The Bee Charmer (Sweet Treat Series Book 2) (11 page)

“I’ll be seeing you on Monday then, have a great time with Jeremy this evening.” She gave Pamelia a wink and waved before getting into her car.

Chapter Eleven

W
hen Pamelia stepped into the shower after hours of being outside, hanging up baskets as well as planting some of the herbs, she felt so much relief to be able to wash off all the sweat and dirt she’d accumulated. Once out of the shower and dried completely off, she walked into her room to put on her underwear and bra, then her lotion before putting on her dress. Looking at herself in the full-length mirror, she adjusted the straps that went along the back of her neck to make it more comfortable for her. Staring at her reflection for a moment, Pamelia thought that everything looked good, she started to do her hair up, just like how her sister suggested while picking up bobby pin after bobby pin to keep it up.

Glancing over at the alarm clock, she only had ten minutes before he would be here and she wanted to be ready for him. It’d been a long time since she’d been out on a date and tonight would have to be perfect for a first one. Thank God, she still had the flower barrette she bought to go with the dress in her jewelry box. Next she clipped it to the side of her hair. Thankfully, she didn’t need much makeup, just a little eyeliner then some lipstick did and voilà…instant beauty. It wasn’t until she started to spritz some perfume on her neck when she heard the doorbell ringing.

“I know this couldn’t be him, I’m not even ready yet.” Going to the door, she peeked through the peephole and saw him standing there. She shouted, “You know you are early.”

He grinned without denying it at all. “You must not be ready then?”

“I’m almost ready, if you give me just a couple more minutes, I’ll be out.”

“That’s fine. I’ll sit out here on the porch until you’re done.”

Pamelia went back to her room, finishing where she left off when she was about to put on her earrings, still eyeing herself in the full-length mirror. Well, this is it
.
She walked over to slip her feet into the sling back wedges. “Everything is going to turn out great, because you have a handsome man who is going to take you out and show you a lovely time.” Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her clutch purse to put in her lipstick, her small bottle of perfume along with that pack of mints she got from the Candy Kitchen. When she made her way to the door, Pamelia walked out onto the porch and saw him stand up from the rocking chair.

The look on his face was exactly what she wanted to see…shock and awe.

Jeremy didn’t look half bad himself, wearing a pair of blue jeans, a white shirt and an open tangerine jacket as he muttered, “Wow, I—well, I uh…”

“What is it?” It was the first time ever that she knew him to be at a loss for words.

“You look like a vision of loveliness this evening, Pamelia.”

She found herself blushing, but took him by the arm and told him, “Let’s go.”

~* * * *~

On the way to the restaurant, Jeremy told Pamelia what all he knew about the place. “Johnny’s Seafood Shack has been in Oak Glen since the late seventies which also makes it the only place in town to get real good seafood. Plus it’s the hot spot for some of the local bands for some real good music. It’d been built along the McCormick River, made out to be like one of those restaurants by the sea made of wood and decorated with sea décor along with other assorted eclectic things that had no business being there in the first place.”

Pamelia laughed and shook her head.

“Yeah, apparently, it all had to do with the fact that Johnny MacDonald was always going from state to state along each coast, gathering up things to put into his restaurant to make it just as crazy as he was.”

Now, they both laughed

There was a nice sized crowd but Jeremy already called ahead to make sure they had a spot that was private along the water. When she came out the door onto the deck, Jeremy never thought he would see her looking any more stunning than the other night at the exhibit. He noticed the eyes of most of the men were looking their way, especially at her on his arm and Jeremy knew what they were thinking.
The lucky son of a bitch
always gets the prettiest women.

Their waiter greeted them. “Here are your menus. Would you like something to drink before you eat?”

“Some water with lemon for me please,” Pamelia told him.

“Same here for me, so, how do you like the place so far?” he asked her. He noticed her looking around and for someone who’d never been to Johnny’s before, it was nothing new. It took a while to get used to the place the first time around. Then he noticed her gazing behind him, puzzled at first but then trying her best to stifle her laughter. “What is it?” He looked behind him and saw the big moose head wearing a Skipper’s hat, sunglasses, and a smoking pipe in its mouth.

“What in the world is that?”

“Oh, that’s Captain Lucky the Moose, the mascot of Johnny’s Seafood Shack,” Jeremy replied.

“But, it’s a moose.”

“Yeah, I know it’s a moose, but he’s the mascot.”

Her mouth was agape and she looked so confused while staring up at the Lucky, but no matter what her expression was, she was still so gorgeous. “But it’s a moose Jeremy, a moose. I can see if it was a dolphin or a shark even, but a moose? I just don’t get it.”

“If you knew Johnny, then you would know why he decided to have a moose as a mascot for a seafood restaurant.”

“He must have been some man.” She smiled.

“Oh, he still is. I know he’s got to be around here somewhere,” The waiter came over with their water and he asked, “Is Johnny around tonight?”

“Oh yeah, he’s over at the bar, would you like for him to come over here?”

“If he’s not too busy, just tell him that the honey man is here.” Jeremy then turned back to Pamelia. “I think that you’ll like what they have here to eat, everything is good.”

Pamelia was giggling.

“What?’ He asked.

“Honey man?” she gave him a wink as she laughed.

Before he could even open his mouth to respond, he heard someone shout out, “Honey Man!”

Pamelia swiveled her head to the shout.

He came from in between the tables, making a beeline towards them and wearing something that not even his Jeremy’s dad would be caught wearing but of course, it was the usual Johnny attire for this time of year. It consisted of a loud Hawaiian shirt, a pair of white shorts, a fisherman cap with too many pins from different places that he’d been, along with those from some of his favorite customers. His hair was grey and stringy along with the beard around a brilliant white smile. “How are you Honey Man? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you here.” Then he looked over and saw Pamelia and that’s when the good ole’ ‘Johnny charm’ came out. “And who is this lovely lady with you?” He grabbed a chair and brought it next to her as she glanced over at Jeremy. “I’ve never seen you here before and I know basically every young lady here in Oak Glen.”

“Well, this is my first time coming here, so that’s probably why we’ve never met.”

“And why is it that you have never been here before to see me?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t come before.” Pamelia playfully pouted.

“Johnny, I want you to meet Ms. Pamelia Stewart, she’s working on the farm and at the gift shop. Pamelia, this is Johnny MacDonald, the owner of the Shack.”

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. MacDonald.”

He took her hand and lightly kissed it, then started to spout out some French which of course, was part of Johnny’s banter.

What shocked Jeremy was the fact that she came back at him with some French of her own.

Jonny now looked infatuated and impressed by her. “Not only is she gorgeous Jeremy but smart as a whip too. You’ve got yourself something here for sure. Now, you order anything on the menu since you are new here, you are my very special guest tonight and if anything you get and you don’t like, let me know and I’ll make sure to take it right back. Have you figured out what you want for an appetizer?”

“Um…not really I haven’t even checked to see what was on the menu yet.”

“Well, why don’t you check it out and I’ll have the guys whip you up one of our sampler platters for appetizers.” He patted her hand, still grinning from ear to ear as he left the two alone.

They both started to laugh.

“It seems I have a little bit of competition,” Jeremy joked.

“He seems very sweet.”

“Yeah, he’s my Godfather, he and my dad went to school together, so I’ve known him since I was a kid. He’s always been fun loving and likes to make sure that everyone around him is just as happy as he is.”

“Well, he sure does it well, especially with a place like this. There is always something to talk about around here.”

He watched her gazing curiously around the restaurant. Her amber eyes scanned her surroundings with wonder. Jeremy didn’t care about the other patrons in the restaurant that evening, much less about what the band had been playing. He only cared to gaze at the beauty sitting in front of him at that moment.

Pamelia stopped looking around and stared at him, smiling shyly at first.

He knew that she felt a bit uncomfortable by him staring at her like he did. But Jeremy couldn’t help but to stare and he also couldn’t help it when he reached over to take her by the hand. The palm of her hand along with her fingers was so soft, making him wonder how those hands of hers would feel along the rest of his body.

Steady man steady
he kept repeating to himself over and over until the appetizer was finally brought over to their table.

It was a delicious array of shrimp, oysters, crab and lobster fried, broiled or grilled accompanied by different sauces. “Enjoy!” The waiter told them, leaving some lemons and napkins along with some small mallets for cracking open shells.

“This is the appetizer?” Pamelia exclaimed.

“Yeah, it is but it’s never this big. Usually, when you get it, it only has like shrimp and oysters on it. See you are getting the special treatment tonight, so of course Johnny is putting out all the stops to impress you.”

“Honestly, this is more like dinner for me but if I don’t get my fill, we can always order something else then huh?”

“Indeed, come on let’s dig in.”

~* * * *~

Pamelia never thought she could eat so much seafood in her life but of course, Johnny kept bringing more and more over, either it was crab legs or lobster. Even the calamari which was the first time she’d ever tried it. Everything was so fresh and hot, especially the catfish which by far, was her favorite. It reminded her of Veronica’s when she would make it for the fourth of July. Before she knew it, she was so stuffed she had to forgo eating dessert, even though it was Key Lime Pie.

Pamelia liked that Jeremy was open with her and even though they were often interrupted from time to time that night, he always concentrated on her. “Have you always wanted to be a bee farmer?”

“I love being out in nature and with the bees, because I feel more at ease amongst them. I do know that a certain person has yet to come and help with the bees.”

His playful mocking tone made Pamela roll her eyes. For months, he poked at her about the traditional ‘harvesting of the bees’ mess. Even though it was an everyday thing for him, it was something that she was NOT interested in doing. “Why do you constantly bring that up?”

“Because it’s tradition, every single employee and family member has harvested from a hive, except for you.”

“I just don’t see why I have to do it, it’s crazy. What if I get stung?”

“You won’t get stung I promise, especially with the fact that you’ll be wearing all that protective gear and I’ll be with you. I would never let anything bad happen to you.” Just then, the band started to play something mellow and slow as men took their ladies by the hand or vice versa towards the floor. Jeremy turned to her as he stood up, “Come.” He walked behind her, helping her out of the chair. He took her hand and led her onto the dance floor.

This must be a dream she thought while his arm held her just along the slope of her back while his hand rested against it. Pamelia found herself blushing from the look in those dazzling azure eyes as he took her hand in his, entwined their fingers and held it against his chest.

“You must be cold,” he told her.

“What makes you think that?” She knew why, she just didn’t want him to know.

“You’re trembling.”

“No, I’m not cold at all.” In fact, she felt it might be getting a bit too warm between them.

“If you want my jacket to put on your shoulders, I can give it to you.”

“Thank you.”

“Might I make a suggestion that I think you would like or at least, I’d like it.”

“What is that?”

“Why don’t I come and pick you up tomorrow? We can have dinner together at my place and you can come and help me get some honey from my own private hive.”

“You are still determined to get me to that damn hive.”

“Indeed I am, plus I do want to return the favor of you making lunch for me. We can harvest honey together and then I can finish up our dinner, along with the dessert too. You know that you can’t say no, you might as well say yes, and just get it over with.”