ass Tesla, a rare sight in Nova Scotia, to come to that conclusion.
There isn’t a local in the entire province who would climb the rocks in a short skirt and high heels. How she managed to keep them on after tumbling into the sea is beyond me. Back in the day, I might have chased a hot girl like her down for other reasons. But those days are far behind me.
“Speaking of goats,” I say, “I thought I heard a coyote last night when locking up.” I cast a glance my brother’s way and move close to the shoulder of the road to let a motorcycle pass. He waves as he goes, and I give him a nod. “Did you check on Mr. Matthew’s animals?”
