32. Kelsey
Two months later
“Don’t pretendyou don’t like it, Chef.”
He patted his eyes. “If I have dreams about being blindfolded, none of them involve you and me in the car.”
“I’m trying to make it a surprise.”
“You are full of surprises lately, aren’t you?”
I grinned, ridiculously pleased with my current plan. The past two months had been more than I ever expected.
If I thought I couldn’t love Oskar more, I was wrong. After the first two weeks—when I think both of us kept waiting for the other to leave—we had one really big argument and then seemed to settle into the kind of life we were both expecting.
It wasn’t that either of us wanted the other to leave, but both of us were waiting for something to go wrong. When it didn’t…
There was this huge build-up of tension, a massive blowup, and then the kind of epic makeup sex that you know you’ll never forget.
And then life just sort of happens.
Oskar went to work. I started writing up a storm and getting in contact with all my old friends on the Central Coast. Oskar and Josh got ready for the spring wine release at the winery. Oskar’s restaurant was featured in a major publication out of Southern California, and business at Mesa picked up even more.
My first columns to the Journal were published, and then I started to get a little more interest from other regional publications. Then a chef’s agent in Los Angeles officially reached out to see if I could collaborate on a book.
And life happens.
But when you’re spending your days and nights with the person you love, the mundane becomes better, the good times are shared, and the bad times aren’t quite as bad.
Life with Oskar wasn’t a fairy tale any more than my life was before, but now I was sharing it with my best friend, the man I loved more than anyone else.
Sometimes I wondered if Oskar had any idea how much I loved him. Hopefully this next surprise might clue him in. As I navigated my car up the twisty road leading to the top of the mesa, I kept glancing at him from the corner of my eye.
“I’m going to get carsick,” he said.
“Liar.”
“Hanna told you I’m delicate.”
This surprise had taken quite a few stealthy phone calls over the past month to arrange what I had planned, but I knew it was the right step.
“Kelsey?”
“Hmm?”
“Where on earth are we going?”
“Patience. It’s a surprise. Don’t you like my surprises?”
“Does this surprise end with you naked? Because that would definitely reassure me.”
“Settle down, Chef. We’re almost there.” And a few minutes later, we were. I pulled into the semicircular driveway of a slightly ramshackle A-frame house on the edge of the Arroyo Grande Mesa. The cypress trees sheltered the house from the whipping breeze as I opened the car door to walk around to the passenger side.
The sun was starting to lower over the ocean, and thankfully, no fog obscured the beautiful view as I opened Oskar’s car door. “Okay, we’re here.”
“I smell ocean and cypress,” he said a second before I took the blindfold off.
I saw his eyes quickly register where we were.
“We’re at my favorite house.” He turned to me. “You know I love this place, right?”
“Yes.” I’d been to plenty of parties at Marshall Reilly’s old house. The guy and I went to high school together.
Josh let it slip, rather suggestively, that I ask Marshall about his grandparents’ old house. When I found out they were selling it, it was like everything sort of clicked into place.
“Kelsey, why are we at Marshall’s house?”
“Because I have the keys.” I held up the key ring Marshall had handed over.
I couldn’t read Oskar’s expression at all. He was doing that locked-down face he made when he was unsure of a person or a situation.
“Come on.” I grabbed his hand and took it, pulling him up the front walk.
He still hadn’t said a word.
I unlocked the door and was immediately greeted by the sight of a pure, unobstructed view of the dunes and the Pacific Ocean beyond. The sky was just starting to change when I pulled him across the tile floor toward the french doors leading out to the redwood deck.
Oskar maintained strict silence as he took in everything around him. He looked at the view, then back to the house, and finally at me. “So why are we up here?”
“Marshall gave me the keys so we could take a closer look at the house.” I continued while Oskar nodded silently. “It’s not on the market yet, but Marshall said his folks are set on getting rid of it, and he doesn’t?—”
“You know this is my favorite house.”
I nodded silently—apparently it was my turn.
“So why are we looking at a house you know I love that you also know has got to be completely out of my price range?” His face was still a stoic mask.
“Because…” I took a deep breath. “Because it’s not out of my price range.”
His face was still on lockdown. “You like this house?”
I snorted. “Oskar, seriously? Look at that view. Of course I love this place—it needs fixing up, but it’s like a dream house.”
His eyebrows pulled together. “Kelsey, I don’t know. I know you can probably make a huge profit off selling your place in San Anselmo, but are you sure? I thought you might want to hold on to it?—”
“Why would I hold on to it? Felipe has been begging me to sell it to him ever since he realized I wanted to move home. He loves that place.” I started to get an idea of why he might be hesitant when I expected him to be jumping up and down at this point. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He stared at me intently. “Are you sure? Really sure? I know you probably wouldn’t buy this place if?—”
“I’m sure, Oskar.” I walked to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, looking up into his beautiful face. “I’m positive.”
He leaned down and held my face gently as he kissed me. One hand slid back to cup the back of my head as we kissed each other, overlooking the coastline that we both considered home.
When he finally lifted his head, his smile was more glorious than the sunset that lit up the sky behind him. “So this is going to be home?”
His face started to take on the giddy expression that I had hoped for from the beginning. I caught his excitement as we walked back inside. I was starting to bounce a little. “Yes! I already talked to Marshall’s mom about doing a private sale. They own the place and don’t have a note on it, and they don’t want to put a bunch of money into getting it ready for a sale.”
“Plus they know you.”
I nodded. “And they know me and Josh and our entire family. They like the idea of still getting invited to parties up here.”
He ran a hand over the cracked woodwork. “This is going to take a lot of work.”
“I’m willing if you are.”
“Hell yes.”
We stepped into the kitchen, and he took in the terra-cotta tiled-room that overlooked a casual eating area and the expansive view out of floor-to-ceiling windows.
“Kelsey.”
“I know… Look at those cabinets, Oskar. I think they’re hand-carved.”
He nodded silently. “It’s amazing. I never want to leave.”
I stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Officially, it won’t be ours for a couple of months. There’s a lot of paperwork, but Marshall said we could start moving stuff up here if we want. Figure out what needs to get fixed before we move in. And some of the furniture comes with it.”
Oskar went to open the avocado-green refrigerator and turned back to me, smiling again. “There’s champagne in here. Did Marshall leave it?”
Oskar grabbed the bottle out of the fridge, and I opened the cabinet by the sink that held the flutes I had hidden away earlier.
“That’s California sparkling wine, thank you very much, and it’s from me.”
He twisted the cork carefully. “You know, I sorta like the idea of you as my… sugar mama. That’s what they call it, right?”
I laughed a little. It was literally the perfect opening.
Now or never, Kelsey.
I took a deep breath. “I don’t know. Am I still considered your sugar mama if we’re married?”
The cork popped as Oskar stared at me, his mouth gaping.
My heart was pounding, and I could feel the flush in my cheeks.
“Uh… what?” The corner of his mouth turned up.
“I mean… a house is a pretty extravagant wedding present, but you’re still going to have to buy me a ring.” I shrugged nonchalantly from my perch by the counter.
“I mean… What?” He was blushing, and I was loving it.
Oskar set the bottle of wine on the counter and seemed at a loss for what to do with his hands as they rested briefly in the pocket of his jeans, then brushed through his hair before he crossed his arms across his chest awkwardly.
I sauntered across the kitchen, my eyes never leaving his as I hooked a small footstool that was sitting in the corner and pushed it in front of him. I stepped onto the stool, looking him in the eye. “I like this a little better. I hardly ever get to see you at eye level, Chef. I’m going to have to see if they can throw this stool in with the house when we close.”
Oskar was now staring at me with an intense expression that nearly took my breath away. The love in his gaze was everything I could have ever dreamed of, and I felt tears start to well up. I lifted my arms and rested them on his shoulders while he gripped my wrists and stared into my eyes.
“Ask me.”
“Oskar Olson, you came into my life when I was least expecting to find love. You swept me off my feet. I love you more than I could imagine.”
“I love you.” Oskar gently touched the tears on my cheek.
“I may have written the article that brought you here, but you’re the one who made this place home for me again. You are home to me.”
He started to say something, but I put a finger on his lips.
“Will you marry me, Chef?”
“Yes.” He grabbed my face and poured all his love into a long kiss. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
I jumped up and he caught me, holding me as I wrapped my legs around his waist. “Good surprise?”
“Very good surprise.” He started laughing. “When did you decide to do this? I thought I was going to have to wait months to ask you. Maybe years if I didn’t want you to freak out.”
“I figured if I left it up to you, I’d end up getting proposed to in the middle of an argument after a sea lion bit me or while I was crying and snotty. There’s just no telling, really.”
He caught my chin again, kissing me deeply before he whispered, “I love you so fucking much.”
“I love you too.”
Our laughter died down, but the joy in his eyes remained when he put me down and we walked out to the deck. The sun had set and the moon was rising. The wind was cool off the ocean, and Oskar wrapped his arms around me as we sat together on two half-broken chairs on the deck.
He walked back into the kitchen to grab the wine and the glasses before he settled next to me and we toasted each other.
“To Kelsey,” he said, lifting his glass. “My best and favorite surprise.”
“That was nerve-racking.” I sipped the wine. “I totally understand why guys get so stressed.”
“Did you think I was going to say no?”
“I was pretty sure you were going to say yes, but it was still nerve-racking.”
“How could it be that nerve-racking when you knew I was a sure thing?”
“Fine.” I elbowed him. “You try it then.”
He looked at me seriously. “Kelsey Rankin…” He set the wineglass down, knelt next to me, and gripped sides of my chair. He leaned in and whispered in my ear. “Marry me.”
I inhaled his scent, and he began nibbling down my neck.
“Be my wife. Be my lover. Have my children.” He pulled away slightly to look into my eyes. “You’re everything I want.”
I nodded silently, and he nodded along.
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“So this is our happily-ever-after?”
I nodded again, smiling as his soft lips continued to trace my jaw. “Happily ever after, Chef.”
We kissed each other quietly as the wind picked up. The ocean crashed in the distance, and the scent of eucalyptus trees mingled with the scent of cedar. The lights glowed softly in the kitchen of the home that would be ours as we reveled in the real home we had found in each other.
There’s a feeling you get when you reach home.
Good or bad, there’s a shift in your chest, a piece that slides into place when you arrive at the place that formed you. It might be geography. It might be the people around you. Hopefully the lenses are rosy and not grey.
But there’s a very distinct feeling when you reach home.