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He turns the canvas around where I can see it. Like all his drawings, the subjects look lifelike enough to be a photograph, but unlike all his other drawings, this one makes me burst into tears.
My dad smiles from the canvas while the little girl version of me clings to his back. Snow swirls around us, coating our hats, coats, and gloves. My arms are wrapped around his neck and his are tucked beneath my legs as he gives me a piggybackride through the storm. A row of houses peeks out through the curtain of snow in the background.
It’s exactly how I described it to him.
“How?” I whisper, barely managing the word and trying not to let tears fall on the artwork. There’s no way he completed this in a month.
“Do you remember the night you told me about that memory? The night you asked me to come and catch the cave cricket?” He continues at my tearful nod. “I took a picture of the photo of your dad you kept on the mantel. I thought I’d draw him in the snow for you. I had most of him finished but once you got the photo from the hotel that he carried of you…I thought this was better.”
It's hard to look away from the drawing as I keep noting so many small details. The way tiny snowflakes are caught in both our eyelashes, the gap in my teeth that I had until I was ten, the way Dad’s glasses sit crooked on his face.
When I finally set it aside, it’s to throw myself into his arms. “It’s everything. It’s exactly how I remember that day. This is the best gift anyone has ever given me. Thank you.”
He holds me tight and brushes his hand through my hair with a chuckle. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
I pull him over to sit beside me on the couch where I can continue to admire the drawing. “You started drawing this right after the cave cricket night? But we weren’t even…that was a few days after I kissed you and you weren’t interested in me then. Was there something about the picture of him that made you want to draw it? Did it shine like your storm drain?” It doesn’t make sense that he’d want to do this when he’d just rejected me.
“You shine, Calliope. You light up everything around you and make it stand out. You made it important. I was afraid when you first kissed me, but there was never a time I wasn’t interested inyou. I loved you from the first moment I saw you eating a peach with your feet in the creek.”
“If you want me to stop crying, you’re going to have to stop saying such sweet things.” He grins at me, tucking me under his arm, and I interlace my fingers with his. “Do you know what my first thought was when I saw you in the forest?”
“Run, he’s probably got a cooler full of body parts?”
“The first word in my head when I looked up and saw you standing over me wasgorgeous. You startled me and scared me, coming out of nowhere, but you were so striking.” I reach up to scratch at the white patch in his scruff. “So handsome, but there was something else about you I couldn’t put my finger on. I still can’t. Some special quality I can’t describe.”
His adorable flustered smile is firmly in place. “And then you threw peaches at me and ran like hell.”
Giggles spill out of me. “You were still a stranger in the woods. Then I learned you were also kind and funny and caring. You calmed me and made me feel safe even with all the chaos we’ve dealt with since I moved here. I stole that first kiss, and I stole your peaches, but you stole my heart from the very beginning. I never had a chance.” Now it’s his turn to be emotional as he hugs me, tucking his face into my neck. “You also fuck like a god but that goes without saying.”
He stands up with me in his arms and carries me toward the bedroom. “I’m going to need to make you say it again.”
We spend the rest of the night in my bed where he proves my statement was true. Sex with him is sometimes tender and sweet, sometimes rough and wild, but always passionate and mind-blowing.
The drawing is hung in the living room of my cabin where I can admire it and be reminded of the two men in my life who have loved me.
A few days later, I wake to Arlow standing over me, biting back a grin, his arms crossed over his chest. “What?” I ask, recognizing that expression. “What did I do?”
“Whatdidyou do, Calliope?” He waves a sheet of paper in front of me that looks like a delivery invoice. “Would you like to tell me why a truck just delivered two massive boxes onto our lawn?”
“Um…surprise?” Damn it. They weren’t supposed to be here until tomorrow.
He dives onto me, pinning my hands to the mattress and looks me in the eye. “You got me new hives?”
“Three of them are for you. One is for me. So, you can teach me. I also have the bees and queens already reserved for when they send them out in the spring.” He hasn’t made any attempt to replace his hives or even mentioned it. I don’t want him to give up on something he clearly loved because of what Carl did.
“You are the best girlfriend ever.” He punctuates his last three words with firm kisses. “Let me tell you what’s going to happen tonight. I’m going to build a giant bonfire, spread a nice thick blanket beside it, then fuck you so good I’ll have to carry you back.”
“You might want to bring an extra blanket to put around my shoulders so I don’t get a chill when I’m riding you.”
He lets out a groan as he rolls me over and swats me on the ass. “Come on. Get up. Let’s go unbox the hives.”
Seeing Arlow happy and excited is my favorite way to start my day.
CHAPTER 35
ARLOW
Spring has come early againthis year, or maybe warm temperatures at the end of March are going to be the norm now. Our hives are set up and we’re waiting to see which queens will be accepted. Wild violets and clover are sprouting everywhere. Calli is excited to get her garden started and I’m happy to help her. We also have some strategic bushes to plant.
