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Back The Keeper of Bees Save as PDF
Contents ( 49)
  1. CHAPTER ONE
  2. CHAPTER TWO
  3. CHAPTER THREE
  4. CHAPTER FOUR
  5. CHAPTER FIVE
  6. CHAPTER SIX
  7. CHAPTER SEVEN
  8. CHAPTER EIGHT
  9. CHAPTER NINE
  10. CHAPTER TEN
  11. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  12. CHAPTER TWELVE
  13. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  14. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  15. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  16. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  17. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  18. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  19. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  20. CHAPTER TWENTY
  21. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  30. CHAPTER THIRTY
  31. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  40. CHAPTER FORTY
  41. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  42. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  44. THE SAME BREATH
  45. 1
  46. 2
  47. 3
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. About the Author

Hazard looked down. He brushed his fingers along the length of Somers’s arm.

“That’s also good for me to know,” Pauline said, the bob of iron hair swaying as she leaned forward. “I think you’ve already laid a strong foundation. Obviously we can reevaluate as we work together, but I envision a plan with a clear deadline. I’ll provide you with a few supplementary strategies for panic attacks, flashbacks, and nightmares. We’ll practice the techniques that work best for you. And we’ll work on training your body to recognize that you’re safe again.” She offered a brief smile. “It sounds very New Age, but I can show you the science behind it if—”

“Yes,” Somers said. “Please, God, make him read a manual.”

Hazard took a few deep breaths. Then he turned and looked Somers in the eyes. “I, uh. I think I’d like to give this a try.”

Somers nodded.

Hazard squirmed a little, squeezed Somers’s hand once, and said, “Maybe you should, you know—”

“Oh, no, I’m not going anywhere. I want to be here when she makes you talk about your first sexual fantasy about me.”

Hazard’s brows lowered. “Go wait in the car, John.”

“And, of course, I want to know all about your secret fear that sometimes you worry you love being the center of attention so much because you’re afraid you’ll disappear if no one is looking at you.”

“I’ll see you in fifty minutes. Go buy yourself a candy bar or something.”

Bussing Hazard’s cheek, Somers stood, looked at Pauline, and added, “I’ll be on window duty. Sometimes he tries to sneak out.”

“Get. Out.”

Pauline must have had a lot of experience hiding her reactions, but she was covering her mouth again when Somers left.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

OCTOBER 24

THURSDAY

7:58 AM

IF YOU’RE GOING TO take a day off work,” Hazard said, “you can finish the patio you started in, oh, August.”

They were sitting at the kitchen table; Evie had been with Cora the night before, and Hazard’s case load was light, and Somers was sloughing work.

“It wasn’t August,” Somers said.

“It was August 10th,” Hazard said.

“No way.”

“This is why I made you take a picture holding the newspaper.” Hazard pulled up the photograph, with Somers in booty shorts and no shirt, holding the August 10 edition of the Courier in one hand and a sledgehammer in the other.

“I thought you were ransoming me.”

“Nobody would pay.”

“I thought I was being sold into sexual slavery.”

“You’re past the expiration date.”

Somers’s tropically blue eyes widened.

“I’ve spent the last two months in mud up to my ankles,” Hazard said before draining his coffee. “Every time it rains, I’m in quicksand when I have to take out the trash. Go finish the patio.”

“I thought we could,” Somers shifted in the seat, playing with the hem of the ratty Imagine Dragons t-shirt he was wearing, lifting it up just enough to expose enough ink and abs and golden skin. “You know. Just kind of enjoy a day together.”