Page 117 of The Beekeeper

“You had an allergic reaction,” I said, smoothing my hand over her hair. “You’re allergic to bee stings.”

At the mention of bees, she twisted in my arms to look at Harper, and it was the first time I let myself look at her, too.

“I’m allergic?” she asked, her voice garbled and her face looking like she was about to break down again. “I can’t be allergic. I don’t want to be. I love the bees⁠—”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Harper assured her quickly, putting a hand on Paisley’s back—a comfort until she saw my face and then pulled it quickly away. “Lots of people are allergic to bees. You’re not alone.” She pointed to the EpiPen. “That’s why I keep the medicine around. Remember how I told you my brother is allergic? It’s okay as long as you know what to do.”

The way I felt, I didn’t want my daughter within fifty feet of another beehive ever again.

Paisley just stared at the pen, uncertain how she wanted to feel. “I don’t remember being stung. I don’t remember any bee.”

“Does anything hurt?” Harper asked.

My daughter wrinkled her nose. “My foot.”

I would’ve checked, but Paisley stuck her foot out in Harper’s direction. Carefully, she examined the bottom of her foot and then zeroed in on a spot near her big toe.

“There it is. Looks like you stepped on one, and that’s how you got stung,” she murmured and carefully scraped the stinger out with her nails.

Pais grabbed her foot and tried to look at the bottom of it. “Will I be okay?”

“You’re going to be just fine,” I promised. “But the doctor just needs to check you and make sure.” When Paisley started to frown, I added, “We can get ice cream on the way home.” Like magic, her demeanor flipped around.

“Harper, can you come, too?”

“Pais, Harper has to stay here.”

I knew the words would crush her—would crush both of them, but it was better this way. We were moving and Pais needed to get used to not having Harper around all the time. Just like I did.

“W-why?”

“I’ve got a lot of work to do here, Paisley. Bees to check. Honey to collect. Plus, my brother is coming over in a little, so I have to stay,” Harper chimed in, a serene smile on her face. I could tell what she said wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth either; if I’d allowed her, she would’ve come with us.

Paisley’s face fell further, but then she nodded. Taking that as my sign, I held her tighter and stood.

“Are you sure you can’t come?” Pais asked from where her head rested on my chest, her small, scared voice deepening the cracks in my heart.

“I’ll be here when you get back, and you can tell me all about what the doctor said,” Harper promised, and that was enough for Pais to pin her hopes to.

I carried her back to the car and buckled her into her car seat. Only when the door was closed did I approach Harper.

“Thank you,” I said roughly, stopping in front of her.

“Of course,” Harper said, and it was the first moment when I saw her veneer of calm collapse. I watched her attempt to blink back the tears in her eyes and how she folded her arms over herself to keep herself from shaking.

She cared about my daughter. I knew that. I’d known it for a long time. But in this moment, I felt the exact way I did when I realized Pais was wearing Harper’s perfume—like I knew their bond existed but I was blindsided by how strong it was. Just like I was blindsided by how strongly I felt about her now.

How strongly I wanted to haul her into my arms and kiss her. To thank her, though it would never be enough, for saving my daughter’s life. And to tell her to fuck her damn contract because I didn’t want to leave. I wanted her. I wanted this. I wanted us. How strongly, in that moment, I wanted to take back everything I’d said and set a completely different course for my life.

Instead, I lowered my chin and said, “We’ll be back in a little.”

The truth was, I wasn’t coming back here until I’d told Pais we were moving.

Unlike the bee sting, there was no magic medicine that would instantly reverse the effects of that hurt. And that was why, by the time we got back to Harper’s, it was much, much later and I was having to carry Paisley inside and up to her room because she’d exhausted herself from crying.

Chapter 28

Harper