Like Bees to Honey | gxg

20. Dumb Contracts

Sabina had come so close. It had felt like she was standing right there on the verge of having everything she wanted. She had almost worked up the nerve to kiss Mel today. One more day, and the university would have given her spot to someone else. Two more weeks, and her parents would have been forced to accept that she was ready to join the family business when she won the Best Vendor Award.

But she hadn't kissed Mel. And now the deposit had been paid, hundreds of dollars that would be lost if she didn't show up to classes at the university. She read the email again in disbelief.

"Something wrong, little bee?"

Her parents had come up the garden path without her noticing. She could hear Mom already inside the house, calling for her sisters to help with dinner, but Dad stood with one hand on the open door, looking at her.

Her hands trembled against her phone. "Did you pay my university deposit?"

"I did. I got an email reminder this morning. It must have slipped your mind with everything else you've got going on."

Sabina took a deep breath. The great weight that had settled between her shoulders made her lungs feel too small. "It didn't slip my mind."

"Pardon?"

"I told you before." She sank into one of the wicker chairs and threw her phone onto the small table. "I don't want to go to university. I want to stay here, in High Valley, and work on the farm."

Dad's brow crinkled. After a glance inside the house, he shut the door gently and came to sit in the other chair. He gave her a solemn look. "You weren't planning to pay the deposit at all."

She shook her head.

"Don't tell Mom." His mouth quirked, but then he let out a sigh.

"Haven't you seen how hard I've been working at the market?"

"Of course we have."

"Our sales are up - I can show you the numbers. I'm going to win the Best Vendor Award."

"That's not the issue here." Dad rubbed his knobby knuckles against his forehead. "I can't believe you thought that you could do this without telling us. Did you think Mom would react well when she found out?"

A splash of guilt wasn't enough to cool the scorching mix of anger and grief that made Sabina want to scream, or weep. "I thought that if I worked hard enough and impressed you, it wouldn't matter. I'm ready to join the business. Can't you see that I'm ready?"

"We talked about this, Sabina. We all agreed that going to school was the best choice for you."

"You didn't give me a choice!"

Dad gave her a long look, then leaned his elbows on his knees and squinted out over the garden. The afternoon was fading into a hot, sleepy summer evening, the kind that had once seemed like it would never end. Amber sunlight pooled like spilt honey on the sandy soil and bees droned between stalks of lavender along the path.

"When your mom was your age," Dad said finally, "High Valley was too small for her. She had big plans. She wanted to see the world. But my siblings had all moved away, and my parents needed me here, to help out on the farm. And your mom couldn't afford a ticket to Africa anyway. So, she stayed, for me."

Sabina couldn't imagine her mom, with her round cheeks and flour-covered apron, going to Africa. That sounded like something Mel would do.

He sat back in his chair, stretching his legs out, and raked a hand through his thinning hair. "We used to talk about travelling, but the money is just never there. And your mom never said she regrets it. We've built a beautiful life here as a family. I know she's happy. But sometimes I find her out by the bluff with this faraway look in her eyes, like she's imagining what her life would look like if she'd hiked Kilimanjaro."