“Hey, Holly,” he said with a smile to match mine.

I’d seen him at Publix. We had gone to high school together. I used to let him copy my biology homework. He was a hottie then and he was still a hottie. His blue eyes were almost translucent. Like me, he never dated anyone back then.

“Come on in. I was just getting ready to have a glass of iced tea with Momma. Can I pour a glass for you?”

“That would be awfully nice. Today sure was a hot one.”

Ted followed me to the kitchen where Momma sat, waiting. She looked at him suspiciously.

“It sure was,” I said. “Global warming’s here. Almost a hundred degrees in the shade.”

“Hey, Miss Katherine. How are you doing?” he said politely.

“Hey, yourself, Ted Meyers. Sit down. It’s too hot to stand.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said and took a seat at the table.

There was an awkward silence that hung in the air like something sweet and sour.

“So? What brings you to our door, Ted?” I said, placing a glass in front of him on a paper napkin. “Would you like a slice of the remains of Tyler’s birthday cake?”

“Sure, thank you. Who says no to cake?” he said and then cleared his throat. “It seems we had an incident with your bees this afternoon.”

“They were bearding from the heat,” I said. I sliced a piece of cake and put it on a plate, handing it to him with a napkin and, of course, a fork.

“Sorry?” he said.

“When the temperature in the hives goes over ninety-three and a half, some of the bees go hang out somewhere else to let the hives cool down. Then they go home and some others leave.”

“And it’s called bearding?”

“Yeah, kind of a funny term, isn’t it? Sugar?”

I pushed the sugar bowl toward him and watched him load four spoons of sugar into his glass. I gave him an iced tea spoon. He’d be stirring that much sugar until next week if he wanted it all to dissolve.

“Mrs. MacLean told me she was swarmed.”

I sighed as wearily as I could muster.

“Mrs. MacLean is as crazy as a low-flying loon,” Momma said under her breath, just loud enough for us to hear her.

“Momma!” I said in mock horror. “Ted, I’m not surprised. But of course, she’s dead wrong. Lots of people don’t know the difference between swarming and bearding.”

“Can you enlighten me? I’m just a police officer, you know, keeper of the peace. You’re the beekeeper.”

I laughed a little, trying to keep it light.