Chapter 9 - Paxton
It didn’t take us long to arrive at Honey Meets Pandesal Beekeeping, the bee farm that was almost directly next door to the meadery. When we pulled into the parking lot, Callum looked at me, eyebrows furrowed and confusion written on his face.
“What’s this?”
“It’s the farm where I source some of the honey for Celestial Cask. I thought you might enjoy seeing how this all works.”
He paused for a moment and I worried I’d guessed wrong.
Maybe he thought this was stupid. Maybe I’d misjudged his interest in my work entirely.
Maybe he was just being nice or something.
The moment passed, though, and he nodded and looked at me, a bright, genuine smile on his face. “This is cool. Thank you.”
We made our way around the main building to the field where I knew we’d likely find Gideon checking in on the apiary.
There were a dozen beehives spread throughout the field and sure enough, in the distance someone was wearing a white beekeeping suit and hood with a veil, standing at the hive closest to us.
We kept our distance and the moment Gideon looked in our direction, I waved him over. He nodded and waved before approaching, making his way through the grass in his suit.
“Hey, Pax,” he said when he finally made it to us. “What’s going on?”
I smiled and gestured toward Cal to make introductions. “This is Callum. He’s visiting and I thought I could show him some of the hives, if that’s okay.”
Gideon nodded. “Of course. Thanks for coming by. Why don’t you two go get suited up and I’ll show you what we have going on?”
“Perfect. I really appreciate it. Thank you.”
A little while later, I found myself wearing a thick, white beekeeping suit they reserved for visitors, as I helped Cal step carefully into the suit he’d been loaned.
As I crouched to the ground, holding the suit by the legs so he could slide his foot in, my stomach did a little somersault.
It was strangely intimate, even though we were standing behind the main building, in view of anyone who wanted to look out and see us.
As I fastened the suit around his ankles, I brushed against his calf and a shiver raced through me, despite the warm California morning.
I tried to ignore the feeling of warmth traveling down my arm as I helped Cal balance while he slid his toes back into his sneakers.
Once we were fully suited, hooded, and gloved up, with every part of us zipped and fastened safely in the suits, Gideon guided us out to the field where the hives were.
As we walked, Gideon talked about the bees.
He told us how they got started in the beekeeping business, how to care for the bees, and what they did differently at Honey Meets Pandesal, as opposed to other bee farms. When he was done talking, Gideon turned to Cal.
“Want to see some bees up close?”
Callum’s eyes widened. “This isn’t up close?”
Gideon grinned and shook his head. “Here.” He removed the wooden cover from one of the beehives and slowly removed a frame that was almost completely covered in beeswax and honeycomb.
There were bees crawling around on the frame and buzzing around our heads, landing on our suits and veils and walking their way around our bodies curiously.
“This is amazing,” Cal murmured as he reached out to touch the frame gently.
Gideon patiently showed him the different parts of the hive and talked about the different kinds of bees that made up a hive, pointing out the queen bee, worker bees, and drones.
Cal paid close attention, nodding and asking follow-up questions that made my chest tight and warm, though I wasn’t quite sure why.
When Gideon was finished, he gestured toward the main building again.
“We aren’t harvesting again for a little while, but you’re welcome to go up to the main building and do a taste test, if you’d like.
Pax, we have some blueberry blossom honey we harvested recently.
I thought you might like to consider it for the meadery. ”
“Thanks, friend.” I patted him on the back, careful to avoid squishing any bees, and turned to Cal. “Want to go taste some honey?”
“Absolutely.”
At the main building, free of our suits again, we spotted someone who happened to be setting up a taste test panel just then, a do-it-yourself type walk-through of the honeys they had harvested most recently.
“Mind if we join?”
The employee smiled and welcomed us to help ourselves.
As we ran through the different types of honey, I explained each one to Callum, telling him what I might use them for in my production.
“This one is wildflower honey,” I said as we started. “It’s the most common variety among beekeepers, for obvious reasons.”
Cal nodded. “I imagine it’s easiest to get. Wildflowers are everywhere.”
“Bingo.”
“This next one is another common one, sweet clover.”
As he tasted, he closed his eyes. “This is really good.”
“Can you tell I use this in our base meads?”
After a moment’s thought, Cal nodded. “I can, sort of. I bet if I had a glass of that mead here with me, it would make a big difference.”
“I’m sure. Okay, next up is buckwheat. It has a bold flavor, a little bitter if you pay attention. I’ve used this one in my coffee meads.”
“Wow, yeah. That’s a strong flavor. I wasn’t expecting it. It’s not what I’d usually think of when I think of honey.”
“It’s unique, right?”
“It is.”
We moved on to the blueberry blossom honey, which Gideon was right about—I absolutely wanted to use it.
“This is incredible,” I murmured. “I can totally see it going in one of my meads. Maybe…” The wheels started turning in my brain, which is when I noticed Cal watching me curiously.
“Sorry,” I murmured. “I get caught up in the creativity of it all sometimes.”
His smile was genuine, his eyes sparkling. “It’s okay. It’s kind of cute.”
Heat flooded my chest and crept across my cheeks.
“Thanks,” I murmured, looking away so he didn’t spot the blushing.
Once the heat receded a little, I looked back at Cal.
My chest squeezed and I ached to touch him.
It looked like he hadn’t shaved in several days, and the barely-there beard made my hands itch to touch it.
I cleared my throat and changed the subject.
“Had enough honey yet? I was thinking we could grab lunch or something and talk about the grants I’m interested in applying for. ”
Cal gave me a nod and a crooked smile. “That would be great.”
Once we were back in my truck and on the highway, Cal turned to me. “Thank you for taking me to the farm. I really enjoyed it.”
“Yeah, of course.” A moment passed. “Hopefully you got a lot out of it.”
He bit his lower lip for just a second. “For the most part.”
“I bet you didn’t expect to spend your morning handling bees, did you?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Interesting choice for a first date, I have to admit.”
The words hung in the air. Date. My mouth went dry and I found I couldn’t formulate words. “I…”
Quickly, Cal shook his head, cheeks reddening. “Oh, um… I didn’t mean date date. I just meant, you know, a… thing that two people do… together.”
Charmed by his flustered explanation, I couldn’t help but wonder—did he want it to be a date? I knew I wished it was. I made myself chuckle to break the tension. “It’s fine.”
We were quiet on the rest of the ride into downtown Foggy Basin, where I’d planned to take him to Don’t Go Bakin My Heart, stewing over the word “date” and what it actually meant.