Sweet as Honey

by Jennifer Beckstrand

  “Hardware cloth?”

  “Number eight mesh,” Bitsy said, carrying the roll into a room on the other side of the kitchen wall and coming out empty-handed. “He’s been doing some reading.”

  Lily stared at him briefly before giving him a half smile. “That’s very nice of you.”

  Poppy and Rose marched into the house with cheeks rosy from exertion. Both of them wore scarves covering their heads, and both of them had wisps of hair sticking out in several directions. Poppy had a streak of dirt down her cheek.

  Rose gave him a genuine, timid smile. “Dan. I didn’t know you were here.”

  “Lily fed him,” Bitsy said.

  Lily and Poppy exchanged a puzzled look that Dan knew he wasn’t meant to see. “He brought us some hardware cloth,” Lily said.

  Dan hoped that was enough of an explanation. He didn’t want Poppy asking probing questions about why he’d brought it or who he’d come to see or why he was madly in love with another boy’s girlfriend.

  “That’s so nice,” Rose said, hooking her elbow around Lily’s arm. “Don’t you think so, Lily?”

  “Jah, very nice.”

  They all fell silent and stared at each other. He should have taken the hint to leave, but Lily had just gotten here. Could he steal another minute to gaze at her?

  Rose seemed determined to keep the conversation going. “It was nice of you to come all the way out here.”

  “I got, uh, really excited about the mesh. I wanted to show it to Bitsy to make sure I bought the right kind.”

  “Number eight mesh is a very useful size,” Lily said.

  A glimmer of hope almost stole Dan’s breath. If she had wanted to get rid of him, she wouldn’t have made an attempt to be encouraging. “I hoped you’d like it. You can use it for screened bottom boards, screened inner covers, moving screens, and screened ventilation ports.” He’d memorized the list of uses for number eight mesh on the way over here. Had he left anything out? They’d know if he left anything out. “It keeps wasps and hornets and small animals out.”

  Lily’s smile was amused and warm and sweet all at the same time. “Jah, we know all about mesh.”

  He almost melted into a puddle right there on the kitchen floor. If she looked at him like that when he talked about mesh, what would she do if he started discussing beeswax? All he knew was that he was going to go home and memorize that book.

  They were staring at him again as if they were expecting him to do a dance or spout off more interesting facts about bees. If only he’d committed more of that book to memory!

  He cleared his throat. “And I hear duct tape is very useful.”

  “Jah,” Lily said, still with that slightly amused, incredibly sweet smile in place. “We use it all the time.”

  He was grasping at straws, and they were wishing he’d go away. Much as he wanted to be near Lily, he couldn’t be a nuisance any longer. “I should go. I just wanted to bring that mesh.”

  “It’s a long ride back,” Rose said. “Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

  Stay for dinner? He’d give one of his molar teeth to stay for dinner. “I should probably get home.”

  “I don’t think we should feed him again,” Bitsy said.

  Rose nodded at Lily. “What do you think, Lily? Don’t you think it’s the least we can do for him bringing the mesh?”

  Lily’s smile faded into uncertainty. “We would be very happy if you stayed for dinner, Dan.”

  Was she being polite or did she really want him to stay? Did it matter? He smiled with his whole heart. “I’d really like that.”

  He’d make sure that neither Lily nor Rose regretted inviting him.

  Bitsy shook her head in resignation. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Bitsy was a lost cause. She regretted it already.

  Poppy seemed indifferent to the whole thing. She took Rose’s hand and led her to the stairs. “We’ll wash up.”

  Lily and Bitsy left Dan trying to find a comfortable way to lean on the island and went to the sink to wash their hands. Lily retrieved a frying pan from below the sink and set it on the stove.

  “Can I help?” Dan asked.

  The question seemed to catch Lily off guard. “Are you sure?”

  “You’re feeding me. I want to help.”

  Her lips twitched upward. “Do you know how to cook? Aunt B won’t like it if you ruin dinner.”

  “I won’t like it if you ruin dinner,” Bitsy said, not really paying attention to the conversation. She stood on her tiptoes to reach for a bottle of tomatoes on one of the higher shelves.

  Dan practically raced to her side to reach the bottle for her.

  Bitsy looked him up and down as if noticing him for the first time. “A tall boy is very useful. You have my permission to stick around.”

  Lily’s smile grew in strength as she pulled a knife from the block. “Have you ever chopped anything besides wood?”

  “I’m not completely lost in the kitchen,” Dan said. “Being the middle of nine children, I do a lot of stuff for my mamm.”

  “Stuff like chopping?”

  “I almost cut my finger off dicing carrots. Does that count?”

  Still smiling, Lily raised her eyebrows and slid the knife back into the block. “Maybe you should stir. We don’t want blood in the spaghetti sauce.”

  Bitsy went from cupboard to cupboard pulling out noodles and spices and pans. “You could quit bothering us and go sit at the table until we need someone tall.”

  Dan flashed her a playful grin. Bitsy couldn’t ruffle his feathers that easily. “I’m more than just a portable ladder. I can chop. I can dice. In an emergency, I can mince.”

  “Can you boil water?” Bitsy said.

  Lily nudged his arm. “It doesn’t involve sharp objects.”

  Dan got all wobbly when she smiled at him like that. He’d do anything to see that smile every day. “I am the Shawano County water-boiling champion. Three years running.”

  Lily laughed. “I must have missed that in the newspaper.”

  “I try not to brag about it.”

  Bitsy shoved a pot in his direction, and he filled it halfway with water before setting it on the stove and lighting the burner.

  “Aunt B,” Lily said. “He knows how to use a stove.”

  Bitsy looked heavenward. “Thank you, Lord, that Dan Kanagy hasn’t blown up the house yet. It’s been my daily prayer.”

  Dan placed the lid on the pot and turned around. “Okay, water is warming. What is my next assignment?”

  Lily reached into the fridge and pulled out a package of hamburger. “Since you’ve proven yourself gute with the stove, you can brown the meat.”

  “Do you know how to brown meat?” Bitsy asked.

  “I am also the Shawano County meat-browning champion. For three years in a row.”

  Bitsy coughed. Dan wanted to think that it was to hide a laugh. She used her spoon as a pointer. “Go sit at the table, young man, and quit causing trouble.”

  Dan lit the burner and placed the meat in the frying pan. Lily stood ready with a fork. Their hands brushed when she gave it to him, and a jolt of electricity shot through his body. Oh, sis yuscht, she had soft fingers. Like an angel. Or for sure a baby rabbit. He’d never actually touched an angel’s fingers before.

  He stirred the meat, which wasn’t much of a job, but at least they let him help, and he got to stand back-to-back with Lily as she chopped vegetables at the island. The only thing better would have been face-to-face.

  He nearly jumped out of his skin when Lily squealed. He dropped his fork and whipped around to look at her. “Did you cut yourself?”

  “The mouse!” She grabbed his arm, dragged him around the island, and pulled him up onto the window seat with her.

  Mice didn’t frighten him, but he was more than willing to be led to the window seat if it got him this close to Lily Christner, especially since they shared the bench with Bitsy’s cat. The white ball of fur didn’t even s
tir from her nap as they jumped up beside her.

  Bitsy’s eyes did a frantic search around the room. “Where is that cat?”

  Lily squeaked and pointed at her feet. “She’s asleep.”

  Without hesitation, Bitsy growled and pulled a seriously frightening meat cleaver from the knife block. “Where did the mouse go?”

  Lily leaned against Dan and pointed to the corner next to the sink. “Over there, Aunt Bitsy. He’s right there.”

  A tiny brown mouse sniffed the floor in the far corner of the kitchen. Bitsy zeroed her focus on the rodent and tiptoed carefully forward. She wielded a meat cleaver like Moses Zook wielded a croquet mallet. Dan almost felt sorry for that mouse. It was about to lose its head.

  Bitsy made a terrible racket as she swung the cleaver and buried its sharp edge half an inch into the floor. Dan almost chuckled. No wonder the floor looked as if someone had used it for a chopping block. The mouse scurried along the baseboard and disappeared around the corner into the next room. Undaunted, Bitsy chased it. Dan heard another bang and a frustrated grunt. She’d missed the mouse and put another dent in the floor.

  He probably should have jumped down and helped Bitsy get rid of the mouse, but he was preoccupied sniffing Lily’s hair. She smelled like vanilla and apples.

  Lily braced her hand on the wall and leaned forward. “Did you get him, Aunt B?” She leaned a little too far and lost her stable footing on the deep, chunky window seat cushion.

  She gasped as he shot out his arm and grabbed her around the waist. He pulled her close to him to make sure she regained her balance. Suddenly, he lost the ability to breathe. This was so improper. Very improper. Stunningly improper. He couldn’t even begin to tell himself how improper it was for him to be standing on the window seat holding her like this. Still, if he hadn’t grabbed her, she would have been flat on her face sprawled on the kitchen floor. He’d done the right thing.

  But he should probably let go of her now, even though she smelled so good and she felt so soft and a herd of cattle stomped around inside his chest.

  She lifted her face to him and brushed an imaginary strand of hair from her eyes. “Denki,” she stuttered. “I wasn’t being very careful. I’m really afraid of mice.”

  Was she blushing? Of course she was blushing. A boy who didn’t look much like Paul had his arm all the way around her waist and was holding on for dear life.

  He should definitely let go now.

  He slid his arm from around her and jumped down from the window seat. She took his offered hand and stepped down herself.

  Bitsy tromped back into the kitchen with the meat cleaver but no dead mouse. “I can’t tell where he hides,” she said, “but there must be a hole in that storage room somewhere.”

  “I take it Bathroom Faucet doesn’t chase mice,” Dan said.

  Both Bitsy and Lily looked at him as if he had a sprig of broccoli growing out of his ear. “What did you say?” asked Bitsy.

  “The cat,” Dan said, pointing to Bathroom Faucet sleeping on the window seat. “You said she wasn’t a good watch cat. She doesn’t chase mice either?”

  Dan didn’t think he’d ever seen Bitsy smile, and he definitely hadn’t heard her laugh. In that moment, she did both. She laughed so hard Dan feared she might pop a blood vessel in her throat or suffocate from lack of oxygen. Lily laughed too. The sound of her laughter was as infectious as water trickling from a spring.

  He had no idea why they were laughing, but the sight of Bitsy so amused struck his funny bone. “What did I say?”

  “It’s only to be expected,” Bitsy said between breaths. “But I get such a kick out of the Amish sometimes.”

  Including herself? “I’m glad I’m so entertaining.”

  Her laughter subsided, and Bitsy wiped the meat cleaver on her apron and slid it into the block. “Maybe that cat would be less of a prima donna if I called her Bathroom Faucet.”

  Dan glanced at Lily. “What is a prima donna?”

  She grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

  “A princess. Someone who thinks they’re too big for their britches,” Bitsy said.

  Dan nodded. Someone like Paul Glick.

  He clamped his mouth shut for fear of saying that particular thought out loud. Instead, he gazed at Lily, who still seemed to be a bit shaken by the encounter on the window seat. So was he. His palms were sweaty and his breathing irregular like he’d run a footrace.

  Was she shocked and disturbed that he had put his arm around her? Because it was one of the most glorious things that had ever happened to him, and he hoped they’d see many more mice before the day ended.

  Lily returned his gaze briefly before blushing again and lowering her eyes to the meat-cleavered floor. He couldn’t resist reaching out and touching Lily’s arm to get her to look at him. He gave her what he hoped passed for a brotherly pat. “Did I call the cat by the wrong name?”

  He really liked Lily’s smile. If he could bottle it and sell it like honey, he’d be a wealthy man. “Her name is Farrah Fawcett,” she said. “After one of Aunt Bitsy’s favorite movie stars.”

  “I’ve only seen six movies in my entire life,” Dan said.

  “Six?” Lily said.

  “Was Farrah Fawcett in Star Wars? I saw one through six.”

  Bitsy shook her head. “Nae, Farrah Fawcett was not in Star Wars. I loved the first three. I mean the ones that came out first but were numbered four, five, and six. I had a crush on Han Solo, but Jar Jar Binks?” She raised her eyes and spoke to the ceiling. “Couldn’t you have helped them do better than Jar Jar? He ruined the whole trilogy.” Was she talking to Gotte or someone on the second floor?

  Dan chuckled. He was partial to Yoda.

  He really had to stop staring at Lily. With incredible self-control, he drew his eyes from her face, went to the stove, and stirred his hamburger. He would be mortified if it burned. Bitsy would never let him in the house again.

  Lily went back to cutting onions while Bitsy measured spaghetti noodles in her fist and dumped them into the boiling water.

  “I did a gute job on the water, didn’t I?” he said.

  Bitsy merely grunted. It might kill her to admit that he’d been helpful.

  Dan heard sniffling behind him and turned to see tears streaming down Lily’s face. He panicked. Without thinking, he slid his arm around her shoulders. “Lily, what’s the matter?” Was she upset because of their little incident on the window seat when he had accidentally touched her waist and then accidentally let his arm linger there? He suddenly realized that he was touching her again and snatched his hand off her shoulder. How could he have been so deerich? “Is it because of the waist thing?”

  She swiped the back of her hand across her face. “What waist thing?”

  “Never mind. Why are you crying? If I’ve done anything to hurt your feelings . . .”

  She sniffed back the tears and giggled. “Dan, calm down. I’m cutting onions. They’re making my eyes water. You haven’t done anything wrong lately.”

  “Lately? That’s not very comforting.” He nudged her aside. “Here, let me cut. Onions don’t bother me.”

  “You’ll get blood in the spaghetti.”

  “I promise not to cut myself.” He held out his hand, and she reluctantly gave him the knife. It was gratifying that she trusted him at least that far.

  She watched him for a few seconds to make sure he wouldn’t sever an artery, then pulled out her own cutting board for mushrooms and peppers. “Denki,” she said. “I hate cutting onions.”

  It struck him hard that he never wanted to see her cry again, no matter what the reason. Lily should always be smiling.

  Bitsy paused her stirring to go around to the other side of the island and study his face. “You were telling the truth. You really don’t cry when you cut onions.”

  “Tear ducts of steel,” he said.

  She frowned. “You have two unusual talents, Dan Kanagy.”

  “Only two?”

  She did
n’t smile. She was probably truly convinced that he had a sum total of two talents. “You’re tall, and you can cut onions without tearing up. I still want you out of my kitchen, but at least you’re more useful than that cat.”

  Dan shrugged. “Being tall isn’t really a talent. It’s more a state of nature.”

  Bitsy nodded thoughtfully. “I’m sorry to tell you that you only have one talent. Don’t bury it under a bushel.”

  Dan bit his tongue to keep from laughing. Should he be offended that Bitsy thought his only good quality was onion cutting? “How do you think I could best use my onion talent? I could go from house to house and offer to cut onions for people.” He could come here every day and cut onions for the Christners. That sounded wunderbarr.

  Bitsy waved her hand as if she were swatting him away like a fly. “Ach, young man, don’t tease me. I sincerely hope you develop another talent or two, though right now I don’t see anything promising.”

  Lily smiled at him as if she liked him, as if she enjoyed standing in the kitchen cutting vegetables together. His heart rolled around his chest like a buggy wheel. “He’s a good weeder,” she said.

  Bitsy swiped a towel across the table. “Not that good. And he tramples dandelions as if they were weeds.”

  “He has lots of friends, and he knows how to care for sick cows.” Lily spoke as if she were talking about the weather, but Dan thought he might burst. “And he’s generous. He brought me the Little House on the Prairie nine-book set. Nine books, Aunt B.” She glanced at him and smiled, and he found himself wondering what other books he could get for her.

  He hadn’t been completely invisible to her. She’d noticed him, and she actually had some nice things to say about him. He could have taken her in his arms and whirled her around the kitchen. Instead he pressed his lips together and tried not to explode into a smile. His lips would probably fly off his face in all his elation. Lily would not like a boy who didn’t have lips.

  She brushed the peppers from her cutting board into the frying pan. “His smile puts people at ease and makes you feel better, no matter how bad of a day you’re having.”

  “It does?” he said.

  “Until you say something that makes me want to run away screaming.” She cocked an eyebrow and tempered her words with a grin.