The Bee Charmer (Sweet Treat Series Book 2) (4 page)

They both walked over as the older gentleman smiled when they went to shake his hand.

“We’re Marlene’s nieces, I’m Veronica, and this is my sister Pamelia. We came back to Oak Glen for the reading of her will. My sister got her home and we were looking it over.”

“I knew your Aunt for a very long time. She and my wife were the best of friends and she would come over to our place to play cards or we’d come over to hers to have dinner, since she always loved to cook. So, do you plan on moving here?”

Pamelia smiled, “I’m thinking about it, I’ve always loved it here in Oak Glen. We’ve always had the best memories in this house.”

“We were wondering about getting someone to come and tend to the yard since the bushes and the grass has grown up some,” Veronica told him.

“I can call Ed to come over and do the work, he does our yard and bushes for us when we need it. He was good friends with your Aunt too, so I know he won’t have a problem with that.”

“Do you know how much he would charge me for doing—?”

He put his hands up before Pamelia could continue. “No need for paying him, he’ll do it for free that’s for sure, especially when he finds out that someone might be living here again.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful news!” Veronica then turned to her. “You see Pamelia…you’ve got to at least give it some thought about moving here. You’ll be in good company and you can start brand new.”

Pamelia looked back at the house, the house of her childhood and thought for a moment, her life now wasn’t very happy. Her job was getting harder everyday.

Maybe this is a sign.

Chapter Four

A
fter making arrangements with Mr. Matthews about the yard work and watching over the house, the two sisters went into town making their way to the Candy Kitchen. Only a bit of the store had changed. Where the candy cane striped wallpaper once was, there was now just plain white walls adorned with old time advertisements for Coca Cola and other candies long forgotten. Along the walls, shelves still housed those glass penny candy jars with the chrome lids but in the middle of the floor were old barrels filled to the brim with assorted candies.

Just smelling the air alone would put someone into a diabetic coma Pamelia thought.

“We better look around then grab what we want and go because you know we can’t stay in here for more than thirty minutes without going overboard,” Veronica joked her as they both got a couple of plastic bags.

Pamelia made her way toward the wall, grabbing a few banana Laffy Taffy’s, some Super Bubble Gum and those Atkinson peanut butter logs that she could never find anywhere else. When she looked over where they would make the chocolates and fudge, there was big long loaves of chocolate, chocolate walnut, maple walnut, peanut butter, and honey fudge which was something she hadn’t seen in ages. The little marker in front of the loaf of honey fudge stated that the fudge was made with honey from the Hewitt Honey farm. “Excuse me, is there any way that I can have a sample of the honey fudge?”

“Sure ma’am,” the young lady from behind the counter replied. She cut off a small square, wrapped it in wax paper, handing it over to her.

Pamelia took a bite of confection and the honey could be tasted profoundly along her tongue.

“Do you like it ma’am?”

“My goodness, it’s absolutely delicious. I’ll take a half a pound please.” Taking a last bite of the fudge, she couldn’t believe how rich it was. Lord knows, she would probably end up eating the entire thing herself and be sick as hell afterwards.

“What did you get this time?” Veronica asked.

“Some honey fudge, you should try some, it’s delicious. Excuse me can my sister have a sample of that fudge please?”

“Sure thing ma’am, here’s your fudge and let me get you a piece here.”

Pamelia took off another small piece and handed it to her sister.

Her sister moaned deeply and laughed when she started licking the wax paper. “How much did you get?”

“A half a pound,”

“I’d like a pound of that and the chocolate fudge please. You know how Chris is, if I ever bring anything sweet home and not get him something, he’ll give me the evil eye for the rest of the month.”

Pamelia laughed. “I’ll meet you at the register.” She walked on and was thankful to see that at the register were magazines as well as the local paper. Grabbing one, she put her things on the counter as the lady weighted the candies for her.

Pamelia paid for her candy and waited as her sister came around the corner with some more candy in hand. “Good lord woman, are you trying to buy out the store?”

Veronica rolled her eyes at her while putting down the candy on the counter. “Shut up, you know I have to rebuild my candy stash. Did you want to stop by any place else?”

“No I think I’m fine, I got a newspaper, so we can just head on. I got some thinking to do.”

The two sisters headed back out to the car and soon on their way back home.

~*  *  *  *~

Jeremy had been on the phone for a second time this week with a Mr. Sims. He was an owner of a small store in Kentucky who’d gotten some of their honey by way of his daughter who drove through Oak Glen on her way home. He loved it so much that he wanted to sell some in his store. Jeremy’s job was to make sure that Hewitt Honey was put out there along with ensuring orders were met and made for their various customers. “We can send you at least two cases, each holding about twenty four jars of honey. That will be a total of forty eight jars at three hundred.”

“When do you think you’ll be able to get them ready for distribution?”

“Give us two weeks, because we want to make sure that everything is packaged right, along with the fact that we will be making some fresh honey in about two days.”

“Well, that sounds just fine with me, I’m sending the payment to you through PayPal right now, and I’ll be sending you the contract we wrote up as far as pricing and everything in your email right away.”

“Great, I’ll call you when we ship it out with the tracking number.”

“Again, thanks Jeremy,”

“No thank you sir and if you want any more shipments, please call me right away.”

“Oh, you know I will for sure. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” He hung up satisfied with all that he’d done so far today.

“How’s it going son?” his father asked.

“We got a shipment going out to Kentucky for two cases along with four going out to California, so we’re going to be pretty busy for the next couple of days.”

“That’s great, there’s another tour coming in, and your mom said that she has two people coming in for an interview from the ad. Seems like from what she told me, they were pretty excited about her calling them back.”

“I know she’s been bugging about some of the others that responded. Especially, that one girl that came over looking like a hooker from what mom told me. She didn’t even hesitate to let the poor girl sit down in the chair.” Jeremy chuckled.

“Oh, I saw her myself, had a skirt hiked up so high that she kept trying to pull it down. She stumbled in those high heel shoes of hers while we were walking the grounds. Thank God, I was there to help her up and that’s when your mom told her that she wasn’t cut out for this type of job and she had to go. That girl looked at her like she was crazy and left here in a bit of a huff. If she was interested in the job and knew how it was out here, you would think she would have worn something more appropriate you know.”

“Let’s just pray that whoever comes this time will be way better than the last ones who came in.” The phone rang as his father left his office as he continued on with his calls.

Later on, after his calls, he decided to stop by the restaurant which was affectionately called Athena’s. Sometimes, people from town or those that were coming for the tour would stop off to grab a bite to eat or to buy some of Lily’s handmade spa items, which sold plenty. He pulled up to the front of the one story brick dwelling that his mom told him reminded her of the ones that her family used to stop by on their drives through California to visit family. It was a bright golden yellow painted brick, she’d wanted to match the color of honey. There was even a porch for those who wanted to enjoy eating outside with small café style tables.

When you walked inside, the entire place reminded you of home with red and white gingham tablecloths, wooden tables, and chairs all neatly placed in their rows along the wooden floor. There was a cash register that looked like it belonged from back in the forties and fifties that she got during an auction from a restaurant that was going out of business. But it wasn’t just the décor of the place that drew people in but the good food. His mother was born and raised in the South, so she brought her home cooking to the restaurant. With cooks Cindy and Blake helping her out in the kitchen, her restaurant ended up getting a five star review in the local paper as well as a review in a popular food magazine.

“Hey there Jeremy, how you doing?” one of the patrons said with a wave.

He waved right back at the gentleman, making his way towards the kitchen. The scent of fried chicken and sweet potatoes filled the entire restaurant.

Cindy, one of the cooks stood in front of the stove flipping something in a cast iron skillet.

His mom was stirring something in a medium size stainless steel pot. “Hey there sweetie, come here and try this for me and tell me what you think?” She grabbed another spoon, dipped it into the pot producing some vegetable soup with corn, a bit of okra and some other vegetables added in.

He blew on it a couple of times before taking a bite and when he did, he moaned from the flavor. “Can I have a bowl?”

“So, you like it?”

“Of course I do. I wouldn’t be asking for a bowl if I didn’t but it does need a bit more salt.”

“I thought so too, I have two more coming over for an interview, by the way,” she told him grabbing a bowl, and then a ladle to put some soup in it. “Grab a plate because the bowl is hot.”

“I hope you’ll be able to find someone, I know that one girl was no good.”

She rolled her eyes. “Do not even remind me of that girl and what makes it worse is the fact that I know her mother. Speaking of girls, do you remember Andrea Kennedy? I ran into her while I was in town and she asked me about you.”

Jeremy knew exactly what his mom was trying to do as he went over to grab a spoon from the clean ones. “What did she say?”

“Oh, she asked me how you were doing and whether or not you were seeing anyone.”

“Mom, please tell me you didn’t tell her I wasn’t seeing anyone,”

“Well, I could have mentioned that if I did give you her number that you might give her a call sometime to go and have coffee,” she said in a playful tone.

When she got in this mood, it really annoyed him at times. “You know I love you mom, but please stop playing match maker for me.” He’d been dealing with this for over a year ever since he broke up with Jessica.

Jessica Bartlett was his on again off again girlfriend for over ten years. She was beautiful with strawberry blonde hair that went down her back, soft skin that reminded him of peaches and cream when she blushed. A light dusting of freckles along the bridge of her nose and cheeks made her look more youthful than she was, along with green eyes that seemed to dance when she was happy. Her parents were one of the richest families in town and even though both their parents thought that the two of them were a perfect match, it wasn’t meant to be.

Jeremy found that Jessica had a temper that would make anyone think twice before even saying hello. Plus, over the years, she’d become jealous of any and every woman who gained his attention, even if they were a customer or one of their mutual friends.

The only reason why he’d gotten back with her before was because she would lay some guilt trip on him about how much she loved him and needed him in her life. She would promise over and over again about how she would curb her jealous tendencies. To make matters even worse was the fact that she was good in bed. With Jessica, his all-time weakness was when they made love. It was highly passionate and intense.

The final straw came the day of Hewitt Honey Farm Family Get Together where they would have the whole town come to have picnics in the meadow, things for the kids to play as well as a band. It was something that they would have every summer and it always brought in a great turn out. A good way for people to get better acquainted with their neighbors and friends.

He remembered that day all too well…

…. “Jeremy, oh Jeremy,”
A woman shouted from within the crowd at the Get Together.

He looked around and saw a beautiful woman coming out. Her long brown hair was done up in a ponytail that went over one shoulder. She was wearing an orange dress that showed off a very pregnant belly but the woman had a brilliant smile on her glowing freckled face.

“Cheryl?” He walked over to her and they embraced in a friendly hug. “Damn, how long has it been?” He kept looking at her bump and then back at her.

She’d been laughing at his expression. “It’s been two years and I’m pregnant with my first kid, six months with a boy. Richard is very happy. He would have been here but he’s been so busy with work and all. He did want me to tell you hey.”

“Well, you look great and I hate he didn’t come, he still owes me twenty bucks from ten years back.” Jeremy chuckled as let her take him by the arm while they started to walk and eventually, continued talking.

Then of course, while in the midst of their walk, Jeremy didn’t realize that Jessica had been spying on him, which was one of the things that she would often do whenever they were in a setting such as this. He would often playfully call her a panther always constantly watching over him to see when she would be able to strike at him next. It didn’t take her long before she made a B-line towards the two and he saw a look in her eyes that became all too familiar to him.

“Oh, my goodness Jessica,” Cheryl exclaimed with a smile.

Jeremy noticed the smile leaving her face when she looked into Jessica’s eyes.

Her lips were so tight that he couldn’t even see her lips. “Why hey Cheryl,” She looked her up and down, while holding a red plastic cup in her hand. “You’re pregnant I see,”

“Yes, I’m going to have a boy.”

Then she gazed over at Jeremy and the words that came out of that pretty mouth of hers would be something that he would never forget. “So, did you knock her up?”

Cheryl stared at her in shock and then over at Jeremy.

He wasn’t shocked. He’d known that Jessica was in one of her moods for a day or so, and had tried to avoid it by working. “Why would you say something like that?”

“Well, look at you, I mean both of you walking arm in arm, smiling and hugging it up like you just found out.”