Turning Up the Heat: A Sizzling Modern Romance Novel

19. Kelsey

To: OskarOlsonChef

From: KelseyBites

Subject: Native Languages

Seence-a yuoo vun’t tell me-a zee secrets yuoo speek in zee Daaneesh, I em furced tu resurt tu yuoor oozeer neteefe-a lungooege-a. I ves loocky tu feend thees trunsletur oonleene-a und yuoo cun ixpect ell ooff yuoor imeeels tu cume-a in thees furmet frum noo oon.

I hupe-a yuoo’re-a hefeeng a neece-a dey. I’m heedeeng tu Sunuma thees effternuun veet Teleea und ve’re-a gueeng tu thet restoorunt thet is sooppused tu hefe-a thet emezeeng doock cunffeet. I’ll let yuoo knoo hoo it is.

Hupe-a yuoo ere-a vurkeeng oon yuoor igg-puecheeng. I meess yuoo.

Bork bork bork.

Keesses,

Keelseee

To: KelseyBites

From: OskarOlsonChef

Subject: re: Native Languages

Kelsey,

What the fuck was that?

Oskar

To: OskarOlsonChef

From: KelseyBites

Subject: Do I really need to explain this?

Cupcake. It’s the Swedish Chef translator. Hanna found it online and assured me that since Swedish and Danish are related languages and you’re a chef, you would be able to understand it perfectly. Your sister is a font of knowledge.

Do you want me to send you the link? I’m amazed you haven’t seen it before. Surely you used it in culinary school.

Kisses,

Kelsey

To: SuperiorOlson

From: OskarOlsonChef

Subject: I’ve changed my mind

Hanna,

You’re not allowed to be friends with Kelsey. Stop plotting against me immediately if you ever want me to cook for you again.

Oskar

To: OskarOlsonChef

From SuperiorOlson

Subject: re: I’ve changed my mind

Oskar,

I hefe-a nu idea vhet yuoo ere-a telkeeng ebuoot. Ve-a vuooldn’t dreem ooff plutteeng egeeenst yuoo. Bork bork bork.

Yuoor fefureete-a seester,

Henna

I belly laughedat the email from Oskar that Hanna forwarded to me. She was in Shanghai this week for work, otherwise I would have been tempted to invite her along on Talia’s and my trip to Sonoma. I had been having a really good time getting to know her.

Hanna had the same acerbic humor that Oskar had, and she loved teasing him. She loved teasing me. Apparently I had passed muster with Hanna, because she poked fun at me relentlessly. We had met twice for lunch in the city, and she met me last weekend for Sunday brunch at Comforts. Caroline had declared her “really in tune with her karma,” and they fell into a conversation about sewing almost immediately.

Felipe and I rolled our eyes at the strange combination of Caroline’s hippie vibes and Hanna’s dry sarcasm.

When it was just the two of us, I started to get glimpses of a different Hanna. I could sense behind her reserve and bristly sarcasm a great deal of grief that reminded me of myself the first few years after my grandmother died. Hanna spoke of her parents more than Oskar did. She did it in an offhand manner, like she was feeling me out.

Not many people our age had the experience of losing both their parents, and it was something that connected us even if it was in a sad way.

Getting to know Hanna was enjoyable on a number of levels, and far toward the top was the great affection she had for Oskar. It was obvious they adored each other, and I found myself a bit envious of their relationship.

While Josh and I were close, we didn’t have the same kind of relationship that Oskar and Hanna did. I think that for most of our childhood, Josh took the job of being my older brother and the oldest grandchild too seriously. He had started helping on the ranch even before my parents died, but after we went to live with our grandparents full-time, he worked a lot.

I wondered if it had been a good idea for Josh to work like a grown man at the age of twelve, but my grandfather probably knew what he was doing since Josh turned out just fine. He seemed to be enjoying life a lot more as an adult than he ever did as a child if his extracurricular activities were any indication.

But we’d never been close like Oskar and Hanna were. I felt like I’d missed out.

“Earth to Kelsey.” Talia stared at me.

“Huh?”

“You’ve been staring at the old courthouse for about five minutes now. You laughed like a crazy person, then stared off into space. What’s up with you?”

I waved a hand. “Hanna forwarded me an email Oskar sent her. It was funny. It just got me thinking. How’s your salad?”

“It’s good. I’m really excited about dinner tonight.”

“Me too.” I reached over and refilled her water. “Have you been to Fig before?”

“Nope. Kurt and I were up here about six months ago and tried to stop by for dinner, but it was too crowded without a reservation.”

Fig was one of Sonoma’s hottest restaurants, and I was looking forward to it. I had been there for lunch last summer and had a mouthwatering duck confit. I was looking forward to trying their steak tartare and more of their fall menu. They also specialized in serving Rh?ne varietal wines, which were what Josh and Oskar were blending for Mesa, so I was excited to see their wine list too.

I glanced at Talia’s barely there belly. “You’re not going to be able to eat the steak tartare, are you?”

“Not according to Dr. I’m Going to Restrict All Your Favorite Foods.” Talia pouted. “I can’t have wine. I can’t have sushi. I can’t eat soft-cured cheeses or raw-milk cheeses. How am I going to survive the next six months?” She sighed as she took a bite of her radicchio, pear, and walnut salad.

“You poor thing,” I said dryly.

She murmured around her mouthful of food, “Shut up. And stop doing that eyebrow thing. It’s annoying enough when Oskar does it, and he’s way hotter than you.”

I smiled as I took a sip of my wine.

The worst of her morning sickness had passed, so I was just happy she was eating. According to Kurt, she had been pretty miserable for the past two months.

“So, speaking of the Danish Chef.” She patted her mouth daintily with her napkin and leaned back. “Details.”

“Details?” I batted my eyelashes. “About what?”

“You owe me so many details at this point it’s not even funny. I know Felipe has gotten the scoop, and I refuse to be left out. Spill.”

“What do you want to know?”

“What don’t I want to know? I noticed, for instance, that Chef Olson was looking distinctly more relaxed since the visit to see his sister.”

I snorted.

“So did he see his sister at all, or is he lying through his teeth?”

I lifted a finger. “He saw his sister briefly. When he introduced us.”

“And now you and Oskar’s sister are sending emails back and forth?”

“Yes.”

“Very cozy. And he’s walking around with a goofy grin on his face and a phone permanently attached to his ear. I don’t know how the man cooks with a phone in his hand at all times, but I never see him without it.” She leaned forward. “Sort of the same way you’ve been this weekend, come to think of it. Whatever could it mean?”

“After all the years I put up with you and Kurt being all goofy-in-love with each other and making the rest of us want to puke with your cuteness, I think I’m due.”

“Interesting. She uses the word love. Fascinating.” She got out her phone.

“Put your phone away.” I flushed bright red. “I didn’t say that. He’s my boyfriend. We’re allowed to be cute for a while. Who are you texting?”

“No one.” She was definitely texting. “You two are so perfect for each other, it’s giving Kurt and Josh sympathetic nausea. Josh is very confused.”

“Oh, come on, T. After eight months of Austin, I think I’m allowed to gloat a little.”

She put her phone down. “You absolutely are. Oskar looks like a goofy teenager every time he talks about you.”

“Tell me more.”

“And you look happy.” Talia smiled. “Are you happy?”

I winked at her. “I’m happy.”

“You’re also looking very well-rested.” She lifted her phone at me and took a picture. “Tell me, did you get a new mattress? Or perhaps you found a special Danish sleep system? Tempur-Oskar? I think I saw the commercials for that.”

I hooted in laughter, finally breaking and filling her in on most of the details she wanted, including the strange serendipity of Oskar reading my articles online from Denmark and the interest in California that they sparked in him.

Her eyes went wide. “Kelsey! That’s sort of amazing. What are the chances of that?”

“Maybe it’s a smaller world than we ever thought.”

“Did you freak out?” Talia sat back. “You might have freaked out.”

“After I got over my slight freak-out, I decided it was incredibly flattering.”

She put her sunglasses on as the light changed and flashed in her eyes. “You’re a great writer—I’ve told you that for years.”

“Well, you’re like my sister. You have to say that.”

“No, I don’t. When have I ever complimented your taste in men, for example?”

“You like Oskar.”

“Yeah, but obviously that was the food gods or something. You had nothing to do with that.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

We talked and people-watched as the square bustled around us. Tourists meandered around the square, gathering shopping bags from the eclectic shops and stepping into the various tasting rooms for local wines. Families brought picnics to the park, and children played soccer, climbed the oak trees, and dripped ice cream on each other as they screeched in delight.

Talia surveyed the scene in front of us and sighed in contentment. “It’s nice to get away.”

“You don’t miss Kurt?”

“Kelsey, I see the man every day. I work with him. I love him to death, but I would go nuts if I didn’t get away every now and then. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.”

“Oskar and I should be pretty damn fond of each other then.”

She wrinkled her nose. “How are you doing? Kurt and I have been together forever; it can’t be easy trying to build a relationship from so far away.”

“You know, on one hand, it’s probably good for us. We talk a lot. I mean, most of what we do is talk. We’ve gotten to know each other really well.”

“Because if you lived in the same town, all you’d do is have sex?”

“It’s possible.”

“No, I take it back,” Talia said. “You’d have sex and eat. Maybe combine the two.” She lowered her voice. “Have you combined the two?”

I smacked her arm. “It’s just different with him. He matters.” I wrinkled my nose. “That sounds so cheesy.”

“But you love cheese.”

I popped in the last slice of manchego. “I really do.”

“Well, it’s good that you two talk even if it is cheesy.” She put her hand on her belly. “I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t in love with Kurt. It’s kind of fun getting the thrill vicariously.”

“Do you ever regret it?”

“Noooo.” She shook her head. “Nah, that man is it for me.”

“How did you know though? There had to come a point where you wondered if Kurt was the right guy or just someone you had always known and loved. Didn’t you ever wonder if there was someone else out there for you?”

“Yeah.” She looked off into the distance. “After we got married.”

I gave her a surprised look. “Really?”

“I know, right? Great timing. But we were going through a rough patch, and I really started wondering if we had done the right thing and whether I had missed out by not dating anyone else.”

“What did you decide?”

She smiled. “I thought about it a lot. Thought about people I knew who were dating, because we were the only people we knew who were married. And I realized… it wasn’t something I missed.”

“You didn’t want the game,” I murmured. “I remember you saying that.”

“Kurt knows the real me. He’s seen the good stuff and the bad stuff, and he didn’t care about the pretty picture; he just wanted me, loved me. And I knew all his good stuff and all his bad stuff, and I still wanted to know him. And I just couldn’t really imagine anything being better than that.”

“And now there’s going to be three of you.”

“Yep.” She smiled. “I guess that’s worth missing out on the steak tartare.”

“So is Kurt not allowed to eat those foods either?”

She muttered, “He better not in front of me.”

“So” —I lifted my wine— “Oskar and me? Good idea?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Yup.”

“I think he’s a real one.”

“Agreed.” She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

I smiled. “Yikes.”

“Yahoo.” She grinned.

“Yum.”

That eveningwe walked a few short blocks to Fig. There was a small crowd on the corner in front of the restaurant, but as soon as we walked in and gave our names, we were ushered to the expansive old wooden bar to wait while they got our table ready.

Mindful of the French style of the restaurant, I ordered a dry sherry as an aperitif along with a small olive plate. Talia drank a sparkling water from Calistoga over in the Napa Valley.

We both enjoyed the lively bar before being led into the main dining area. The butter-yellow walls and green banquet seating were complemented by the colorful prints on the walls. The atmosphere was friendly and casual with guests wearing everything from nice dresses to blue jeans.

After finishing our olives, we sampled a charcuterie platter with various cured meats; some of which, I gleefully pointed out to Talia, were on her “restricted foods” list. She stepped on my toes, but I didn’t really mind much when I got to eat all the pancetta.

I also sampled the grass-fed steak tartare that I had heard so much about. The steak had a rich, lean flavor that was set off perfectly by the sharp flavor of the capers. Talia ordered the flat-iron steak, and I ordered the flounder fillet served with chanterelle mushrooms. They were both excellent, but we couldn’t finish them.

I’d ordered a flight of Rh?ne whites with my meal to complement the fish. They served them in quirky, mismatched antique wineglasses, and the four wines did not disappoint.

Talia eyed the white wine suspiciously.

“Talia, once you have the baby, you have to try these. I’m telling you, they’re not boring.”

“The chardonnays, Kelsey.” She shook her head. “What they’ve done to chardonnay has damaged me. I just don’t know.”

I pressed my lips together. “Try, Talia. You have to find a way back somehow. Dungeness crab does not deserve having to compete with a fruity red wine.”

She couldn’t hold it in anymore and smiled. “Okay, okay, I’ll admit. Josh has convinced me to try some of his whites next fall.”

“Thank God.” I sipped a glass. “It was starting to get hard to make excuses for you at dinner parties.”

She kicked me under the table and held her water glass up to a passing server.

“Does Josh know yet?”

“That I’m willing to try his white wine?”

I snickered. “No, not the wine thing.”

Talia shook her head. “I think we’re telling everyone at Thanksgiving.”

“Oh, good idea.”

“You’re coming down here, right? You haven’t spent Thanksgiving at home in years. It’s our turn to have the Kelsey.”

I nodded. “Absolutely. I assume we’re having it at the ranch, and I’ll email you about the menu.”

We finished our amazing dinner by ordering the fig kisses. The dark purple figs were dipped in dark chocolate, and I ordered a small glass of port to complement them.

“Ohmygod, Kelsey. These figs are better than sex.”

I was feeling slightly lightheaded, so I couldn’t disagree. “Talia, I believe that in a perfect world, these would be combined with sex.”

“Do you think Oskar can make them?”

“I’m sure as hell going to ask.”

We wandered backto the hotel, stopping at a café to get small cups of decaf espresso. We were sitting outside, enjoying the night air, and I was staring up at the stars. “I have the best job in the world.”

She smiled. “Yeah, you really do.”

“I’m very relaxed.”

“I bet you are. How many drinks did you have?”

“Three? Four? A few.”

She laughed a little.

“I should call Oskar!”

Talia put a hand on my arm. “Maybe don’t drunk-dial your boyfriend during dinner service. Give it another hour and he’ll probably be finished up, and you’ll be sober then.”

I gaped at her. “Did you just encourage me to be responsible and adultlike?”

Talia’s eyes went wide. “Oh no. What’s happening to me? I just passed up a chance to watch you embarrass yourself while drunk-dialing.”

“It must be the pregnancy hormones. They’re making you mom-like.”

“I think that’s what they’re supposed to do, but I’m still disturbed.”

I was feeling extra silly. “Quick! Do you have the urge to tell me to brush my teeth before I go to bed?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Okay. If you don’t, that’s gross, but no. I don’t have the urge to tell you since you should already know that.”

“Fair enough.”

“But you should.”

I looked at her sideways and narrowed my eyes.

“What?” She protested. “You know what?” She held her phone out to me. “Here’s my phone—call Oskar. Call him right now.”

I giggled at her outstretched arm and grabbed my own phone out of my purse. It was close to midnight, so the restaurant would at least be quiet. I dialed Oskar’s number.

It rang once, and I heard him pick up. “Kelsey?”

“Hey, Oskar.”

“Perfect timing. We were just finishing up. Victor is cleaning. I am sitting down to eat some dinner. How’s Sonoma? Are you and Talia having a good time?”

“A great time.”

Talia waved as she started back to the hotel. It was only half a block away, so I trailed behind her as I talked to Oskar. I saw Talia dial her own phone.

“Where did you eat dinner?”

“Fig.”

He groaned. “Did you have the steak tartare? Was it great?”

“Oskar, I have to confess that I had another chef’s meat in my mouth. And I loved it.”

He sounded like he snorted something through his nose. “As long as you’re talking about Fig’s steak tartare, I can live with that.”

“Yes. We have to come here.”

Oskar sucked in a breath. “I’d love to. I know it’s great, but…”

“Yes, I know.” I rolled my eyes.

He was having issues leaving the restaurant after Victor’s mistake. Felipe told me to leave it alone for now, but my boyfriend’s dramatic pronouncements of never being able to leave his restaurant grated on me.

“They made chocolate-dipped figs that were to die for.”

“Oh really?”

“Talia said they were better than sex.”

Talia yelled from half a block away. “You agreed with me!”

“What did she say?” Oskar asked.

“Nothing.”

Oskar said, “You disagreed of course. That the figs were better than sex.”

“Uh…” I almost tripped over a crack in the sidewalk, but I caught myself. “I suggested that the figs should really be combined with sex for best effect.”

He cleared his throat. “I could definitely see them… complementing each other.”

“Because I got chocolate all over my fingers while I was eating them. I could have used some help licking. My fingers.”

“How drunk are you?”

“Just a little bit drunk.” I pinched my fingers together.

“I’ll make sure to put chocolate-dipped figs on the menu.”

“Only for me though, because you know, when you look at figs, they kind of look like?—”

“You’re killing me, Kelsey.” He was starting to laugh. “I am not alone right now.”

I snickered but decided to stop. I wasn’t doing myself any favors either, getting all wound up. “I miss you. It would be more fun if you were here.” I paused in front of a store window and watched myself talking to him in the dim reflection. “Maybe we could come up here with Talia and Kurt sometime.”

“That would be great.” His voice was soft. “I’d love that. When are you coming down next week?”

“Hopefully on Wednesday if I can get everything done for work.”

“I can’t wait.”

It had been two and a half weeks since we’d seen each other. “Is it normal to miss your boyfriend this much?”

“I don’t care. I’m glad you miss me.”

I saw Talia smiling into her phone in front of our hotel. She had the gentle look I recognized as her Kurt face. I looked in the glass reflection and saw the same expression on my face.

It was the same look.

I laughed a little.

“What’s funny?”

I loved him, and it hurt a little bit.

“Kelsey?”

“Yeah?” I whispered.

“Are you okay?”

And all at once, I remembered Oskar’s face when I asked him the same question that day on Fisherman’s Wharf, and my heart flipped over.

It was the same look.

I smiled and blinked back tears.

“Kelsey, did I lose you? Are you okay?”

I sniffed and laughed a little. “Yeah. I can hear you. I’m fine. Actually, I’m… fantastic.” But I wasn’t going to tell him I loved him over the phone. “I’m almost to our hotel.”

“I should go,” he said. “You and Talia get some rest. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“All right.” I could still feel the smile on my face.

“Good night, Kelsey.”

“Night, Chef.”

I heard the phone beep as it shut off. I ran over and grabbed Talia around the waist, hugging her as she hung up her own phone.

“Okay, easy on the pregnant woman, drunk girl.”

I kissed her cheek. “I love you, Talia.”

“I love you too.” She leaned back and looked at me. “Did someone have a little epiphany tonight?”

I just grinned at her smug tone. “Yes.”

“About flipping time.”

I whispered, “You said flipping instead of fucking, mom.”

“Shut up.”