Page 109 of The Beekeeper

And I breathed different, waiting for the moment that was going to take them away from me.

Blaze opened his eyes then and found mine.

We both knew what the end of the lawsuit meant for us: that the thing cuffing us to this arrangement was finally gone. But even though we both knew it, neither of us wanted to talk about. I didn’t know how to ask him if the contract—and its ending—was what he wanted. I didn’t know how to tell him I wanted him to stay. And it felt like, the way he held me—the way he kissed me—that he didn’t know how to tell me things had changed for him, too.

“Daddy, wait until you see your gifts!”

Blaze’s attention went back to Pais as she unwound her arms.

“Gifts? You are my gift.” He tried to make it sound playful, but there was nothing but heartfelt truth in the words.

“Yes, gifts. Come see!” Flashing a toothy smile, she took his hand and dragged him over to the table, shoving one thing after another at him. The massive card. The box with her illustrated story. The little gift bag with the jar of honey.

“Whoa, hold on. Let me do one thing at a time.” He laughed, managing to hold all those things and her close to him.

But wasn’t that Blaze Stevens in a nutshell? Holding everything close to his chest because it was safer that way? Because all the mistakes of his past meant he had to face all their repercussions alone?

“Here. Let me help,” I offered without thinking, taking the gifts from his hands so he could open the card.

“Thanks.”

Pais stood next to him, her hands on his shoulder as he looked over the front. ‘Happy Father’s Day’ was written in giant, uneven handwriting, and all around it, there were colorful flowers and bees.

“You drew all this?” Blaze let his admiration show.

“Yup,” she said and gave his shoulder a little shake. “Come on, Daddy. Don’t you want your gifts?”

He chuckled and opened the giant card. Inside, in equally large and uneven handwriting, Paisley had written: You’re the Bee’s Knees! I love you, Daddy. Love, Paisley.

And Harper.

As soon as he saw my name below hers, his stare lifted to mine.

“She made me sign it,” I said quietly, feeling ten times as awkward seeing him read it as I had when I signed it. But to tell Paisley no—you would’ve thought I’d told her all the bees in the world were dead.

His jaw pulsed, and if he did look a certain way about it, the look was there and gone before I could figure out what it was, let alone whether it was good or bad.

“The bee’s knees…”

“It means you’re the best!” Pais explained, wrapping her arms around his neck, though I was sure Blaze knew what it meant.

“Thanks, pumpkin.” He placed his hand over her arms and ducked his head into her embrace.

“Okay, now open your gifts.”

Her precociousness made me laugh. She took the box from me first, helping Blaze unwrap it and lift off the lid.

“Surprise!” She clapped her hands as he lifted out her short story.

“Hive is Where the Heart Is,” he read the title aloud, and then looked at Paisley. “Did you write this?”

She gave an exaggerated nod. “Harper helped me.” My chest warmed. She didn’t have to give me any credit, the idea had been hers, but I selfishly craved every moment that I was a part of this little family, even if it was only temporarily. “I drew all the pages,” she added, and flipped to the first one.

Blaze sat down fully right there on the floor, pulled Pais onto his lap, and started reading. The book wasn’t long at all, so I quickly—and discreetly—pulled out my phone and snapped a few photos of the two of them together, knowing how much Blaze would like to have them.

As soon as they were finished, Pais was up again, but I was ready for it this time, handing her the gift bag with the honey.

“Oh, this is heavy,” Blaze remarked as she gave it to him. He pulled out the tissue paper and then the jar.