Page 3

Max

I had to walk away. I was at the point of climbing inside her jeep to see why she looked so sad. I wouldn’t let Tessa into my life like that. I would never allow someone else to control my soul or my happiness. Never. I hopped on my bike and went back to my place.

“Where is Tessa? We wanted to meet her,” Eloise said as she entered my kitchen. I was mixing up a potato salad to go with dinner. Jack set some things on the counter, and I glanced at them. “Yummy, I can’t wait to dig into that fruit salad,” I said.

“Is she not coming?” Eloise asked again.

“I reminded her about it, but I think she is scrubbing out that old cabin.”

“That cabin has a giant beehive in it, which is why we didn’t finish the repairs, Fraiser said, joining us. “Someone will be here on Monday to clear it out.”

“What’s this?” Eloise asked, looking at the corkboard.

“It’s a list of things Tessa loses every day.”

“Why would you do this? Know wonder she would rather clean out the cabin,” Fraiser said. “Couldn’t you just put them at the bottom of the stairs like anyone else would do?”

“It was no big deal. She laughed about it.”

“Are you sure she laughed about it?” Jack asked.

Can you put her things at the foot of the stairs, and not let her know you picked them up?

Some people have reasons out of their control of losing things.

I’m sure that must be why Eloise forgets things.

Get rid of that list, and don’t start another one.

That cabin is not ready for anyone to move into.

It took forever before we found a teacher to come here.

“The lists I make are fine. I only made them to remind her that she leaves her stuff everywhere. I’ll go get her, apologize to her, and be right back.”

“I’ll go with you,” Eloise volunteered. “Just in case you scare her off.”

“Fine,” I said, thinking I might have made too many lists. Niki always told me that if I wrote it down, I wouldn’t forget about it. But she did tell me once that I carried it too far. The cabin was close enough that it only took a few minutes to get there.

“There’s her jeep,” I said. I could see bees flying around. I glanced at Eloise. “Stay in the car, I can see the bees. I jumped out of the truck. “Tessa, where are you?” I called as I walked to the door. Bees were everywhere. “Tessa, can you hear me?”

“Max, I’ve locked myself in the closet, the bees attacked me. I’m not doing too good. How can I get out of here?”

“Stay there, I’ll make a smoke bomb and get you out,” I said.

“I called the others, they are bringing some stuff to smoke the bees. Do you know if she’s been bitten?” Eloise asked. Look at you. You are covered in bee stings.

“She said they attacked her, and she wasn’t doing well.” The others pulled up with the smoker for the bees. They looked at me right before I passed out. Jack caught me before I hit the ground. He threw me over his shoulder and placed me in the back of the truck.

I opened my eyes, and everything was blurry. “What should I do?” Eloise asked.

I could hear the others. “Jack, drive Max’s truck; both need to get to the hospital,” Fraiser said.

Jack jumped in, and we took off. I heard him talking to the hospital as he drove. I tried raising myself, but I couldn’t move. Whatever kind of poison was in those bees knocked me off my feet.

I remember when I helped Michael pick blackberries, and the bees got after us. Michael grabbed me up, and we jumped into the pond. I still had to go to the hospital at that time, too. The doctor said I wasn’t allergic to bees, but we later discovered those bees had some other poison in their sting.

“Jack, call Michael,” I murmured.

“Seri call Michael,” Jack said out loud. I could hear the phone ringing.

“It’s about damn time you called me, What are you doing.”

“Michael, this is Jack Raider. Max was bitten over a hundred times by bees, and he wanted me to call you. He can barely speak.”

“Okay, the bees must have the same substance that those other bees had when he had to be rushed to the hospital. How far are you from the hospital? Michael asked.

“Ten minutes.”

“I’m going to call ahead so they’ll be ready for him when he arrives.”

“There is another one who was bitten. She must have the same reaction as Max. Tell them there are two patients.”

“Okay, tell them to hang in there.”

Everything faded in and out. The sound of tires on pavement. Jack’s voice hummed as he spoke to the nurse on the other end of the radio. The flash of lights as we turned into the emergency bay. I wanted to move. I wanted to get to Tessa. But my limbs were heavy, like they didn’t belong to me.

Jack and Eloise jumped out the moment we stopped. Eloise opened the back door. “Max, we’re here. Hang on.”

I was lifted onto a stretcher and wheeled into the ER. I caught a glimpse of Tessa—she was already in a hospital bed, IV in her arm, face pale and puffy. Her eyes locked on mine for a brief second, full of fear and relief all at once.

“Tessa...” I mumbled, trying to sit up.

“Easy, big guy,” the nurse said, pushing me gently back down. “You’ve been stung more times than any man should. We’ve got you both on a drip to counteract the reaction. You’re gonna be okay. It’ll just take a while, so relax.”

“I need to know she’s okay,” I whispered.

“She’s right here,” the nurse reassured me.

They must have thought we were a couple because they put our beds next to each other. I turned my head slowly. Tessa looked over at me, her eyes glassy.

“You’re an idiot,” she said, voice hoarse. “You should have stayed in the vehicle.”

“I would never have left you in there alone.”

She gave a weak laugh, then blinked away tears. “I was just trying to clean the place. I didn’t know there were bees in the wood stove. I wanted to get it ready for when my Dad and brother come for a visit."

The doctor checked our vitals, speaking in a calm, clinical voice, making everything seem less terrifying. They said we would have to stay overnight for observation. I didn’t argue.

“I thought I could handle being out here on my own,” Tessa said quietly after they left. “I thought I needed to prove that I could care for myself. If you hadn’t shown up, I probably would have died,” she said. I saw her eyes closing.

“How long have I been sleeping?”

“Thirty minutes at the most,” I said. She started talking like she hadn’t fallen asleep.

“The truth is, since my Mom and twin sister died, I haven’t been the same. It was like something shifted inside me. ”

“I started leaving things, inside and outside. At first, my Dad would tell me, and then after a while, they just picked it up and took it to my room. I overheard my Dad and brother talking about it. Jake, that’s my brother.

He wanted my Dad to get me some help. He thought if I could talk to someone, then maybe I would go back to who I was before the accident. ”

“Were you in the accident with them?” I asked.

“No, I was in a helicopter with Jake and my Dad. My sister and Mom were in a boat following us. We were celebrating because Cassy graduated from college. There was a group of high school students partying and drinking, they were in a race boat.”

Since we were higher, we spotted them. We tried to warn Momma, but she didn’t have a chance.

Their boat hit them at over seventy-five miles per hour.

My Dad landed the helicopter; it was a nightmare.

Anyway, that’s when I became different. My brother wants me to move back home; he’s angry that I left. ”

I let out a breath. “You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, Tessa. Not to me. Not to yourself. You’re already tougher than half the SEALs on the mountain.”

She smiled, but her lip trembled. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know enough to care what happens to you. You can stay at the B&B until that cabin is completely remodeled.” When I glanced at her, she was sleeping, her face swollen by bee stings.