Page 5 of Max Bannon

“Yes, I get a week off. I can’t wait to see you and Jake. Make him come with you. Is he still angry that I moved away?”

“I’ll twist his arm, sweetie. He’s still a little bit upset that you moved so far away. He misses you as much as I do. But I understand why you want to make it on your own. I reminded Jake about when he disappeared for two years, trying to find himself.”

“I love you, bye,” I said before hanging up.

3

Max

Ihad to walk away. I was at the point of climbing inside her jeep to see why she looked so sad. I wouldn’t let Tessa into my life like that. I would never allow someone else to control my soul or my happiness. Never. I hopped on my bike and went back to my place.

“Where is Tessa? We wanted to meet her,” Eloise said as she entered my kitchen. I was mixing up a potato salad to go with dinner. Jack set some things on the counter, and I glanced at them. “Yummy, I can’t wait to dig into that fruit salad,” I said.

“Is she not coming?” Eloise asked again.

“I reminded her about it, but I think she is scrubbing out that old cabin.”

“That cabin has a giant beehive in it, which is why we didn’t finish the repairs, Fraiser said, joining us. “Someone will be here on Monday to clear it out.”

“What’s this?” Eloise asked, looking at the corkboard.

“It’s a list of things Tessa loses every day.”

“Why would you do this? Know wonder she would rather clean out the cabin,” Fraiser said. “Couldn’t you just put them at the bottom of the stairs like anyone else would do?”

“It was no big deal. She laughed about it.”

“Are you sure she laughed about it?” Jack asked. Can you put her things at the foot of the stairs, and not let her know you picked them up? Some people have reasons out of their control of losing things. I’m sure that must be why Eloise forgets things. Get rid of that list, and don’t start another one. That cabin is not ready for anyone to move into. It took forever before we found a teacher to come here.

“The lists I make are fine. I only made them to remind her that she leaves her stuff everywhere. I’ll go get her, apologize to her, and be right back.”

“I’ll go with you,” Eloise volunteered. “Just in case you scare her off.”

“Fine,” I said, thinking I might have made too many lists. Niki always told me that if I wrote it down, I wouldn’t forget about it. But she did tell me once that I carried it too far. The cabin was close enough that it only took a few minutes to get there.

“There’s her jeep,” I said. I could see bees flying around. I glanced at Eloise. “Stay in the car, I can see the bees. I jumped out of the truck. “Tessa, where are you?” I called as I walked to the door. Bees were everywhere. “Tessa, can you hear me?”

“Max, I’ve locked myself in the closet, the bees attacked me. I’m not doing too good. How can I get out of here?”

“Stay there, I’ll make a smoke bomb and get you out,” I said.

“I called the others, they are bringing some stuff to smoke the bees. Do you know if she’s been bitten?” Eloise asked. Look at you. You are covered in bee stings.

“She said they attacked her, and she wasn’t doing well.” The others pulled up with the smoker for the bees. They looked at me right before I passed out. Jack caught me before I hit the ground. He threw me over his shoulder and placed me in the back of the truck.

I opened my eyes, and everything was blurry. “What should I do?” Eloise asked.

I could hear the others. “Jack, drive Max’s truck; both need to get to the hospital,” Fraiser said.

Jack jumped in, and we took off. I heard him talking to the hospital as he drove. I tried raising myself, but I couldn’t move. Whatever kind of poison was in those bees knocked me off my feet.

I remember when I helped Michael pick blackberries, and the bees got after us. Michael grabbed me up, and we jumped into the pond. I still had to go to the hospital at that time, too. The doctor said I wasn’t allergic to bees, but we later discovered those bees had some other poison in their sting.

“Jack, call Michael,” I murmured.

“Seri call Michael,” Jack said out loud. I could hear the phone ringing.

“It’s about damn time you called me, What are you doing.”

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