Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 125117 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125117 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
They drove back to Thorn in tense silence. It turned out there was a side entrance that led directly upstairs, and Truman went inside with him without asking.
Ash stripped off his coat and boots and poured food into Bruce’s bowl. Once Bruce was happily snarfing it up, Ash sat down on the couch and closed his eyes.
Truman wasn’t sure what to do. He wanted to comfort Ash, to reassure him. But maybe Ash was one of those people who got mad if you saw them when they were vulnerable and would make him feel bad.
“I don’t think I’m gonna be very good company right now,” Ash said finally.
“Is that a polite way of asking me to leave, or you wanna hang out but you actually think I won’t like how you are?”
“Um. The first because of the second?”
Truman sat next to him. Very gently, he began to untangle Ash’s hair. Ash closed his eyes again and leaned closer to Truman. Ash’s hair was fine and thick and clearly tangled easily. Slowly, Truman worked out the tangles until he could run his fingers through it.
When he got to the back of Ash’s hair, a tear slid down Ash’s cheek.
Truman wiped it away with his thumb and pressed a gentle kiss to the damp skin. Ash drew a shuddering breath. When he spoke, his voice was choked and low.
“It’s like watching her get erased. And when she’s not there… She’s the only person who knows so many things. My childhood. My… And when she’s gone, those pieces of me are gone. And the way I remember her…it’s all getting replaced by this…this not-her.” He squeezed his eyes shut, and tears spiked his lashes.
Truman dragged gentle fingers along Ash’s scalp.
“I love her so much, but I…I don’t know how much longer I can do this. I feel all scraped out.”
“Come here,” Truman said softly and wrapped Ash in his arms. He had to go up on his knees to do it, but he wanted Ash to feel held, supported, taken care of.
For a moment, Ash was rigid in his arms, but then he let out a breath and sagged against Truman. “That sounds so damn hard.”
Ash put his arms around Truman then, hugging him back. They clung together, and Truman had the strangest feeling of familiarity. He felt calm and capable and like he’d been here before. It felt wonderful to hold Ash. It felt right.
A Message from Ramona
RAMONA to GREAT!A RUSSAKOFF
I’m so glad you’ve found your hive, G! Now go woo your queen
GRETA to RAMONA KNOW-IT-ALL
wait how’d you know about the bees?
RAMONA to GREAT!A RUSSAKOFF
I know shit. When will you learn?!
Chapter 16
Greta
The community garden where Veronica kept her bees seemed to be three or four lots that once had houses on them.
“They started it after Katrina,” Veronica explained. “A lot of properties never got rebuilt, and there was a period when we had the chance to claim some of the properties that were quote unquote ‘undesirable.’”
“What made them quote unquote ‘undesirable’?”
Greta felt foolish the moment the question was out of her mouth.
“They were in poor Black neighborhoods.”
The garden was divided casually, some plots larger, some smaller, some with plants sown in immaculate rows and others in a state of overgrown abundance. People had built all sorts of potting benches, shelves, raised beds, and other unidentifiable structures.
Veronica’s plot was at the far corner of the garden.
“People think the bees are gonna get out and sting them, so they want me as far away as possible,” Veronica said with a sneer. “They don’t get that the bees can leave whenever they want, that they’ve got no interest in stinging people unless people try to kill them, and that it’s these bees that are pollinating their damn vegetables.”
The hives looked like Styrofoam coolers on legs, and there was a large plastic barrel resting beside them. Tools Greta didn’t recognize lay tidily on a warped wood shelf.
“Did you build all this?”
“Yeah, all the wood is salvage. After Katrina, there was all this wood from the houses left. Some of it rotted, but a lot of the structures here are from busted-up houses. So when I got this plot a few years ago, it was here. I just repurposed it. Okay, you wanna see the bees?”
Greta nodded. “Do you wear one of those suits?”
“Nah, not with my bees. I know them. They’re gentle as hell. Just wanna eat pollen and chill. They won’t hurt you.”
“Eek, okay.”
Don’t flinch, don’t flinch, don’t flinch, Greta commanded herself.
Veronica took the cover off one of the boxes to reveal the wood frames inside. Bees buzzed lazily on top, and Veronica hummed to them. The buzzing was a quiet thrum that Greta could feel in her chest and temples and fingertips.
Veronica slid a wooden frame out of the hive. It had bees clustered on one corner, and they quickly flew back into the hive. The frame, free of bees, looked like a solid pillar of wax.