Chapter Twenty #2
He sat on the front step like the hired help, his stomach churning.
Was she about to tell him she didn’t have time for a relationship?
Her life was crazy, but whose life wasn’t?
Or maybe Shelly had sized him up and told her she needed to find a lawyer, not a beekeeper.
He’d fallen hard, that was a mistake. And sleeping with her had only made him want her more.
“Sorry to turn you into the chauffeur,” Cassie said when she emerged a few minutes later. She’d brushed her hair and put on lip gloss, which gave him a spark of hope. If she was about to break up with him, she wouldn’t have bothered. Would she?
“I didn’t mind,” he said. “At least he got out for a few minutes.”
They stepped off the porch and by unspoken agreement cut across the field. Wherever this was going, better to talk about it away from the house.
“So what’s the story with that second hive?” she said. “It didn’t sound good.”
“There’s time to requeen this season if we do it soon, that way the colony can build back up before winter.
You might lose it anyway, but it’s worth a chance.
” He was about to explain the mechanics of introducing a new queen but when he glanced over she was gazing off toward the street, and he got the sense she wasn’t listening.
They skirted the hives, ending up at the stone wall that bordered the woods. A chipmunk raced along the top, then dove into a crevice and vanished with a flick of its tail.
Glenn waited, his heart stumbling. Something was wrong but he didn’t know what. How could he fix it if he didn’t know what it was? They sat on the wall in the dappled light, and he waited for her to speak.
When she finally looked at him, she seemed edgy and unhappy.
“We’re selling the property. My dad agreed.
Even if he regains some strength, he can’t live here.
It’s impossible. He can’t even get up the stairs.
He needs someplace on one floor with memory care too.
” She glanced across the field toward the hives.
“So I don’t know what to do about the bees… ”
Glenn felt a rush of relief. That was it, she was worried about the bees? It wasn’t about him after all. “Don’t stress about that. Once we get the mites under control, I’ll figure something out. Or the new owner might want them. You never know. Focus on what you need to do for your dad.”
She let go a sigh. “There isn’t going to be a new owner. I mean, there is…oh, there’s no good way to say it. Weber’s made an offer and we’ve accepted.”
He blinked, not sure he’d heard correctly. “You’re selling to Weber?”
She scraped at a loose stone, causing a fall of fine dirt.
“It’s a lot of money, much better than anything we could get on our own.
” She glanced unhappily toward the house.
“You’ve seen what kind of shape the place is in.
We’d have to spend a fortune before we could even list it.
He’s offered to buy it as is. We don’t have to do a thing. ”
“Of course you don’t have to do a thing.” He couldn’t keep the sharpness from his voice. “He’s going to rip it down.”
“I realize that but there’s no helping it.”
“Jesus, Cassie. This is a once-in-a-lifetime property. You’ve got a mature meadow here. There’s nothing like this left in Laurelton.” Selling the house was one thing, but to Weber? How could she go there? “Why not try another caregiver?”
“Caregivers come and go. And eventually he’s going to need someplace where we don’t have to worry that he’s going to fall down the stairs or whether he likes the lady or if she’s going to quit. And they’re developing now. If we don’t jump on this offer, it’ll go away.”
He felt a rising sense of hurt. “You never said a word about this.”
“I didn’t know what to say. At first, we didn’t know each other well, and honestly, I knew you wouldn’t like it. I guess I didn’t want to go there. I feel bad. Believe me, it’s not what I want to do.”
He tossed a rock into the woods, where it landed in the leaves with a hollow thud. “I get it about the money. And it’s your decision, you and your family’s. I just wish you’d said something.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. It just never felt like the right time.”
His thoughts were beginning to coalesce in a troubling way.
“You were thinking about this the whole time we’ve been together.
You met with Weber and didn’t even tell me.
” For some reason, her silence seemed the greatest sin.
“I was in a marriage that wasn’t honest,” he said tightly.
“She never told me a goddamn thing until the day she said she was leaving. It’s not about doing what’s right for your family.
It’s keeping stuff back. This might not seem like a big deal to you, but to me it’s all about trust.” He gestured toward the Kingsley property.
“You let things go along with us when you knew you wanted to sell to Weber. What the hell else are you keeping back?”
“I’m not keeping anything back. You see my life.
I have an eighty-five-year-old father with dementia who just had a heart attack.
And a house that’s falling apart. I’ve been doing my best trying to hold everything together, but I can’t do it anymore.
” She blinked back tears. “They’re already developing the other parcel.
It’s happening with or without our five acres. ”
“Oh, so why not be part of the problem?”
Her eyes widened. “That’s how you see me, part of the problem?”
“I don’t know how to see things anymore. Without honesty, we have nothing.” He pushed off the wall, something closing off inside him. He’d been a fool to believe things could be different this time. She was just like Sophie. Maybe all women were. “I need to go.”
“Glenn.”
“I can’t do this if I don’t trust you.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “It’s just a house. It has nothing to do with us.”
He shook his head, heat building behind his own eyes. “It has everything to do with us. You just can’t see it.”
He started back to the hives to collect his things, half expecting she would follow and try to convince him. But she didn’t. As he gathered up his equipment he saw out of the corner of his eye that she’d started up the hill toward the house. Head down, walking slowly.
Part of him wanted to rush after her and say it didn’t matter. That they’d find a way. But it did matter. It said everything about her.
He sealed up the hives and stowed his equipment in the truck, his whole body ringing with hurt. Twenty minutes ago he’d been mulling over how to save the weakened colony, but it didn’t matter. She could do what she wanted with the bees. It wasn’t his problem.
In a month all this would be gone anyway.