Page 4 of Honey Bee Library (Sweet Tea and a Southern Gentleman #7)

COLE

I woke up Monday morning to the sound of my phone alarm going off.

At first, I thought it was a call from the memory care unit, and I panicked.

When I sat up and realized it was just the alarm, I hit snooze, set my phone back onto my nightstand, and closed my eyes.

Unfortunately, sleep evaded me, so I eventually just rolled out of bed and headed to the Jack-and-Jill bathroom to shower.

Once I was clean, I turned off the water and wrapped a towel around my waist. I wasn’t really paying attention as I headed into my room, but the moment I saw Jasper, I yelped and stumbled back, my heart pounding in my chest.

Right.

Willow and Jasper were here.

Jasper looked unfazed as he stood in the middle of my room in his Spiderman pajamas. His cheek had imprinted pillow lines, and the hair on the left side of his head was sticking straight up. He looked sleepy but awake.

“Hey, man,” I said, glancing over to the open bedroom door. “Where’s your mom?”

He yawned and shrugged. “She’s sleeping.” He glanced at the wall across from my bed and pointed. “I wanna watch TV.”

I glanced toward the door once more, still unsure if he should be in here, but I also didn’t want to wake up Willow if she was asleep. I doubted she’d gotten very good rest while they were staying at the diner. With how hard she worked on a day-to-day basis, I knew she needed the shut-eye.

“Um, yeah, sure,” I said as I crossed the room and grabbed the remote from the nightstand. It took me a second, but I finally found the cartoon channel, and Jasper seemed content with it. He climbed up onto my bed and snuggled into the pillows before draping the comforter over himself.

I disappeared into the walk-in closet, where I dressed in a pair of pajama pants. I still needed to shave and didn’t want to get cream all over my clothes. When I came back out, Jasper didn’t even look at me, he was basically comatose on the bed, so I headed back into the bathroom to shave.

In all honesty, I was surprised Willow and Jasper were still here. Saturday night, she’d looked like a spooked horse, ready to take off as soon as the reins were loosened. I’d gone to bed wondering if she was waiting for me to fall asleep before grabbing Jasper and heading back to the diner.

Yesterday, she’d left before I woke up and didn’t come back until after dark. I tried not to take offense at her obvious avoidance. I’d given her a place to come back to, so I’d done my duty. Gran couldn’t get mad at me now.

I grabbed my shaving cream and sprayed a giant dollop of the white foam into my palm.

I applied it to my face before rinsing the remainder off my hands.

Then I grabbed my razor and started shaving.

I’d finished up the left side of my face when I heard Willow’s hushed voice.

“Jasper! What on earth are you doing in here?” I could tell that she was trying to whisper and sound firm at the same time.

Intrigued, I emerged from the bathroom. Willow had her back to me. She was standing over my bed in a skimpy satin pajama set. Her hair looked wild from sleep, and I couldn’t help the smile that tugged on my lips.

“He’s fine,” I said as I leaned a shoulder on the doorframe.

Willow’s entire body stiffened. It was like time stood still before she slowly turned around. Her eyes were wide, and for a brief moment, I took joy in the fact that her face flushed when her gaze dipped down to my chest.

She was an aggravating woman. In our past interactions, I could feel her judgment toward me. She’d made a lot of assumptions about my life even though she knew nothing about it. Disarming her felt like a win.

“I’m so sorry,” she said as she snapped her gaze back up to my face. “I was asleep and he just left the room. I didn’t hear him.” Her words were coming out at a rapid pace. “I will get him out of your way,” she whispered as she turned back to my bed and pulled the covers off of Jasper.

He protested, but she didn’t pay him any mind. Instead, she grabbed his left hand and foot and dragged him to the edge of the bed. I tried not to notice how her satin shorts slowly rode up her thighs as she moved. Her skin was creamy, and my fingers itched to see if it was as soft as it looked.

I blinked, ripping my gaze away. That was not what I was supposed to be thinking about when I was looking at the co-owner of the diner.

This wasn’t a permanent arrangement. I was here to find my mother and make sure the diner stayed open so that opportunity could present itself.

Having thoughts about Willow…just couldn’t happen.

Jasper was wailing now. Willow had gotten him off the bed, but he’d instantly dropped to the ground and was refusing to stand. Willow’s face was bright pink as she started to drag him from my room.

I took a step toward her. “I can?—”

“Just leave it. I’m his mom. I can handle him,” Willow called over her shoulder.

I stood there, helplessly watching her escort her son from my room.

After she shut the door, the cries grew softer until eventually they disappeared altogether.

It took me a moment to gather my thoughts and return to the bathroom to finish shaving.

I hated how Willow was so guarded around me.

I loved kids. And from the few interactions I’d had with Jasper, I could tell he was a cool kid.

I really didn’t mind that Jasper wanted to watch TV in my bed, and I’d wanted Willow to know that.

The house was quiet by the time I was dressed and headed to the kitchen.

I noticed that Willow and Jasper’s shoes were no longer by the front door when I walked past the foyer.

When I peeked into the master bedroom, the bed was made and all of their belongings were gone.

I’d never experienced a woman leaving my house so quickly.

I walked through the rooms on the first level, just to make sure that she wasn’t hiding out in one of them. I blew out my breath when I came up empty-handed. They had really left.

Needing something to do to dispel my nervous energy, I whipped up some pancakes and eggs. Once I plated some of the food for myself, I packaged up the rest to bring to the diner. I figured Willow and Jasper would be hungry. I quickly ate before I headed out to the garage.

I was in my car and backing down the driveway when my phone rang. It was a call from Maddie. I answered through my car speakers.

“Hey, Mads,” I said as I kept my gaze focused on the rearview camera.

“How’s North Carolina?”

I paused at the end of my driveway and sighed. “It’s…uneventful.”

“No signs of…” She hesitated, and I knew why.

I didn’t like talking about my mom, and I appreciated her discretion when it came to sensitive topics. “Nope. Nothing.”

“I’m sure she’ll turn up. You just need to have patience.”

I closed my eyes as my hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Yeah,” I finally murmured.

“I’m calling you because Liam has been looking for you. He’s stopped by the club twice since you left. I think he’s in some kind of trouble.”

I chuckled. I would be surprised if he wasn’t running from something.

Liam was one of my best friends. He also happened to be a world-famous rock star.

I met him a few years ago at my club, before he was an international sensation.

Now, he was constantly coming to me to bail him out of the messes he’d put himself in.

“Give him my address here in Harmony. Maybe he needs a place to hide out while things cool down.”

“Will do. Anything else you need from me?”

I glanced back at my rental. It really wasn’t kid-friendly, and I wanted to fix that.

But was it delusional to think that Willow would actually come back?

If there was a chance, I wanted this place to be more homey for her and Jasper.

She seemed to be under a lot of stress right now, and for some reason I wanted to help relieve some of it for her.

But if she refused to come back, I also didn’t want a constant reminder that she’d left.

I shook my head. It was better to be prepared than not. “Think you could fly here for a day? I have something you need to do.”

“Of course, Boss. Do you want me on a flight today?”

“Yeah. Get here as soon as you can.”

“Will do.”

We said our goodbyes and I hung up. It took me a moment to get my thoughts together before I finally took a left and headed out of the gated community.

I was about ten minutes down the road when I slowed.

Willow’s car was parked on the shoulder.

The hood was smoking, and she was standing in the grass with her phone out and her hand pushed through her hair.

I pulled in behind her and got out.

“It’s smoking. I don’t know what to do,” she said into her phone. Her voice was desperate, and there was a hint of defeatism in it. “Okay.” She paused and nodded. “I’ll be here.”

Her gaze landed on me as she pulled her phone from her cheek. She checked the screen before she slipped it into her back pocket. Her expression was unreadable, and I hated that. There was so much about this woman that was a mystery to me.

“Everything okay?” I asked as I glanced back at her car.

“Yeah…no.” She sighed as she scrubbed her face with her hands before tipping it toward the sky and closing her eyes. “It just started smoking,” she said as she dropped her hands to her sides before returning her gaze to mine. “I don’t need this,” she whispered.

“Was that a tow truck you were talking to?”

She nodded. “But he can’t get out here for a few hours. Apparently he’s got a pickup in another town.”

I shoved my hands into the front pockets of my pants. “It’s a good thing we’re going in the same direction.” I shrugged.

She studied me before she glanced back at her car. “Yeah…”

Was she really going to fight me on this? It was a ride to work.

“It’s just that…I don’t want to inconvenience you. I mean, I’m sure you have things to do, and I still have to drop Jasper off at school.”