Another Knock
Zinnia’s POV
I drove home from Mist and Izan’s house in my little bee cart, smiling the entire way, feeling more and more like a real resident of Serenity. Cars were allowed only for ingress and egress to
the commune, but any place you wanted to go on the property required a golf cart.
And now I had one, just like the other residents. Izan had given it some giddy up, but I still took it slow, wanting to enjoy every minute of my first drive in it. Dash had said he’d walk Melitta back to
my place in her stroller, so I’d taken off in my beemobile, and, I have to admit, I dorked out and
made little buzzing noises for a few minutes as I zipped along the path.
When I got to my house, I took a selfie in front of my cart and sent it to Mist: I LOVE MY BEE
CART!!!! Please tell Izan THANK YOU!!!!
Since I had some time before Juniper Berries arrived, I got out all the ingredients for the cookies,
figuring we’d make a double batch so she could take some home to her father and I could give some to Dash, Sunny and Aggie. I’d make a fresh batch tomorrow to take to Izan and Mist in
thanks for my cart.
Right at ten, there was a knock on my door, and I opened it to find Juniper Berries and a man I could only assume was her father. His daughter had definitely inherited her juniper berry–colored eyes from him. He introduced himself, and I invited him in because I reasoned that he’d want to see where his daughter was going to be hanging out for the next couple of hours and see what
kind of person I was.
He was a nice looking, serious man with the same blue eyes as his daughter, and you could tell his body didn’t come from a gym but from the hard work that came from being a farmer or a rancher.
“If it’s OK with you, I’ll get Junip around one. I want to have lunch with her before I go back to the
fields.”
“Absolutely,” I said.
“Where’s Melitta?” Juniper asked, looking around.
“She should be home any minute. She and her daddy are out for a walk.”
Chant–11
41.41%
“Behave,” River said to his daughter before he kissed her on the head, nodded to me and walked
out.
Juniper began chattering about what she liked to do on the commune as we began measuring ingredients. About ten minutes later, Dash walked in the door with Melitta, who was now out cold. Dash transferred her into the Moses basket I had on the floor in the living room, and then came to
watch us mix up the cookies.
“More chocolate chips,” he whispered, covering his mouth as if the message was on the wind.
“Mooooore chocolate chiiiiiips.”
“Did you hear that?” I asked Juniper. “I suddenly feel like we should add more chocolate chips to
the batter for some reason.”
She giggled and then added more chips to the bowl.
“Muuuuuuuch betterrrrrrr,” Dash whispered again, making Juniper giggle again.
His phone chimed with a text, and he frowned while reading it.
“That was Branch. He said Aggie caught her hand on a nail, and he wants me to look at it before she rubs some dirt in it and tells him it’s fine. Can I take your cart?”
“Of course. I left the key in it,” I said. “I hope Aggie’s OK.”
“If she’s not, she will be,” he said confidently, grabbing his doctor bag from the front door. He
never was far from it.
“Tell her I said she better listen to you,” I told him.
He grinned at me and left.
“He’s a doctor?” Juniper asked.
“Yes,
he works with children.”
“He’s funny,” she said.
Most of the time.
After we put the first tray of cookies in the oven and got the second tray ready, Melitta began making noises letting me know she was awake. Juniper and I played with Melitta for a while until
Chapter41
41.41%
she got cranky and wanted to eat. After I nursed her, Juniper read to her from her little board book about the biggest animals on earth and then she read her one about a busy, buzzy bee who went to
different colored flowers.
“Melitta’s listening!” Juniper said.
“She likes your voice,” I told her, smiling.
While I finished the cookies, Juniper stayed by Melitta, doing a little tummy time with her,
holding her in her lap and naming her stuffed animals, one after the other.
“I always wanted a little brother or sister,” she said suddenly. “But Dad says I’ll have to be happy with babysitting because he doesn’t want to tempt fate since I’m pretty darn perfect.”
Good answer, River!
There was a knock at the door, and Juniper ran to open it and flung the door open.
“It’s my dad,” she announced.
River came in, still not smiling, and Juniper was talking a mile a minute about making cookies and watching Melitta.
“And Zinnia said she has to make another batch of cookies tomorrow so I can I come over to help her?” she pleaded.
River’s eyes darted to mine, and I nodded.
“OK, Junip,” he agreed.
“Yes!” Juniper pumped her fist.
A few minutes later, they were walking out the door with their container of cookies, promising to return the next morning at eleven.
*~*~*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Later that evening, Melitta was asleep, and Dash and I were sitting on my front porch with the door open and the receiver of the baby monitor in hand.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.