Chapter Twenty
Glenn rang the bell but no one answered, so he let himself in.
Mr. Linden, who’d been released from the hospital a couple of days before, had been installed in a hospital bed in the family room and Cassie and Shelly were in the process of helping him up.
The room was warm, and the place had the stifling feel of a nursing home with pill bottles and Mr. Linden’s hospital ID bracelet littering the coffee table.
“Here, let me help.” Glenn set down the box of chocolates he’d brought and gently lifted the older man to his feet. Mr. Linden had been old before, but now he seemed ancient. The ordeal had taken it out of him. His cane had been replaced by a walker, and his hands shook as he took hold of it.
“One day at a time,” Shelly said. “That’s how we’re taking it here.
” She resembled their dad, with his strong features, but you could tell she and Cassie were sisters.
Their noses crinkled the same way when they smiled, and they had a physical ease with each other that only siblings possessed. Close siblings, anyway.
“How you doing, Mr. Linden?” Glenn said.
Cassie’s father looked at Glenn like he couldn’t quite place him.
“I thought I’d check on the bees today. You feel like getting outside?” It would do Mr. Linden good to get out of the house. Cassie too. She seemed exhausted, briefly touching his arm but not lifting her face for a kiss.
Cassie glanced dubiously at Shelly. “I don’t know. You think that’s a good idea?”
“It’s a nice day,” Glenn said.
Mr. Linden took a closer look at him. “You’re the bee man.”
“That’s me.”
“What do you want to do, Dad?” Shelly said. “You want to get cleaned up and go outside?”
Mr. Linden shrugged irritably. “Don’t need to clean up. I’m fine.”
They agreed that Mr. Linden could get some fresh air, but first Shelly took him to wash up. Watching him maneuver the walker was painful, and Cassie motioned to Glenn that they should wait outside.
She sat on the step with the breeze lifting her hair, and Glenn sat too. It felt good to be next to her. What with everything going on, they hadn’t spoken much the past few days.
“Sorry, it’s been a little crazy here,” she said.
“Don’t be sorry; you have a ton going on.” He kissed the top of her head and just for a moment she leaned into him. “Why don’t you go for a run or whatever you need to do? I can sit with him for a little while. You and Shelly should take a break.”
“He’s still so weak. He gets dizzy, and I’m afraid he’s going to fall but he doesn’t like us helping him.”
He slanted her a look. “I wouldn’t want you or your sister helping me pee either.”
She laughed, which seemed to loosen her up a little.
He twined his hand in hers. “Shelly’s here, can you get away for a couple of hours later? I’ll make you dinner. No meat, this time, I promise.”
She gave him a tired smile. “Believe me, I’d love nothing more than to chuck all this and crawl into a hole with you.”
He grinned. “That sounds promising.”
“But I don’t know when that’s going to be.
” Her smile faded. “And there’s something I have to—” But she was interrupted by Shelly and their dad, who were making their way around the side of the house to avoid the front steps.
Mr. Linden was hunched over the walker, wrapped in a sweater even though the day was warm.
Glenn stood to lend a hand, wondering what Cassie wanted to say. She seemed preoccupied but anyone would be.
“Where are my bees?” Mr. Linden was out of breath from the short excursion but had that determined look Glenn had come to recognize.
“Want to drive down and take a look?” Glenn said.
Cassie looked doubtful. “Getting across the field might be hard.”
But Mr. Linden was already creeping toward the truck.
“I can pull right up to the hives,” Glenn said, “if you don’t mind tire tracks on the grass.”
“If it’s okay I’ll skip it,” Shelly said. “I haven’t even showered yet today. Sorry Glenn.” She laughed. “I’m sure that’s too much information.”
“No judgment here.” He liked Shelly. There was no artifice to her.
He wondered if she was as conflicted as Cassie about their dad.
He’d tried to convince Cassie that nothing about the heart attack was her fault, but it was hard to let go of that kind of self-doubt.
It ate away at him too. Always second guessing himself about Lilah.
He’d stood firm on Colorado even though she was still badgering him to let her go. But he was right; he knew he was.
Still. It killed him that things were rocky at home. Lilah hadn’t watched TV with him in a week. They ate together, then she disappeared into her room right after dinner. But if he gave in, she would run all over him. And bottom line, he didn’t like the idea of her alone with Sophie all summer.
They helped Mr. Linden into the truck, and Cassie got in front.
He thought she might say what was on her mind, but with her dad in the back seat she stayed quiet.
Glenn rolled down the windows. It was a gorgeous day.
Early June, his favorite time of year. Long days.
Plentiful forage for the bees with the belly of summer still ahead.
With an active queen, a healthy colony could triple in size over the summer.
It amazed him every year how fast the bees ramped up.
Mr. Linden seemed rejuvenated by the fresh air. He gazed intently at the hives, which from this distance looked like filing cabinets that had been deposited in the middle of the field. “Those are where the bees live.”
“Yup, those are your hives.”
“Hives,” Mr. Linden repeated, like he’d never heard the word. Where did a word like that go? The man had been tending bees for years. How could he forget something as basic as hive? But maybe he hadn’t forgotten. Maybe his mind was just gummed up, and seeing his bees would cut through the clutter.
“Believe it or not, the confusion’s better,” Cassie said in a low voice. “I mean, relatively better. He didn’t even know where he was in the hospital. He thought I was my mom and Shelly was me.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine.” He gave her leg a brief squeeze. No wonder she was tense, she had a shitload on her mind.
They left the gravel surface of the driveway, and Glenn bumped over the grass, going slow so as not to jostle Mr. Linden.
The field had been mowed, but near the hives it had grown tall and weedy, the landscaper clearly wary of getting too close.
Glenn hadn’t been back since he put in the drone comb a couple of weeks earlier.
The cells wouldn’t be capped yet, but it couldn’t hurt to take a look.
He’d expected Mr. Linden to watch from the truck, but as soon as they stopped, he unbuckled his seatbelt.
“All right,” Glenn said, “if you want to get out, let’s watch your step.
” He guided the older man out of the truck and helped him put on a veil.
The bees were agitated. A few buzzed around their heads, and a platoon of guard bees eyed them suspiciously from the entrance.
Something might have riled them up earlier, maybe a skunk nosing around.
He frowned at a stray yellowjacket cruising at mid altitude near the hive.
That was a worrisome sign. Even one wasp could mean a nest nearby.
Wasps could wipe out a weak colony in no time.
He puffed a little smoke to calm the bees, then cracked open one of the boxes.
Every other time he’d been here, Mr. Linden had wanted to help, but now he seemed content to lean on the walker.
Glenn lifted out a comb. “She’s been laying drone, see?
Just like we wanted. Some of it’s even capped already.
” He pointed to a row of cells that had been sealed off with a pale cover of wax.
“If we’re lucky, the mites are in there with them. ”
“See that, Dad?” Cassie said, but Mr. Linden didn’t appear to recall any of this.
In fact, after a few minutes he lost interest. A few weeks ago, he’d been out here himself, wrestling with the hives, trying to light the smoker.
Sure, he had some memory issues, but he’d been functioning okay. The heart attack had knocked him down.
Glenn slotted the drone frame back into the box and pried open the next one.
This colony wasn’t doing as well. “She’s laid some drone eggs,” he pointed out, hoping to engage Mr. Linden, “but the pattern is spotty. A healthy queen should be laying more vigorously than this.” With his hive tool he scraped out the inside of a cell and saw the telltale red varroa mites clinging to a translucent larva.
The powdered sugar and even the drone comb hadn’t done the job.
He was about to open up the new hive too, but Cassie suggested they head back.
Mr. Linden didn’t argue. When they got him into the truck, he leaned against the headrest and closed his eyes.
Glenn couldn’t get a handle on Cassie’s mood.
Not quite aloof but holding herself back in some way.
Had he done something to upset her? He’d been there for her at the hospital, he’d rushed right over.
And he’d been checking in every day, at least briefly.
A fissure of worry opened up inside him.
He wasn’t good with women. Things started out well but somewhere along the way, they tired of him.
Sophie had. Even Lilah was pulling away.
He wasn’t easy. He knew that. He was opinionated, and okay, he could be downright moody.
But when he was in, he was all in. He didn’t know any other way to be.
“I guess I’ll take off now,” Glenn said once they got her dad back to the house, but Cassie said, “Let me just get him settled. Can you stay a minute?”