Page 13 of Beehives and Broken Heroes

Too bad she didn’t feel the same way. “Would you look at the time?” Brandon held up his watch.

“All right, all right,” Andy said. The men gave each other a one-armed hug and patted each other on the back. “I’ll let the boys know you’re ready for B.O.T.s, and you’d better bring your A-game, because we’re not messing around this year. No way we’re letting you beat us for ten years straight.”

“Give it all you’ve got,” Brandon said.

“We’ve got a lot, my friend,” Andy said.

Brandon rubbed the back of his neck as Andy drove away. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure he was up for B.O.T.s this year. He was just so tired, and the idea of spending every moment of every day looking over his shoulder didn’t sound like a good time as it had in years past.

Chapter 5

February

“Control your emotions or they will control you.” - Chinese Proverb

Allie made her second lap down Main Street in her Tacoma, looking for a spot while listening to a new favorite podcast,The Happiness Project. Valentine’s Day was in two days, and all the parking behind the stores and on Main were full. She’d slept at her aunt’s house last night so she could cuddle with Honey. They’d tried keeping her dog at the shop during the day, but he was too big and too protective. After a couple of barking spells, and several scrambling, thundering gallops over the upstairs floor that could be heard everywhere downstairs and shook the building, they’d decided he was better off at Aunt Sophie’s.

At least there he had a yard to play in. But she sure did miss him at night, which landed her at her aunt’s at least a couple of times a week.

That made finding a parking spot ridiculously hard on Valentine’s week. She groaned internally. This was the first Valentine’s since college that she was alone. Sure, she could probably get a date for it, but looking back over the last ten years, she realized that she hadn’t spent much of it single, and that, on top of her man issues, renewed her determination to stay single despite the holiday. She’d spent New Year’s alone, another first in a decade; she could do V Day too. She’d figure out how to do this happy thing by herself if it killed her.

She turned up her podcast, taking mental notes. Operation learn-to-be-more-like-Jo had been in full swing for three months now. She wasn’t sure how effective she’d been at it, but at least she was trying.

“Being happy takes effort,” said her podcast guru, Heather Lynn. “It’s a daily conscious decision to choose to be happy.”

Allie tapped the steering wheel. “I can do that. I can choose to be happy.”

A driver she didn’t recognize cut her off and took a spot she’d been eyeing.

She lurched forward in her seat and punched the horn. “What were you, raised in a barn?” she yelled as drove past.

Heather Lynn continued. “Learning to control your emotions is a part of that process. Here’s a list of things you can do to help with that.”

Allie reclined back in her chair. “I can totally do that. Control my emotions. How hard can that be?” Jo did it all the time.

“One,” Heather Lynn chirped, “if you feel yourself getting overly emotional, take a deep breath. I know you’ve heard this before, but really, it helps. You could also count to ten. Two, identify the cause of your emotions. Three, name the emotion you’re feeling. Four, regulate your emotion; don’t repress it. Five, know when to express yourself. And six, give yourself space if you need it.”

Allie nodded. “Okay, six steps. That’s not too hard. I can totally do that.” She repeated the steps in her head. They’d be her mantra.

She turned down the alley between the honey shop and the building next door that Cash had bought for his restaurant—a two-story brownstone, like Sticky and Sweet, that was in need of serious renovations if it was to be ready in time for Cash’s grand opening in July. It was undergoing renovations, and Cash hoped to have it open by the beginning of July. A spot opened up, and Allie made her move, snagging the spot before anyone else could.

A large flatbed truck pulled up out back of Cash’s building. Cash and the Slade twins, Porter and Nash, hopped out. Allie smiled. Porter and Nash were the same age as Cash, a year older than Allie and Jo, and identical twins also. They’d all gone to school together. The boys were tall, blond, blue-eyed, very mischievous, and opinionated. So of course, she loved them.

She got out of her car and rushed over. The back of the truck was filled with something and covered in a deep blue tarp.

“Hey, guys,” Allie said. She lifted the end of the tarp. “What’s this?” Looked like a bunch of stained wood.

Cash shooed her away. “Don’t look, Allie!”

“Hey, Allie,” Porter and Nash said in unison like they’d known which twin she was all along. She gave them the side-eye; she wasn’t buying it.

She signaled between the three men. “What is this, a high school reunion?” Cash had spent the bulk of his time with Jo and Allie at the manor house as kids, but every once in a while, the Slade twins would spirit him away for some shenanigans of the near-illegal kind. Cow tipping and trespassing on Ray Funches’s farm, anyone? And to think all three of them were now solid, law-abiding citizens. Insane!

She hadn’t known Cash had gotten back in touch with them. They still lived in town, but they were cattle ranchers through and through and didn’t venture into town much. As she watched their easy manners and contagious smiles, she decided she’d missed seeing them on a regular basis. They’d been fun friends to have. Especially when they’d all played night games, like hostage.

“They’re going to help me set up the bar.” Cash smiled and waved over his head to someone behind her.

She turned to see who it was.

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