Chapter Sixteen Bee

Chapter Sixteen Bee

Friday night, December 15, 2023

“How is it?”

Bee watched anxiously as Jimmy took a tentative taste of her chili. As Bob had promised, it wasn’t outrageously difficult

for her to concoct, and while she’d tasted it herself, she was still worried that she was going to, somehow, send Jimmy to

the hospital with food poisoning.

Jimmy considered the taste. “Mm-hmm,” he said. Then he took another bite. “ Mm-hmm. Okay, now!”

“You like it?”

“Absolutely.”

Bee released the breath she’d been holding. “I’m so glad. I don’t think I’ve cooked in almost a decade.”

Jimmy shook his head. “That’s a damn shame, because you ain’t half bad. I could eat this every night.” He took a few more hearty bites of the chili, nodding with each swallow. “Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm!”

Bee laughed as she settled into her seat and began to eat. “Now you’re just playing it up. I know it’s not that good, Jimmy.”

He pretended to ignore her, scooping another helping of rice into his bowl. “Hurry on up and enjoy your hard work.”

She obliged and was pleased to admit that she agreed with Jimmy. It wasn’t half bad. “Thank you for encouraging me to make use of this beautiful kitchen, Jimmy.”

“Thank you for inviting me to dinner.”

“It’s the least I could do,” she said. “You’ve been such a gracious host.”

“Technically Clover is hosting you,” he said as he chewed. He paused and then released a deep sigh. “I hope she’s doing all

right in that big city by herself.”

Bee put her hand on his. “I bet she’s doing great. From what you’ve told me, she’s a sharp lady. And San Francisco is a great

place. There’s a lot to do.”

“Yeah,” Jimmy said. “I just hope it’s worth missing the holidays over.”

Bee considered him thoughtfully. She figured that if she had a dad like Clover’s, she couldn’t imagine missing the holidays

with him either. But, if what she had heard was true, she also couldn’t imagine living on the same plot of land as her ex-fiancé.

She could understand needing a little space from that.

“Speaking of the holidays,” Bee said with as much tact as she could muster, “how would you feel about going with me to this famed tree lighting that everyone keeps talking about?”

Jimmy smiled. “I appreciate you, Bee, but I’ve been sort of avoiding the holidays myself with Mae gone, and then Clover...”

“I understand,” Bee said with a long-suffering sigh. “I suppose I’ll just have to go by myself. Alone. In a city I don’t know.

With people I don’t know. Alone.”

This time, Jimmy laughed. “I mean, I s’pose I wouldn’t be much of a gentleman if I let you go alone.”

Bee shrugged, though her eyes sparkled. “It’s up to you.”

“Well, then,” Jimmy said. “I guess we should get going.”

They took Jimmy’s car to the tree lot, and when they arrived, Bee was overtaken with surprise. There was a massive tree in

the center of the lot, at least four times her height. It was covered in mismatched decorations, a fact she found puzzling

until she realized people had brought their own ornaments. Every so often a person would walk up to it and add something to

an available spot on the tree, either appropriate to their height or farther up, using the sturdy set of freestanding stairs

beside it. Occasionally, a group of teenagers would rotate the stairs, so that each side of the tree could be accessed.

It was an unusual sight, and one that made Bee fall even more in love with the little town she’d found herself in. Sure, she’d

seen huge, fancy trees before, but they were usually in the middle of a big mall or some other, more official location, and

no one was ever allowed to touch them.

Here, it was meant to be touched. Everyone made it their own, in some special way. She watched as two siblings, a boy and a girl, approached with their mother, a Black woman with graying dreadlocks. She couldn’t tell in the dim light of the yard what they were adding to the tree, but she could hear the children squabble, with one shouting, “It was my turn, Kendrick!”

Though she didn’t recognize this family, she was surprised as she looked around to see so many people she did recognize. Of

course, she hadn’t actually spoken to most people yet, but she’d seen people out and about, whether it was her neighbors down

the street, or folks at the coffee shop, or members of the chorus.

Jimmy, of course, was another story. As they both ventured into the crowd, the dreadlocked woman descended upon them. “Jimmy

Larue Mills,” she said. “Now, I did not expect to see you hear this evening, ’specially after you told me about fifteen times

that the only thing you’d do this season was come on over to dinner. Hi, baby, I’m Janine. Janine Latrice, Jimmy’s sister.”

The woman introduced herself so quickly that it took Bee a moment to realize she was speaking to her.

“Hi. Hi! I’m Bee. I’m, uh, staying with Jimmy. Well, at the house Jimmy lives under. I mean—”

“Oh, you’re the young lady who swapped houses with Clover. Well, isn’t that nice! Oh, she’s so pretty.” She smacked Jimmy’s

shoulder with enthusiasm. “How are you enjoying your stay, honey?”

“It’s really lovely here,” Bee managed to say, before the woman shouted behind her.

“Kendrick, Simone, stay with your father! I just discovered a missing person!” With no other explanation to her children, she grabbed Jimmy’s hand and dragged him into the center of the crowd, with Bee following quickly. They walked through a maze of Christmas trees to a small wooden storefront with the words lester’s christmas forest written in blocky black letters on a long stretch of canvas out front.

“Lester!” Janine shouted, pushing Jimmy out in front of her. “Lester, look who’s here.”

“Jimmy!” Another Black man about Jimmy’s age came out, a walking stick in his hand. “I thought I wouldn’t get to see you this

evening. How you doin’, old man?”

Though Jimmy had barely gotten a word in since being accosted by his sister, he looked genuinely happy as he accepted Lester’s

hug. “I’m doin’ okay, Lester. Can’t complain.”

“How’s Clover?”

“All right. Bee here is the young lady she’s swapped houses with.” He stepped aside, and Bee and Lester shook hands. “Bee

assures me that she should be enjoying herself out there on the West Coast.”

“I hope so. You know, a young lady like that should be careful. Without a man like Knox by her side, she could see herself

in some trouble.”

“Now, why would you bring something like that up, Lester?” Janine cut in.

“I’m just saying—”

“Jimmy!” This time, Bee recognized the person approaching them. “Boy, am I glad to see you out and about. And you!” Bob turned his megawatt smile to Bee. “Well, it’s sure nice to see you again too. Do we have you to thank for getting this old geezer out of the house?”

Bee blushed and shook her head, just as Jimmy proudly proclaimed, “Well, she just about demanded it. Said I ain’t a gentleman

letting a girl go out alone by herself.”

“Here, here!” the men said. Janine winked at her, then began to pull Jimmy back toward the crowd.

“The kids will want to say hi to their uncle,” she said.

Though she was invited to tag along with them, Bee politely declined. She felt satisfied that she’d convinced Jimmy to venture

into the evening with her, but now that he was with his friends and family, he didn’t need a stranger glued to his hip.

She wandered back to where she’d seen a table of free refreshments and helped herself to some hot cider in a thin paper cup.

She gently blew away the steam so that the liquid wouldn’t burn her tongue and watched as more people added to the tree and

children ran along, playing tag and screaming, “He sees you when you’re sleeping! Ahhh !” at the top of their lungs.

One pair of giggling and gleeful children led her gaze to a young blond woman sporting red earmuffs and a sparkling red coat. It was Taylor, from the coffee shop. She was chatting with the same group of friends Bee had seen earlier. She hadn’t meant to stare, but she supposed she wasn’t too stealthy, as she was the only person standing by herself. The woman caught her eyes and then pinned her with a kind smile. Before Bee could think to extract herself, Taylor approached with her hand out. “You’re Bee, right? The woman staying at the Mills residence?”

Bee took a quick gulp of her hot cider and silently cursed when it scalded her throat. “Yes,” she croaked out. She cleared

her throat. “I mean, yes. Hi. You sing with the chorus, right?”

Taylor looked pleasantly surprised. “I do! I take it you’ve seen us come past the house a few times.”

“Yeah. You all sound amazing.” Actually, if Bee was honest, Taylor sounded a bit off-key, but she didn’t need to tell her

that.

“Thank you,” Taylor said brightly. “Oh, it’s a shame what’s been going on with the Mills family recently. It must be awful

what Mr. Mills is going through right now, with Mrs. Mills gone and his daughter just up and left right before Christmas.”

“I’m sure she had her reasons,” Bee answered. She didn’t know Clover beyond the few emails they’d exchanged, but there was

something about Taylor’s tone that made her feel defensive on her behalf.

“Oh, I’m sure she did,” Taylor said. “I can’t imagine what the holidays must be feeling like for her too.” Though it was an

afterthought, Taylor seemed genuinely saddened. Bee tried to soften her tone.

“Yeah, it’s... not easy for some people, I bet. Not that I really know anything about Jimmy or Clover. I’ve just heard

little things here and there.”

“Of course!” Taylor said. She had the decency to look a bit chagrined. “Here I am blabbing about their lives like you and I are old friends. I’m not really used to new people around here. Although I do figure that since Clover’s gone past Christmas that you’ll be here until then too, is that right?”

“Yeah, exactly. We swapped with the same schedule, so I will, uh, also be skipping the holidays with my family, I guess.”

“Well,” Taylor began, “if you need anything, I’m just down the road from the Mills house. You can ask Jimmy for my number,

and I’ll be happy to help.” Before Bee could respond, Taylor’s eyes lit up at something behind Bee. “Hi, Knox!”

Bee swore she felt her heart stop. She took a deep breath and turned to see Knox approaching them, his head covered with a

ridiculous-looking hat. It was dark green with ear flaps and trimmed with white fur.

“What are you wearing?” she asked.

He looked offended. “What do you mean?”

“On your head!”

“It’s a trapper hat!”

“Are you going hunting?”

“It’s cold!” he huffed dramatically, and stuck his hands under his armpits for added effect. “This is a very functional hat

for this weather.”

“If you say so,” she said, rolling her eyes but still unable to hide her smile.

“Well, it seems like you two have clearly become acquainted,” Taylor said. Both Bee and Knox turned to her abruptly. “Hi,

Knox,” she said again. “It’s nice to see you.”

“It’s nice to see you too,” he said. He gave her a quick hug and then turned back to Bee.

“How’d your writing go last night?”

“What makes you think I wrote anything?”

“I was just kind of hoping.”

“Knox, you will not see me perform on that stage.”

“You could show off your axe skills. I’ll bring the stump.”

“Well,” Taylor cut in, her bright smile dimming. “I think I’m gonna go see when the lighting will start. It was nice to meet

you, Bee. I’ll see you at rehearsal, Knox.”

“Oh,” he said. “Okay, I’ll see you then.”

As she walked off, Bee couldn’t help but nudge him. “I thought you two were dating.”

He looked at her, bewildered. “Who told you that?”

“No one! I just... heard some things, is all.”

Knox frowned and touched the back of his neck. She was beginning to notice he did that when he was uncomfortable. “Taylor

and I have been friends for a long time. And she’s a nice girl. But she’s looking to settle down with someone, and that’s

not really something I’m looking for right now.”

“Because you just got out of an engagement.”

Knox’s laugh was dry. Then he let out a little whistle. “Wow, word really does travel fast. You been here, what, six hours?”

“At least seven,” Bee said. He chuckled. “We don’t have to talk about it,” she continued. “We can talk about other things—like

what you put on the tree this year.”

He smiled and ducked his head. “Something old,” he said. “And something new.” He looked up at the tree, but his gaze was distant. “The tradition here is to let go of the past and look toward the future. It’s a Christmas tree and kind of a... New Year’s tree too, really. And I’ve been stuck in the past for about a year now. So, just trying to figure out what’s next for me.” He looked back at her. “What about you?”

She blinked. “What about me? I didn’t bring anything.”

“If you had something to put on the tree, then.”

Bee thought about it for a moment. “Honestly,” she said, “if I put something on there, I think it’d bring the whole thing

crashing down.”

He laughed. “Join the club.”

“Okay, folks.” Lester appeared in the middle of the crowd, this time holding a large megaphone. “Now’s the time. Everyone

come on over and make sure you can see.”

Knox gave Bee a sideways grin. “You ready?”

“One hundred percent,” she said.

“Three,” Lester said.

“Two!” the crowd joined in.

“One!”

The tree lit up like a blast of sunlight, setting the lot aglow in soft gold, green, and red. Some people, Bee noticed, were

wearing sparkles like the ones on Taylor’s coat, and they glistened too, like walking fairy lights.

Bee couldn’t contain her delight. She smiled wide and clasped her hands to her chest, cradling her now-empty paper cup like

a well-loved child. She probably looked a little ridiculous, a gleeful tourist overwhelmed with the Christmas spirit. But

she didn’t care. “It’s gorgeous,” she said.

When Knox didn’t respond, she looked over at him and was surprised to catch his eyes. He looked away. Cleared his throat.

“I should check on Taylor,” he said.

She squinted at him, but nodded nonetheless. “Sure.”

“Have a good night, Bee.”

“You too, Knox.”

She refused to watch him go. Instead, she kept her eyes trained on the tree and her ears tuned to the laughter and conversation

that surrounded her. This was what she’d come here for, after all: to finally feel something close to inspiration.