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

Chapter Two

P
amelia heard the buzzing of the clock but didn’t want to get up.

It was always like this when it came time for her to go to work. Slowly but surely, she raised herself up out of bed, rubbing her hand along the back of her neck to wake herself up. When she did get up and walked her way into the bathroom, she looked in the mirror, eyes still trying to focus themselves on her reflection.

She knew she needed to get her hair done this weekend. It’d been over a month since going to Lisa, her hairdresser and she knew she was in need of something a bit different.

Reminder for today….call Lisa to make an appointment for Saturday.

Opening up the shower curtain, she turned on the water as streams shot down onto the tile floor. Grabbing her scrunchie that was on the back of the doorknob, she pulled her naturally curly hair into a messy bun. She didn’t care if it did get a bit wet because that’s what towels were for.

Taking her time, she relished these moments in the shower before going to work. Once done Pamelia got out, dried herself off, and went to her dresser drawer to grab some underwear and a bra. She could already smell the coffee brewing as she always set it to start right when she woke up. Lord knows, she could use a hot cup right now. She went into the closet to grab her diagonal ombre belted dress in blue and black print.

Gazing into the mirror once more, she grabbed her brush to put on her makeup. In reality though, she really didn’t need much makeup, just a little blush and some lipstick worked just fine with her. Pamelia was thankful that she never got a pimple in her life, unlike most of her friends when growing up they would break out in such a bad case of acne, her face always looked smooth and clear from those unsightly blemishes.

Glancing at the clock, she only had about forty something minutes to head onto work. Quickly spritzing on some perfume, she grabbed her purse and jacket, as she knew it would be freezing cold in the office. For as long as she’d been working at the Steiner, Jones and Dawson law office, which as of today, would make seven years, the office always felt cold. When she first started to work there, she was told by Mr. Steiner that Mr. Dawson liked it cold. The thermostat was always set at sixty five, whether it was during the hot sweltering summer or the cold frigid winter. She didn’t mind it at first and the only reason to that was because when she was hired, it was hotter than hell outside and it felt so good in that office.

Now though, it was just getting ridiculous and she would often end up catching a cold and miss a day or two from work. Her complaints fell on deaf ears because whatever the bosses wanted, they got.

I’d better grab a sweater too.

Thankful that traffic wasn’t as bad as she thought, it didn’t take Pamelia long to get to the office. She walked towards the small kitchenette in the back where she was happy to see that someone had started a fresh pot and poured herself a cup that she kept in the cabinet.

“Hey Ms. Thang, how was your weekend?” Elizabeth asked.

Pamelia hated that nickname. “My weekend was just fine.”

“You should have come out with us to the club. Lily and I had too much fun, we danced the night away and drank so much, I ended up with a hangover the next day.” She giggled while pouring herself a cup.

Elizabeth’s idea of fun was going out every single night to the clubs, drink herself into a stupor and talk about her latest conquest with the man who bought her drinks that night.

Pamelia could never understand how someone could waste their time going out every night, and then come into work just as fresh as a daisy. “Well, as long as you gals had fun that’s all that matters.”

She heard her scoff when leaving the room. Pamelia knew how much Elizabeth enjoyed rubbing it in her face that she had a social life and Pamelia didn’t. Her partying days were over and done with, because every time she did go out, it brought her nothing but unhappiness, dealing with the same riffraff night after night. So, her days of enjoyment were mostly for when she stayed at home or if there was a festival going on in town or to a poetry reading.

When she walked back to her desk, the front door opened and in came Mr. Jones and Mr. Dawson. Out of everyone she worked with at the law office, Mr. Jones was the only one she could tolerate. He was an older gentleman, in his mid-sixties with shocking white hair that reminded her of snow. But he had the most gentile disposition with everyone he met and always tried to help out those that he knew were in need of the most help, unlike Mr. Dawson and Mr. Steiner who were only out to make money. “Why hello Pamelia, how are you this morning?”

“Doing fine sir, how are you?”

“Well, we went out to the lake this weekend with Bernice and the grandkids and boy, we had a lot of fun. I made some of famous BBQ ribs, hot dogs, and hamburgers for the kids. Bernice really outdid herself with everything else, including the dessert.” He put down a paper bag on top of the desk.

She knew it could only mean one thing….he’d brought her something good.

She grabbed hold of the bag, opening it up to reveal what looked like a piece of cake but when she took out the Saran wrapped paper plate that she realized that this was no ordinary piece of cake. This was a piece Bernice’s famous Apple Honey cake. “Oh, you tell Mrs. Jones I said thank you for the cake. I’ll have a piece when I have lunch and the rest I’ll save for later.”

He gave her a smile.

Mr. Dawson decided to put his two cents into the conversation by saying, “You better not eat too much of that cake, it’s very addictive, plus you don’t want to put too much on those hips of yours.”

Pamelia watched as he walked right past them and even though she could’ve went and made a comment, she never did, because it would mean her job.

“Don’t mind him Pamelia, he didn’t mean what he said. He’s just had a rough case last week with a client and lost.”

“It seems like every week he loses a case that I seem to be the only one he places blame on with his rude comments.” The phone rang and she answered it.

About fifteen minutes later, Mr. Steiner and Virginia walked in. “Good Morning Pamelia,” Virginia greeted with a smile as big as a Cheshire cat.

“How was your weekend? Good Morning Mr. Steiner, you had a call.” She handed him the slip of paper with the number she’d wrote down.

“Oh thanks Pam.” He walked away leaving the two women alone.

She watched Virginia crane her neck to make sure that he was gone. “Let’s just say that this weekend was rather enjoyable.” She twirled a strand of long chestnut hair around her index finger, a devilish smile spread across her lips.

Pamelia knew just by the way she looked that she had got lucky…with Mr. Steiner.

Yeah, that’s right. Mr. Steiner and Virginia had been seeing each other for a little over six months now. Mr. Steiner was a handsome young man, with model good looks, tailored suits and ties. His family was very influential in town and even though he could have gotten a job at bigger law firm, he decided to start off small.

Pamelia had always thought the fact of him having an affair with his own secretary was a bad idea. Mainly because of the fact, that Mr. Allen Steiner had a
Mrs.
Allen Steiner to which he’d been married to for going on five years. She would hear off and on about the getaways every other weekend at his boathouse by the lake or one of his family’s homes along the beach. Pamelia always avoided getting annoyed by how she always felt that Virginia was rubbing it in her face that she had a man who took care of her needs and wants and she didn’t. Pamelia wanted to have a man that would love her for her and take care of her too. But she wasn’t about to make herself act like she was desperate and cheap. She had her pride. “So, where did you guys go to?”

“Went to his cabin in the woods this time, oh it was beautiful there. He gave me this bracelet.” Virginia flashed the diamond tennis bracelet in her face, shaking it as it moved along her slender wrist.

“It looks beautiful, I know it cost him a pretty penny.”

“Over three grand he told me.” She gave her a wink. “Maybe I can get him to hook you up with someone. He has some lawyer friends as well who have big firms.”

“Well, that’s good and all but I don’t think so.”

Virginia shook her head as she always did when she would offer to hook her up and of course, she would make the snide comment of the day, “Why do you have to be so stuck up all the time when folks are trying to help you out?”

All Pamelia could do was just shake her head. She had to deal with this on a daily basis. Either she had to hear about the sexual escapades of Virginia, the drunken escapades of Elizabeth or end up being the butt of Mr. Dawson’s snide remarks. If she could get a great paying job like this one somewhere else, she would’ve gotten one year ago but for now, she was stuck here.

At times, it seemed like it would never ever happen.

Lunchtime had come and she was thankful to get out of the office that day. Once again, she had Mr. Dawson on her ass about every single call that came in. It was her job take calls and direct them to whoever they were for, along with tending to the new customers that came in as well as making sure the front office was tidy and straight as well as the kitchenette in the back. He’d gotten on her nerves today, so Mr. Jones told her to go onto lunch and don’t bother coming back for an hour, even though her lunch break was only fifteen minutes.

So here, she sat at the William’s Deli Shop, eating on some warm potato soup with crumbled bacon and cheese in a bread bowl, checking on her email from her Android phone. Pamelia was enjoying the time to herself, especially after dealing with crazy ass Mr. Dawson for most of the day. The phone rang and she noticed on the caller I.D. that it was her sister Veronica calling. “Hey girl,”

“Why hey there, I didn’t disturb you at work did I?”

“Oh no, I’m at lunch right now.”

“I thought you were at work. Isn’t it kind of early to be at lunch?” Her sister Veronica knew her schedule just as well as Pamelia knew hers.

“Well, Mr. Jones let me go to lunch early today. It’s been a hectic day in the office and Mr. Dawson was on the war path.”

“I swear I don’t know why you don’t quit that job. Those people there are horrible as hell.”

“I know they can be, but it’s really best to just ignore them because they have the issues and I don’t want to be like them, anyway.”

“Well, you know you can always work over here with me.” Veronica owned her own restaurant that she named Margaret’s after their mother who’d passed away fifteen years ago. It turned out to be a very good business in the town where they grew up because everyone knew of their mother’s great cooking. Now she and Chris, her husband, had the place booming since she started to go into catering for weddings, office parties and other things.

“You know if I work with you, I would probably end up killing you.”

She heard her sister laugh.

She knew Pamelia was right, even though they were sisters they had the knack for not getting along at times, especially when it came to dealing with the restaurant. “Yeah, we would probably end up arguing with each other the entire time we’re working. Besides, everything is going really good, if you ever want to quit that job, we can help you out until you find another one.”

“Thanks for looking out for me, but I’ll let you know if I get there.”

“Well, the main reason why I was calling is because I got a call from a lawyer name Mr. Millan, he is the executor of Aunt Marlene’s estate. He called to tell me that Aunt Marlene had named us both in her will and he wanted us to come to Oak Glen to read it.”

Aunt Marlene Pamelia thought with a sigh, she’d loved her so much. Just like how it had been with her and Veronica, both their mother and Aunt Marlene had been close sisters. She remembered spending her summers in Oak Glen when she was a child. They would always go into town to pick up fabric to make dresses and pants for their dolls. Sometimes, they would go to the candy kitchen, where Mr. Callahan and his wife would have every single candy imaginable along with yummy honey fudge and they would get the honey from the Hewitt Honey Farm. When they went home, she would have already prepared something for them for lunch as well as dinner. She would always make Pamelia’s favorite snack, fried green tomatoes, something she could eat forever until her stomach wanted to burst. But her favorite time with her Aunt was when she would braid her hair. Aunt Marlene was always gentle with her hair which was naturally curly and she would often braid it up during the summertime, because it would be too hot to have it down. She would listen to her hum some church hymn since she also made them go to church every Sunday. It was soothing and nurturing for her because Aunt Marlene never had children.

“Both you and Veronica are my babies,”
She would tell Pamelia whenever she would ask her about why she never had children. It wasn’t until she got older that she found the reason why Marlene never had children. It was due to something in her past that no one in the family discussed.

“Are you there Pamelia?”

“Oh yeah, I was just thinking is all. Did he say anything other than the fact he wants us to go to Oak Glen?”

“He told me that if I talked with you that he wanted us to try and come on Friday, if possible.”