The Honeybee Café (Everly Hollow #2)

Chapter 1 Love

Love

Jas

Do you believe in love? I had it once. Love.

The kind of whirlwind love drifting in like a storm. Soft and fierce all at once. It lifted me off my feet, leaving my heart racing and my breath stolen. He made my nerves sing like the strings of an instrument touched by unseen hands. The music it made…was beautiful.

This love had adorable, pointed ears, ivory cheeks dusted with freckles, dirty blonde hair that kissed the sun, and beautiful moss-green eyes flecked with honey. He was sweet like honey, too. Every word and every glance dripped its golden warmth.

And his smile—I melted. Aaryn stole my heart on a spring day at the honey stand.

First, there was love. Immediately after I finished college, there was marriage and a baby, in that order. Life was unfolding as we had dreamed.

But no one expects it to end so soon, or by tragedy. It didn’t matter that he was Elven with magic and lived in a place of wonder and enchantment. Honestly, he should have outlived me. Yet even diseases outside this beautiful place can corrode what should be immortal.

His death was devastating. It came, and there was nothing I could do. There was nothing I could say to change what was inevitable.

Aaryn’s death left me feeling desolate. I had no one.

No friends, really, except for my college roommate, Celeste, who never moved back here after college; she stayed in the city.

My in-laws, Elowen and Lucien, were there as much as their grief would allow them.

They adore Seren, but I really needed them, too.

I’m not close with my mother, and my father…I remember little about him. Only that he was never really around before he eventually left. He became a ghost, like my mother, who broke when he left us.

I had no choice but to move forward because I had a tiny being to take care of. She needed me, and I needed her. Together, we had Dominik to lean on. He was Aaryn’s best friend, and he's also Seren’s godfather, but over the years, he’s become my best friend too.

Dominik has always been there. He held me when I broke, sobbed, and screamed. I couldn't eat or sleep because Aaryn's absence had ripped my heart from my body and crushed it before my very eyes.

Together, we stood side by side, watching Seren grow into this beautiful little girl who reminds me so much of her father. I'm happy to have a small piece of him, because without her, I don’t know where we would be.

She has his smile, his laugh, and even the magic of his wild spirit when she talks to the bees.

Every so often, I see her, sitting outside, her face turned toward the sun.

The gentle breeze kisses her cheeks, and she looks so grown-up.

She looks peaceful. I wonder at times if she can feel him, but she doesn’t remember him.

She was too young when he died. But maybe, just maybe, Aaryn is saying hi.

I know—in the depths of my soul—Seren held us together.

She really is her namesake. Star. Within the darkness, the grief of his death, the heartbreak, the sadness, and fear, her light is what guided us through it.

Thankfully, I have a wonderful community to raise Seren in.

I don’t want her to feel as alone as I sometimes feel.

Now, close to four years later, I’m here—a widowed mama in her late twenties with endless chores, tasks, and errands—attempting to date again, which feels strange.

Trying to date men in this timeline is not great either.

It’s been quite the journey so far. I’m firm on the rule no one will meet her until I’m ready.

Any boyfriend of mine needs to be worth sharing my entire heart with.

When I sit too long and think about it all, it seems like such a fucking risk because he’ll be holding my daughter’s heart as well.

The rumble of the cobblestone road pulls me from my thoughts as I guide my Outback into the town square.

Across the way stands The Honeybee Café, my café, with flower boxes filled with colors, raindrops clinging to petals like jewels.

Wrought-iron tables waiting beneath the billowy white-and-yellow striped awning.

This place has always been magical. Even now, the coffee stays hot longer than it should, as if Aaryn's magic touch continues to linger in every corner.

I shut the engine off and sit a moment, hands still on the wheel.

The thought of new beginnings and hope for the future flutters in my chest as a caged bird caught between excitement and nervousness for the unknown.

I collect my things, but what I’m really collecting is courage for what awaits on this journey.