Bumble

Part 3

Mrs. Bateson was a full-time busybody and the part-time PTO president. Penny wasn't surprised to see her standing proudly at the steps to her veranda like a captain stands at the wheel of his ship. She looked the part of a Sugar Hills PTO mom — like she'd been vomited on by a Lilly Pulitzer catalog and her home, a white Victorian with a row of fluffy white hydrangeas around its base, looked fit for the cover of Midwest Living.

Penny and Mrs. Hale were welcomed inside with a cordial greeting, though Penny caught Mrs. Bateson giving her temporarily pink hair and the matching flamingo print on her white silk sundress a look of shocked disapproval. The invitation said hats and gloves were required, and Penny had obliged with a pair of white gloves and a pink floppy hat. There was, however, no ban on bearing the image of tacky lawn ornaments.

She let her mom do most of the mingling. The girls from her class only seemed interested in comparing their highlighter-colored patterns of their dresses and who had a date to ride the ferris wheel with at the carnival.

After what felt like ages, the mothers and daughters sat down to tea. Penny didn't touch hers; she hated the stuff though she'd been drinking black coffee with her parents since she entered the seventh grade.

Once the room was comfortably seated, Mrs. Bateson launched into a diatribe on what an honor and privilege it was to be selected as the Honey Queen. All Penny could think about was Leander and the wards protecting Sugar Falls. Had something gone so wrong that it would bring rain on the day of the Honey Parade? And could fixing the wards really stop the rain and save her father from the town's misguided anger?

Penny was lost in thought when a knock at the door and a bout of flirtatious giggles erupted from across the room. She turned, and from her seat in the Bateson's formal dining room she, and every other girl could see Leander where he waited at the screen door. He gave a little wave once he had Mrs. Bateson's attention.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

The prince let himself in. He pointed to his crisp white t-shirt emblazoned with the "Grandma Hale's Happy Honey" logo and held a glass jar of honey aloft. "Delivery for you, miss," he said with a smile that brought on more giggles.

"He looks like a young Robert Redford," one mom whispered to another.

"Oh!" Mrs. Bateson exclaimed. "I forgot I ordered more honey for our tea party," she said with a pointed look at her own daughter.

"And if you don't mind," he said. "I need to borrow Penny. I seem to have stalled her grandmother's car out front."

"Oh," Mrs. Bateson said with much more disappointment. She looked to Penny with uncertainty.

"My mom can fill me in on anything I miss," Penny suggested as she pushed her chair away from the table.

"I guess..." Mrs. Bateson started to say when Penny grabbed Leander by the hand.

"Thanks for the tea," she said as they dashed for the door.

Outside the air was heavy with the promise of a storm and fat thunderheads threatened to make good on that promise from the horizon. Gammy's lime green Beetle was parked on the street.

"This is a rescue," Leander said with little skip that made Penny laugh. "In case you didn't realize. Hopefully to make up for leaving."

Penny wanted to hold onto the pain and hurt of his leaving her, but it was slipping through her grasp with his every smile. Now she found she wanted to hold his hand. He tossed her the keys and she slid into the driver's seat and flung her floppy pink hat into the back. Leander slid into the passenger's seat.

"It's a start," Penny said as she pulled the car away from the curb.

T H A N K  Y O U  F O R  R E A D I N G ! 

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