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I put my hand on Mist’s arm, holding tightly to the seat handle with my other hand, and she took
off.
“Zinnie!” he called after me as Mist drove us away.
When we were out of sight, Mist slowed down, taking some rights and lefts, finally stopping at
Aggie’s.
“I texted Aggie about ten seconds into that conversation and told her you’d be spending the night. She always has a guest room ready.”
She put her hand on my knee, and it reminded me of Sunny with her simple, comforting gestures.
“You OK?”
“Just embarrassed you had to see that.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re married to the perfect man and I’m married to his antithesis.”
Mist burst into peals of her lovely laughter. “There is not a man alive who’s perfect and trust me, know. Izan was an absolute idiot for a long time before he started walking upright instead of bent
over with his head up his ass. It’s all part of the Z28 story. Let’s do a girl’s night Friday and you’ll
see that I understand your current challenges.”
Aggie’s front door swung open and she appeared.
“Thanks, Mist. See you Friday,” I said, giving her a hug.
“It’s a date, cuz.” She waved to her grandmother and then took off.
Aggie looked at me closely. “Animals are easier to understand than men.”
“I heard that, sweetness!” her husband laughed from the other room.
Aggie rolled her eyes, trying to keep from smiling, and opened the door wider to let me in.
*~*
I
2
The next morning, Aggie fed me and took me to Sunny’s where she was going to teach me more about the nectar flow. If anyone thought beekeeping was simple, they were wrong. There was so
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much to learn, but I absorbed every bit of information and researched it at night, trying to take in
as much as I could.
When Sunny was taking me home, as we were talking about last night’s fiasco with Dash, her phone rang. She listened a minute and cut her eyes to me.
“Let me call you back, Philo.”
“Is it Dash?” I asked. “Is he back?”
“No,” she said, “But your mother and sister are here. They’re at the gate. Do you want him to send them away?”
“No,” I said firmly. “Let’s head to the gate.”
Sunny, as always, looked mellow. I, on the other hand, hadn’t achieved her state of perpetual
tranquility. When we reached the gate, I saw that Philo’s tractor and trailer filled with hay were
blocking the road. Mom and Iris were both out of the car.
“What are you doing here?” I asked them.
“Trying to talk some sense to you! You need to get your things and come home with us,” my mother demanded. “You look huge, like you’re going to give birth at any moment. You don’t want
to give birth surrounded by a bunch of hippies.”
“Don’t insult anyone in the remaining few seconds you’re here. And by the way, how did you
know I was here?”
“Dash asked if I knew why you’d be out here in the middle of nowhere when he saw where your debit card had been used. I told him about your grandmother’s sister and the commune. When I called him last night, he said he hadn’t been successful in getting you to come home, so I assured him I’d get you home today if I had to drag you.”
Had he really sanctioned my mother dragging me home? That seemed low, even for Dash.
“There will be no dragging,” Sunny said, and all traces of mellow were gone. I noticed in my periphery that all sorts of golf carts were pulling up, and someone even came riding up on a horse.
“This is ridiculous, you making such an issue out of a joke, Zin. Dash won’t wait forever.”
“I bet that’s exactly what you’re hoping for, isn’t it?”
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“Someone has to be there to console him since
you
took off.”
“How selfless of you to volunteer for the job.”
“He’s losing patience, Zinnie. If you won’t come home, I’m pushing him to think about an emergency psychiatric hold if you keep this up. You want to lose your baby because you can’t take a joke?”
That was the moment I realized my new family could lose the mellow in a heartbeat.
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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.