Beekeepers

She quickly and quietly grabbed them then tiptoed back out of the bedroom and sat on the small, old sofa that was also a hideaway bed and pulled the socks on. She was sitting there a few minutes later when she heard him whistling.

“You okay?” she called out, trying to sound like her normal self.

“I feel like a million bucks!” she heard him call back. “And I don’t stink!”

He’d brought a change of clothes with him, and when he came out, Willa made sure not to so much as glance at his leg.

“Thanks. That was amazing,” he told her, his tousled wet hair catching her attention.

“Oh. I’m...I’m glad,” she replied, as she continued looking at his cleanly-shaven face.

“Did I miss a spot?” he asked when he saw her staring.

“What? No. I...I was just...no, you didn’t miss anything.”

“Okay,” he said, knowing something was going on. “I’ll uh, I’ll just head back to my uh, very, very tiny little house now.”

“Wait,” she said after he took just two steps toward the door.

Jared stopped then turned around.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a way that told her he was aware of something.

She looked away so fast it confirmed his suspicions.

“What’s going on, Willa?” he asked as he laid his dirty clothes on an old wooden table.

He didn’t know her well, but he’d never seen her act like this before and found it disturbing.

“Do we need to talk?” he quietly asked. “Did I somehow say or do something...offensive? Did my kidding around get out of hand today?”

“No. Not at all. I...I enjoy your...kidding,” she told him, now again staring at his face.

“Then why are you looking at me like that? I’m seriously getting paranoid over here.”

When she looked away again, Jared sat down without asking.

“Tell me. What is it?” he said in such a gentle way it made her look at him again.

“I’m...I’m so embarrassed.”

Trying to be funny, Jared said, “So you really do have a trust fund?”

When she didn’t even smile, he assumed something was very wrong.

“Did you get a phone call while I was in the shower?” he asked.

Willa was biting her lower lip and still not looking at him.

“You’re starting to scare me, Willa.”

“I feel so...ashamed.”

“Of what? Tell me.”

Jared lowered his head and tilted it indicating he wanted her to look at him.

After several seconds, she finally did.

“It...it wasn’t...intentional,” she said very quietly.

“Okay, I’m totally and completely lost here.”

“Jared. I...I saw you. In the bathroom before you got in the shower. I didn’t mean to. My feet were cold, and I just went to get some socks, and...and I looked and....”

“Oh. Okay,” he replied so quietly it scared Willa.

“Jared. I am SO sorry! I wasn’t....”

“What exactly did you see?” he asked nearly as quietly as her reply moments before. “Was it my leg?”

She’d looked away again, but Jared didn’t need to see her eyes to know they were welling up with tears.

“Hey. It’s okay,” he said as soon as he noticed.

Again trying to be cute, he said, “I was thinking maybe you saw, you know, something else that looked very, very tiny.”

Willa was so upset and hurt by what she’d seen that she couldn’t laugh. She did look up, though, and when she did, Jared saw the first tears fall.

“How did that...do you mind telling what...how that happened?” she managed to ask.

“I’m sorry you saw that,” he told her.

That he could think of her when all she could think of was him, touched her deeply.

“What? Jared, I’m not the one whose leg is....”

“More scars than leg?” he asked, smiling weakly.

“I feel...awful...for kidding you about having something wrong with you.”

When she started crying, Jared got up and sat next to her.

“Hey, come on! You didn’t know,” her told her reassuringly.

He wanted to hold her, but there wasn’t really anything he could do that felt right, so he just sat there and waited.

“Were you in a car accident or something?” she asked as she wiped her eyes with her fingers.

“Let me get you a tissue or some...tissue paper, okay?”

“No! Don’t get up,” she said, nearly pulling his arm off when he tried to stand up.

“I can walk, you know,” he informed her.

She looked right at him then asked, “How...how badly does it hurt? You know, when you walk?”

“Not too bad,” he told her, not wanting to admit it was hurting like hell again.

“Will you tell me what happened? Please?” she asked again. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll under....”

“I was in Afghanistan,” he said before she could finish her sentence.

Willa’s eyes began darting back and forth with his as her hands covered her mouth.

“Oh, my...Jared. I am SO, so sorry!” she told him yet again.

“I’m alive. And I can walk, so no complaints.”

The kind, gentle look in his eyes also moved her.

“How bad was it?” she asked as more tears filled her eyes.

“Hey. If we’re gonna talk about this, no more tears. Okay?” Jared told her as he slowly reached over and wiped them for her.

“I’ll try,” she promised.

Leaving out the goriest of the details, Jared gave her the ‘down and dirty’ version. Willa had never heard of an RPG and had no idea what it did, so he explained that, too.

When he finished, he tried to be funny again and said, “So now I’m a ‘wand-only’ kind of guy for TSA at any airport in the country.”

Willa didn’t even smile. She just sat there looking at him and tried to imagine everything he’d been through. And doing that caused the same reaction as before. But this time, when she got teary eyed, she didn’t dry them. She reached out and put her arms around him and just held him as she cried.

He held her back but only in a platonic kind of way until she stopped. When she did, she looked at him, and said, “Sorry. I couldn’t keep my promise.”

“You only promised to try, remember?” he reminded her gently with a warm smile.

“Right. Yes, I did say that,” she quietly admitted before thanking him for sharing that and also for being a hero.

He, in turn, told her he was no hero.

“The heroes are the corpsman, doctors, and nurses, who put me back together again then helped me relearn how to walk.”

He smiled then said, “So now I’m a regular Bionic Man. Maybe even a modern-day Man of Steel.”

Willa finally laughed as Jared said, “Make that...titanium.”

Once she collected herself, she apologized for being so emotional.

“Yeah, it’s almost like, I don’t know, like...you’re a woman or something,” Jared quipped.

“Not funny!” Willa said as though she were upset. “Women, especially in any scientific field, can’t afford to be anything but professional.”

“You know I was just kidding again, don’t you?”

His smile not only touched her, it sent a wave of something though her body; a wave so strong she had to look away again.

“Yes. Of course I know,” she told him before standing up and saying she should probably go clean up the mess known as her face.

There were mascara streaks on it, but as Jared stood up, too, he told her, “It still looks beautiful to me.”

A second wave hit her so hard, Willa involuntarily said, “Oh, my God,” before turning and heading to the bathroom.

Jared stopped at the bedroom door and asked if she was okay, wondering if she was on the verge of throwing up.

“I’m fine. I...I just had a....”

When the words ‘monthly cramp’ came out of her mouth, Willa couldn’t believe what she’d said. It was most certainly not true, and the worst part was her choice of words.

“Monthly cramp. Are you really that lame?” she said to herself as she looked at her ‘mess’ in the mirror.

“Listen. I’m gonna head back to the ranch now, okay?”

“Um...sure. I’ll uh, I’ll talk to you tomorrow then, all right?” she called back, too ashamed to even go say goodnight.

“Right. And don’t forget the well guys will be here bright and early.”

“Right. And I’ve got lab equipment arriving, too,” she reminded him.

Had all this not happened, Willa would have said something snarky about his tendency to make very loud noises way too early in the morning.

Jared called out, “Ah, yes. Thanks for reminding me, and uh...goodnight.”

She heard the door close then looked at herself again.

“What is wrong with you, Parker?” she asked herself as she realized she was still very badly shaken up by the whole thing.

It was after midnight before she fell asleep as Willa kept trying to imagine being hurt like that. The closest thing she’d ever experienced was deeply slicing her index finger once when she was dicing carrots. Just one cut on one finger that needed a half-dozen stitches and hurt for days. Jared had scars longer than her hand—and several of them.

She couldn’t help but wonder if there were others she couldn’t see and assumed there probably were. She also knew that from now on, whenever she thought about the people serving in the military, she would see them as brave men and women willingly exposing themselves to that same kind of risk...or worse. It wouldn’t change anything as far as the dangers they faced went, but she would be even more grateful for their service in the future.

One of her last thoughts before finally falling asleep was that she didn’t need to fear being alone because...she wasn’t. A former Navy SEAL was just a few yards away, and all of her bluster about not caring that she’d be alone aside, just knowing he was nearby was somehow very comforting.

Her very last was the realization she hadn’t yet seen her friend, Chrissa, from NDSU which was very strange since Willa had called her before leaving Kansas. She made a mental note to give her another call in the morning then fell asleep so soundly she forgot where she was when she woke up at 7am to the sound of very loud noises.

“Gee. Now who could that be?” she asked with a sleepy smile as she sat up in bed.

In her haste to go see her favorite new former Navy SEAL, Willa forgot to call her friend.

But as soon as Jared said ‘good morning’ to her, she didn’t care. She handed him a cup of instant coffee then wanted to know how the search for water was coming.

“Any luck?” she asked as she watched the drilling crew do its thing.

He almost said something about the crew having trouble with their divining rods but passed.

“Yes. They hit water within 15 minutes. The plumber is now putting in the outside water storage tank and other equipment, and then he’ll run the lines into the house.”

Jared laughed then said, “Okay. Line. Singular.”

Willa also laughed and told him that was preferable to no line at all.

“Oh, definitely,” Jared replied as he took a sip and thanked her again for the coffee.

By 10am, Jared had water. By noon, the power company was there running a line, not from Willa’s cabin but from the road which made a lot of sense once he saw the finished product.

Around one o’clock, Willa got a call that excited her, and she ran to Jared’s (tiny) house to tell him the good news.

“My lab equipment is on the way!” she gushed before seeing him.

He was bent down and working under the sink when she walked in, and as she spoke she saw another scar between his shirt and pants. This one wasn’t long or thick but it was jagged and had an odd shape to it.

By the time Jared stood up and faced her she’d stopped smiling.

“That’s fantastic, right?” he asked, a smile on his face.

“What’s that?” she asked as the feelings from the night before came back.

This time it didn’t take long to figure out what happened.

“Damned plumber’s crack,” he quipped just as he noticed Willa getting emotional again.

“Hey. Don’t do that,” he said as he set down the wrench in his hand.

He walked the two steps over to where she was then put his arms around her. Willa put hers around him and did her best not to cry.

“Sorry,” she finally said. “It’s just so hard to see that. Not as hard as having it done to you, I know, it’s just that....”

“Shhhh,” Jared told her as he held her a little tighter.

“Now. Let’s go get ready to put your lab equipment inside.”

“It won’t be here for a couple of hours. I was just so excited, and I wanted to share that with you,” she said as he let her go.

When he did, their eyes met, and Willa stood there, almost in awe of this younger man who never complained when he had every right to.

“Then let’s go into the big city and get something to eat real quick,” he suggested.

“Only if you let me pay,” she insisted.

“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Jared told her. “You are kidding, right?”

“Why? Because I’m a woman?”

His voice changed completely as he slid by her and said very quietly, “Yes.”

Without a word, Willa gave in and told him that would be very nice.

This time, as they drove into town, Jared told her where his money came from without being asked.

“Sixty percent sounds like a lot,” she told him, having no idea how that amount was even calculated.

“Don’t tell my dad that,” Jared replied with a laugh.

“So you saved a lot of money and you have disability income from the VA?” she said, trying to sum it all up.

“Yes, but I don’t much care for the ‘D’ word.”

It took her a second, but Willa got it and told him she understood.

“And with any luck, I’ll make even more by letting my bees pollenate almonds and other crops along with whatever honey they produce.”

“Have you seen the price almond growers pay for bees?” she asked.

“I have,” he told her before Willa said ‘duh’.

“Of course you have. You do your homework.”

She hesitated then asked, “Are you a college graduate?”

“I am,” he told her. “Why?”

“I don’t know. You’re very well spoken and also very intelligent, so I just realized you probably were.”

“In the SEAL community nothing matters but the team. Officer, enlisted, young, old, black, white. None of that means a damn thing. You live for the team or you don’t survive.”

“Do you miss it?” she asked.

“That part of it, yes. And I’m kind of an adrenaline junkie, too. Or at least I used to be. But it looks like life had other plans for me.”

“So obviously I saw your back,” she confessed.

“My other leg is even more beautiful than the one you saw,” he told her, opening up to her like he’d never done with anyone before.

“Was it...hit...too?”

“Burns mostly,” was all he said as though it was nothing.

The cab of his truck only had an armrest separating them, and Willa unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted it up then slid over and sat next to him.

Jared gave her a funny look, but she didn’t play along. She just slid her arm through his and sat there in silence until the pulled up to a little cafe called The Harwood Grill and Saloon.

Willa laughed when she recalled Vicki’s comment about the roughnecks comin’ to the local saloon to spend their money.

“What?” Jared asked as he parked the big rig.

“Nothing. Just something my sister said.”

“Sister, huh? Is she as pretty as you?” he asked as he opened his door and slid out.

Willa’s heart rate jumped, and when Jared turned back around to offer her his hand, it skyrocketed.

“Thank you,” she said very sweetly to the younger man in the ball cap she no longer saw as younger but as someone who’d done more in his life than she ever would.

After lunch they stopped at an ATM and both of them withdrew some cash then went to Hornbacher’s, a local grocery store where Jared bought some cold storage items. He also picked up enough ice to keep them fresh until his tiny refrigerator was cold enough to keep them, and Willa also stocked up while they were there.

When they finished loading the groceries into his truck, she went to walk around to the passenger side, but Jared gently reached out and grabbed her forearm.

“I wouldn’t mind if you sat next to me again,” he told her in his almost-shy, unassuming way.

“I kind of enjoyed that myself,” she told him as he took her hand and led her to the driver’s door which he opened for her.

She internally flinched when she watched him climb up into the cab knowing it had to be painful. But as always, he didn’t say a word. But he did smile at her once he closed the door then reminded her to put her seatbelt on.

“Oh. Right,” she said.

Before she could reach for it, Jared was reaching over her. She not only didn’t tell him she could put on a seatbelt, she smiled as his face moved right by hers, a happy smile on it.

“All set,” he told her once it clicked.

“Thank you,” she said, the smile still there.

When he got out of the parking lot, she put her arm through his again, but Jared raised it up and put it around her instead. When he did, Willa leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder as he pulled her close.

They barely had time to offload their supplies when a large box-bodied truck from NDSU pulled in. Willa heard the engine, and by the time she got to the front porch, she heard the horn start honking, and it kept honking until it pulled up next to her.

The passenger door flung open, and Willa’s friend hopped out.

“So you ARE alive!” she said as she ran to give her former, fellow researcher a hug.

“Chrissa! It is SO good to see you!” Willa told her before apologizing for not calling.

Jared obviously heard the ruckus, too, and as he came walking up, Chrissa saw him then said, “Okay. Now I see why you forgot to call.”

Willa knew Jared heard that, and as much as she wanted to deny it, she only smiled before introducing them.

“Your girlfriend here is the smartest melittologist I know,” Chrissa told him.

“We’re uh, we’re just friends,” he told her as he glanced at Willa.

Willa knew that was true, but just hearing him say it, well, stung. It was silly, but it did hurt a little.

“Right. Just friends,” she chimed in saying.

“Well, let’s get you set up, shall we?” Chrissa said as an undergrad from one of her classes opened the back door of the truck.

Willa wanted to ask Jared to take it easy and let them move everything inside, but she knew that would be more hurtful than helpful. Still, she was painfully aware every time he walked up or down the steps or paused to give his leg—or legs—a break.

Around 6pm, a police car from Fargo pulled in, and Chrissa’s husband, Don, got out and brought in several pizza boxes before anyone saw him.

“Don! Oh, my goodness! How are you?” Willa asked once she spotted him.

“Good. And you look great, Willa,” he told her as they hugged.

She introduced him to Jared and the guys hit it off immediately. Don was a former Marine, and the two of them swapped ‘war stories’ over a couple of beers out of the case of Budweiser he’d also brought with him.

Don had been just 19 years old when his unit, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, fought in the battle of Fallujah. Somehow, he’d it made through the battle without a scratch. Jared had studied the battle and knew more about it than Don did, at least from a textbook point of view. But Jared also knew that no amount of reading could substitute for the real thing, and Don had his full respect and attention.

Don knew to stop asking questions as soon as Jared mention getting ‘shot up a little’ and left it at that when Jared quickly ran through his own combat experiences.

It was nearly dark before everything was in place and operational, but they did get it all done, and once they did they went back to drinking beer and getting better acquainted.

Chrissa was on the old sofa, the only thing large enough for two people, and when Willa sat down beside her she got up.

“Jared? Have a seat,” she said with a smile and a glance back at Willa.

“Is there something wrong with it?” he asked, not wanting to take the only other soft seat.

“Yes. You’re not in it,” she told him quietly as she walked by before proposing a toast.

“To finding a cure for CCD!” she said as Willa continued giving her the eye.

Everyone drank to it then settled in to talk, and the talking lasted until the beer was nearly gone.

“You can’t drive,” Willa told Don and the student, whose name was Jimmy.