“And who said you could go to this Junior Beekeepers thing?” his father snapped.
Great. His dad was pissed. Not that it was unusual—he was always pissed about something. Leif knew his answer wasn’t going to help. “Dane.” He sighed. “I joined the group. It’ll look good on college applications.”
His father’s snort rubbed Leif all the wrong way. “How about you pass this year before we start thinking about college.”
Leif rubbed a hand over his face. “Sure.” At least Dane saw how hard Leif was working. Did his dad know about his grades or that he’d been working with Birmingham? Did he care?
“Dane talk to you yet?” This time, he sounded concerned.
Which put a knot in Leif’s stomach. “About what?”
His father sighed. “School.” He cleared his throat. “Summer school.”
What the hell? “I’m passing everything. I don’t have to take summer school.” He propped his elbow on his knee and stared down at the brittle brown grass at his feet. By now, it shouldn’t hurt that his father didn’t give a rat’s ass about him. It shouldn’t, but it did.
“Well, now...” He sighed again. “We’ll talk about it tonight.”
“I have plans for tonight.” And there was no way he was breaking his date with Kerrielynn.
“Have you forgotten you’re grounded? I don’t know where Dane gets off thinking he can bend the rules like this, but I don’t like it.”
No shit.If Dane did something, no matter what, his father didn’t like it. But their dad expected Dane to break the summer school news to him? So Dane could be the bad guy?Whatever. His dad was an asshole. Period. But it did irritate him that Dane was keeping a secret like this from him. And Leif was sick and tired of being caught between them. Leif ground his teeth together so hard, his jaw hurt. “My battery is almost out.”
“Now you’re going to lie to me? You don’t want to hear what I have to say? Tough. I pay for that damn phone, remember.” He was all fired up now. “You get yourself home.”
Leif shook his head. He wasn’t going home. He wasn’t going to get sucked into whatever bull-crap problems his dad was caught up in. He saw how hard Dane worked to cover for their dad. Dane was the one keeping Texas Viking Honey on track. The office light was on when Leif went down for his 2 a.m. snack, every night. Dane was the one filling in when someone called in sick, or taking Birmingham’s suggestions to fix up the apiaries, or putting together plans to make Texas Viking Honey into something bigger and better. Dane was doing everything—including taking care of Leif. Leif didn’t give his brother enough credit. It’d be hard to handle all that. And Leif knew he wasn’t making things any easier.
“You hear me?” His father’s voice was so loud Leif held his phone away from his ear.
“Yeah.” Leif ground out the word.
“Good.” And the phone disconnected.
“Hey.” Kerrielynn was leaning against the rear of the van. “Hungry?” She held out an apple. “I think we’re about ready to go.”
He stood, tucked his phone into his pocket and took the apple. “Thanks.”
“Did you see that?” Kerrielynn nodded at Dane’s truck driving away.
Looks like I lost my way home. Leif couldn’t help but smile then. “See what?”
“Um, for a minute there, I totally thought your brother and Tansy were going to kiss.” She sighed. “Wouldn’t that be so romantic?”
Tansy was staring after Dane’s truck, her hands fisted at her sides. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But it was something. Dane needed something good in his life, something that was just his—that made him happy. Watching the two of them today, he couldn’t help but think Tansy might be that something.
“Leif?” Kerrielynn nudged him, standing close by his side. “You don’t want them to get together?”
“No, I do.” Leif glanced at her, feeling more awkward than ever. When she got this close, he worried she’d hear how hard his heart was beating.
She rested her head on his shoulder. “Everyone deserves a little happiness, don’t you think?”
It was hard to breathe, but he managed. “Definitely.” He took a risk and reached for her hand. Her fingers threaded with his.Yes. He didn’t even care if she did hear his crazy-fast heartbeat.Everyone deserves this sort of happiness.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TANSYWASN’TOKAY. She was... Confused, certainly. Suspicious, too. But, mostly, she was hopeful. And happy.
You’re beautiful, Tansy Hill.Those words had ensnared her. Add in the heat in his blue-blue eyes, the husky rasp of his voice, and she’d been speechless. She’d waited for some whip-smart sarcastic comment to break the hold he had on her. He was teasing. He had to be.
