by Tasha Black
He knew her well enough to know she was hurrying so that Dolly wouldn’t see her distress.
Cleo had already turned to follow when he heard Dolly’s low chuckle.
“Gotcha,” she said softly.
There was something sinister in her satisfied tone.
Burton leapt without thinking and landed behind the eyes of the other cat, who promptly dashed in the front door of the too-grand farmhouse.
Before Burton’s eyes, a sea of pink carpet zoomed past. The cat stopped when his paws hit a pattern of pink rosebuds on square tiles.
“Bud,” Dolly said sharply.
Burton tried to look around through Jett’s eyes to see who else was there, but the cat was staring pointedly at his bowl.
“You by yourself?” Dolly asked.
There was a pause.
“Well then leave the house, Peterson,” she said, sounding exasperated.
Burton realized she must be on the phone.
“Okay, you by yourself now?” she asked. “Good. Well, we did it, Bud. They’re going to sign.”
She chuckled again. It was a low, ugly sound.
20
Burton
The shock of what Dolly had done and her glee over it sent Burton out from behind Jett’s eyes and into his own head again.
He had never experienced such a distance between his own body and his host’s. He blinked into himself, dazzled at the sudden difference in setting.
Thrashing in the trees behind him told him that Tansy had just run past.
He was glad he had hidden himself before moving his sight into Cleo’s. It would have been hard to explain what he was doing here if Tansy had seen him just now. And why he was unresponsive.
Burton straightened and replayed the last few minutes in his mind. He was new to this place, and there was much that he did not understand when it came to human interactions.
From all he could see, this was a complicated problem, with many layers to be examined. Nonetheless Burton was convinced that he had grasped each one almost instantly.
Dolly wanted the Martins to sign over their farm for some reason. She and Bud Peterson had hatched some sort of plot to make it happen.
And Tansy was willing to sell the farm, not for her own self-preservation, but because of Burton.
Because she loved him.
If she was willing to make a sacrifice like that, he had chosen the perfect mate.
And now she needed his help more than ever.
21
Tansy
Tansy awoke from a dreamless sleep to Cleo rubbing her furry face against her ankles.
She opened her eyes.
The pink sunrise through the window seemed even more beautiful than usual, especially now that she knew it was one of the last times she would ever see it.
She sat up quickly, determined not to spend the day feeling sorry for herself. She would meet with Dolly, find out how much time they had left, and then make a plan for what to do with the rest of her summer.
Half the proceeds from the sale of the farm would be enough to get her back to school in the fall, and maybe even a shabby third floor walk-up just off campus for her and Burton. If it wasn’t too late to save what she had with him.
She pushed the depressing thought away, gathered her clothes and headed into the shower.
The hot water felt good but didn’t ease the ache in her chest.
She was going to miss the place she had always thought of as home.
And she missed the big alien for whom she had decided to let it go.
Her only thought yesterday had been to get back to the farm, to find him, to make things right. And to tell him that they were going to live the life he wanted.
But he had been gone when she returned to the farm and he hadn’t come home yet even when she finally turned in late last night.
He was just… gone.
And Tansy didn’t know if he would ever come back.
Sage and Arden had kept her occupied last night, drinking wine and sharing memories about the farm until she was ready to sleep.
Tansy had been surprised to see her sister looking a little sad when she had shared the news that she had met with Dolly. But Sage had recovered fast and made it known insistently that she was very glad about Tansy’s decision. But her initial resistance had already endeared her to Tansy.
Tansy dried off and dressed, then padded down the hall to the kitchen.
“Good morning,” Sage said, holding out a mug of coffee.
“Thanks,” Tansy said, taking it.
Arden and Drago sat at the kitchen table, poring over a sheet of notebook paper. Riggs was at the sink, washing dishes.
“Hey, Tansy,” Arden said sympathetically.
“Hey,” Tansy replied, wondering how obviously pathetic it would be to ask about Burton.
“We have not seen Burton,” Riggs said, as if in answered to her unasked question. “He was gone all night.”
There was a knock at the door before Tansy could respond.
She met Sage’s eyes.
Sage raised her eyebrows as if to ask if this was what Tansy really wanted.
Determined, Tansy marched to the door and opened it.
On the other side, Dolly Strickland held out a tray of fragrant muffins.
“Good morning, dear,” she said kindly.
“Thanks for coming,” Tansy said.
“I’m glad to be here,” Dolly said immediately.
“My sister made some coffee,” Tansy said. “Shall we sit out at the picnic table?”
The last words stuck in Tansy’s throat and she tried to cover it up with a cough. She couldn’t believe they would never eat another meal under the big sycamore looking out over the fields.
“That sounds lovely,” Dolly said. She turned and headed back onto the porch.
Tansy and her friends followed.
The sun was a golden ball, just visible over the crest of the peach orchard now.
Tansy spread a cloth over the picnic table and watched as Sage set down a tray with the coffee things.
Dolly deposited the tray of muffins and began to dig in her enormous purse. She produced a clipboard with a set of papers on it.
“Now, girls,” she said, clearing her throat. “This document is your legal agreement to sell the farm to me. You can see the sale price here.” She pointed to a figure.
Tansy’s eyes were blurred with tears, but Sage nodded.
“There’s a right to inspect but I’ve waived all that, see right here.” Again she pointed and Sage nodded. “Same thing with financing, I’ll pay you cash, no contingency.”
“You don’t have to leave right away,” she said. “I put ten days in here for you to pack up and say good-bye to the place. I waived the empty-and-broom-clean clause, so you can leave anything you don’t want to take with you and there’s no need to clean. Okay?”
“Thank you,” Sage murmured.
“On the eleventh day we’re all required by law to meet with the notary at the town bank. The deed will be signed over and the money will be yours,” Dolly said, pointing to the bottom of the last page with a flourish.
Tansy bit her lip to keep from sobbing and clenched her hands into fists so tight her nails bit into her palms.
“What if we change our minds?” Sage asked suddenly.
“Once you sign this, you really can’t, dear,” Dolly said. “I’ll have to move money out of my retirement accounts this week, arrange for the bank’s title company to expedite the search, and do everything else that needs to be done to make this happen. It’s all at my own expense, you understand. That’s why this is a legally binding document.”
“Of course,” Sage said, nodding. “We understand. Tansy?”
Sage indicated the document.
“Oh heavens,” Dolly exclaimed, her eyes twinkling. “Let me find you a pen.”
She began rummaging around in her purse again but Sage didn’t seem to be paying attention to her anymore. She was l
ooking over the woman’s shoulder, an expression of wonder on her face.
Tansy followed her sister’s gaze.
A cloud of dust rose over the gravel driveway.
Someone was coming up to the house. She could just make out the shape of a man on horseback, followed by a pick-up truck.
“Is that… Burton?” Sage asked.
“Peanut Butter,” Tansy breathed, recognizing the horse.
“Here we are,” Dolly said brightly, emerging from her purse with a shiny silver pen.
“Don’t do it, Tansy,” Burton yelled to her from the driveway. “Don’t sell Grandma Helen’s farm!”
Tansy’s feet carried her down the front lawn to meet him, even as she tried to figure out the reason for his dramatic entrance.
He pulled Peanut Butter up short as they reached the yard.
“Burton,” Tansy said.
“You didn’t sign anything, did you?” he gasped.
She shook her head in amazement.
“What’s all this?” Dolly huffed as she trotted down the hill to join Tansy.
Sage and the others were trailing behind as well.
“You,” Burton said accusingly to Dolly.
“Me?” Dolly echoed, her eyes wide with innocence.
“You tried to trick Tansy and Sage,” he said darkly. “But it’s not going to work.”
“I’m an elderly person on a fixed income,” Dolly sniffed. “I’m trying to be a good neighbor to my old friend’s granddaughters at my own expense.”
“Then why is there a second sale set up at the town bank for right after your purchase?” Burton asked, dismounting the horse like he’d been born to it.
“A second sale?” Tansy breathed, horrified.
“That’s none of your damned business, you uppity farm hand,” Dolly said. She turned to Tansy, composing her features into their usual grandmotherly smile. “But, Tansy, I will tell you why. I can’t really afford to run your farm, not at my age. But I knew you wouldn’t sell to anyone else, and your whole life would be ruined trying to hold on. I’m trying to make it easy for you, child. I was going to buy it from you and then sell it to someone who can afford to keep it.”
“Is that why you stole our bees?” Burton demanded.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Dolly shot back at him. But she eyed the familiar man in the pick-up truck behind him, who was moving to the back of the truck with a hand trolley.
He emerged a moment later carting a huge wooden crate with Bee Our Guest written on the side.
“H-how did you find them?” Tansy asked.
22
Burton
Burton was bristling with excitement.
He had just completed the mission of a lifetime. Dolly Strickland had gone off in a huff. Tansy was gazing up at him in adoration. The next best thing to sharing his adventure with her, would be telling her all about it.
He approached the table where his friends and family sat, and walked them through the unlikely events of his adventure.
“I overheard something that Dolly said on a phone call to Bud Peterson yesterday afternoon,” he began. “What she told him made it sound like she had accomplished a goal by making you agree to sell the farm.”
“When did you overhear that?” Tansy asked.
“What do you mean accomplished her goal?” Sage asked.
Burton chose to answer Sage’s question. Tansy’s would force him to admit to his special gift in front of everyone. Something Dr. Bhimani had cautioned him repeatedly he must not do.
“I wasn’t sure what she meant,” Burton said. “But I figured it had something to do with the bees.”
“Bud didn’t report his bees stolen,” Sage murmured, as if she were putting something together.
“But we already searched the Petersons’ barn,” Tansy said.
“True,” Burton said. “But it was possible the bees were hidden somewhere else. I remembered seeing Gretchen’s truck in town, so I thought I would go to her work and see if I could get any information from her.”
“Good thinking,” Riggs said.
“I do not have a car driving license, so I decided to ride Peanut Butter,” Burton said. “I have never ridden a horse before either, but he was most cooperative.”
He took a moment to stroke the velvety nose of his companion.
Peanut Butter replied with a gentle nuzzle.
“I realized when I arrived in town that horses do not fit in people doors,” Burton went on. “At least, not the door to the restaurant where Gretchen works. I was standing outside, trying to decide what to do, when a man came out of the restaurant in a hurry. The air he displaced had a familiar scent. It was the same as the smell from the vape pen we found at the scene of the crime.”
“You recognized that smell?” Tansy asked, sounding impressed.
“Yes, it was easy because— because it was a distinctive scent, didn’t you think?”
Burton scolded himself inwardly. In his excitement he had barely stopped himself before admitting that he had recognized the scent because he had smelled it through Cleo’s sensitive snout.
Tansy shrugged.
“I tapped the man on the shoulder, suspecting he might be the culprit we’d been searching for,” Burton said. “He turned to me. He looked very surprised.”
“I looked surprised because I knew what you were,” the man beside him said. “My name is Earl Road,” he told the others. “I’m a friend to Dr. Bhimani and her family.”
He looked around the gathering, seeming suddenly nervous.
“It’s okay,” Arden told him. “You’re among friends. Everyone here knows.”
“Great,” Earl said, looking visibly relieved. “So obviously, a man of your… build and bone structure,” he said, turning to Burton. “I knew it was a possibility that you were from Aerie. That was why I told you not to speak until we reached the town square. I didn’t want anyone else to see us talking.”
“The town square is most secluded,” Burton observed.
“Well, no one really hangs out there now that the grocer’s has the big patio with the picnic tables and the open air market opened up off Jupiter,” Earl said. “Plus they’ve let the shrubbery grow too tall around the square.”
“Yes, Peanut Butter found the shrubbery delicious,” Burton agreed.
“Anyway,” Earl said. “He told me that you all were missing your bees. And he asked if I might know anything about that.”
“And he did,” Burton said, still wondering over the fantastic good fortune of having bumped into Earl when he did.
“I was only in town to talk to Gretchen myself,” Earl said. “I knew something fishy was going on, I just didn’t know what. See, I used to hang out a lot with Gretchen and her friend, Otis.”
Earl removed his cap and looked down at the ground.
“There’s not a lot to do around Stargazer for young people, and the three of us weren’t always do-gooder types,” Earl said. “Not that it’s an excuse. There isn’t one. We got up to a lot of mischief at the expense of a lot of good people. I’ve been trying to turn that around ever since I met your people,” he told Burton. “At any rate, I think Otis is beginning to see that he ought to use his energy for something more constructive too. He came to me last night. And he brought a lemon chiffon pie, two types of chocolate chip cookies and a pan of homemade baklava.”
He gave them all a significant look.
“Oh hell,” he said. “I forgot you don’t know Otis. The thing about Otis is that when he’s upset, he bakes.”
There was a murmur of understanding among the group.
“Anyway, he paced around my living room talking about wanting to better himself and do the right thing. I just knew he was feeling guilty about something,” Earl said. “But he wouldn’t tell me what it was. I suspected it was because he knew if he came clean Gretchen would get in trouble too, and he’s been in love with her since the fourth grade. I went to see Gretchen today to find out what she was up to, and
to ask her to get her claws out of him.”
“Did she tell you what they had done?” Drago asked.
“She did not,” Earl replied. “But Otis did.”
“Earl took me to Otis’s house,” Burton said.
“When we got there and I explained, Otis confessed to everything right away,” Earl said. “He explained how Gretchen’s dad had offered them five hundred dollars to steal your bees.”
“And when he finished explaining and saying he was sorry, many, many times, he took us right to the bees,” Burton said.
“They weren’t on his land either,” Earl said. “He had put them next door, in his pastor’s barn. Man, you should’ve heard how bad he felt about that.”
“He was most dreadfully sorry,” Burton said, feeling a bit upset himself just thinking about the big man’s self-remonstrations.
“We invited him here to come apologize to you himself, but he was too ashamed,” Earl said. “But, oh, hang on a minute.”
They all watched as he jogged back to his truck and came back with a milk crate.
“Here you go,” Earl said, swinging the crate onto the picnic table. “He wanted you to have these.”
Sage let out a low whistle.
“That’s a lot of baked goods,” Tansy said appreciatively.
“Well, he feels real bad,” Earl said. “I really don’t think he ever would have done something like this if Gretchen hadn’t put him up to it.”
“Well, we’re lucky he did,” Tansy said crisply. “Because if she’d chosen a different partner, we never would have gotten the bees back.”
Earl grinned at her sunnily.
She grinned back.
When Burton took her hand and squeezed it, she squeezed back and didn’t let go.
23
Burton
Burton stood in a happy haze with Tansy’s hand wrapped tightly in his.
“Okay,” Sage said, turning to him. “It’s official. You’re taking a day off.”
