The Bee's Knees

Chapter 21

A few days later, things finally started calming down for Anna and her family. Her parents were still working on getting all the necessary repairs done so Sweet Surprise could reopen, but with her grandpa back home after his stay in the hospital, Anna could finally get back to focusing on doing everything she could to save the bakery.

Anna had everything she needed to study spread across the kitchen table while her parents were on the phone with the insurance company in the living room. Thanks to her mom, she had plenty of practice problems about every aspect of running the bakery from actually making desserts to paying for ads. Each time she finished one, she checked the solutions her mom had written out for her and treated herself to some of the emergency Skittles her friends had brought her at school.

She'd just finished a particularly tricky problem about how many baking sheets she'd need to make sixty chocolate chunk cookies, forty-five snickerdoodles, and thirty-six cinnamon rolls when the doorbell rang.

"Could you go see who it is real quick?" Anna's dad said as he paused his pacing long enough to peek into the kitchen. "They only just took us off hold again, and I think your mom might bite somebody's head off if we have to start all this over from the beginning. They've already transferred us three times." He lowered his voice to a hushed whisper with a wince as her mom groaned loudly enough to startle Skippy. "Make that four."

"Sure!" All too glad to get away from her worksheets for a minute, Anna finished her latest packet of emergency Skittles and went to check the peephole. The person on the other side was even sweeter than candy. Anna tiptoed over to the living room so she could whisper to her dad. "It's Taylor!"

Her dad flashed her a thumbs up and mouthed 'go ahead' before turning his attention back to her mom. A persistent twitch had started in her jaw, a surefire sign that if somebody didn't answer her questions soon, she'd be ranting about it for the rest of the week.

Anna slipped outside, shutting the door as quietly as possible behind her. "Hi, Tay! How's it going? If I'd known you were coming, I'd have asked Mom if I could bake you some cookies." She probably would have said no since she hadn't earned her baking privileges back yet, but she still would've given it a shot.

"Aw shucks, you don't need to worry about that. I'm just happy to see you." Taylor held out a deep dish. Anna's stomach growled as the mouthwatering aromas of ham and cheese filled her nose. "My parents figured you guys have probably been real busy, so we made you some casserole to make sure you've got plenty to eat."

Goodness knows they needed it. Her family had spent so much time in the hospital and on the phone that they'd been living off of McDonald's and pizza. Anna loved pepperoni as much as the next kid, but she'd been craving an actual home-cooked meal. "Thanks!" She waved to the car parked by her house and raised her voice to make sure Taylor's dad could hear her. "Thanks, Mr. Reed!"

He waved back to her as Pitch pressed his face against the car's window. Even from a distance, Anna could see the cat's eyes tracking her bees as he pawed at the glass.

"We've really missed you by the creek," Taylor said softly. Her flies gathered around Anna in a humming hug. "Is everything okay?"

"Okay as it can be until I know when Sweet Surprise'll reopen." Anna adjusted her grip on the casserole dish, the ceramic warm on her fingers. "I'm just glad Grandpa's home. He still needs to take it easy, but the doctors said he should feel back to normal in a couple days."

She wished she could say the same for herself. Sirens and the smell of burning pastries haunted her nightmares. More than once, she'd tiptoed to her grandpa's bedroom in the middle of the night to listen for his snoring and make sure he was still alright. Her mom hadn't even bothered to tell her off for sneaking out of bed when she'd caught her, just hugged her and stayed up with her until they'd both fallen asleep. That had been the only night she hadn't had nightmares since the fire.

"D'you think we could go grab some ice cream or something next weekend?" Taylor asked. "It's been forever since we've gone on a date, and I heard the ice cream shop by the mall just got a new flavor."

"That would be awesome!" Anna said. After her super important math test that Friday, she'd finally be done studying and more than ready for a break. "I just need to make sure Mom and Dad are okay with it."

As if on cue, Anna's mom came outside with a mug in hand. "I swear I'm going to hear that hold music in my nightmares. So many bongos," she grumbled. Draining the last of her coffee, she curled her lips into an exhausted smile. "It's good to see you, Taylor. How'd everything go with that painting the lab asked you to make?"

"They loved it so much they might commission me to make more for a fundraiser! We're still sorting out the details, but Dr. Woods has been super excited about it." Taylor's flies twirled around her as she talked about her art, and her happiness brought out the cutest dimples Anna had ever seen. "I brought over some casserole for y'all."

"And we were wondering if I could go grab ice cream with Tay this weekend," Anna blurted out before she could lose her nerve. The worst thing her mom could say was no, she told herself.

"With how hard you've been working, I'd say you've more than earned it," her mom said. "Thank you so much for stopping by, Taylor, but I'm afraid Anna doesn't have time to chat today. She and I need to talk about a few things."

Anna gulped and glanced at her mom's lizards. They were taking a nap in her pocket, thank goodness, but that didn't guarantee her mom was in a good mood.

"You're welcome, Mrs. Bloom. See you later, Anna!" Taylor gave her one last smile before retreating to her dad's car and leaving Anna to face her mom alone.