8. Kelsey
I wokeup Tuesday morning with a headache already brewing. I’d drifted to sleep with thoughts of Oskar holding me close, but from the look of my sheets, I spent most of the night tossing and turning. I guess my body was aware of the difference between dream Oskar and actual Oskar.
I stumbled out to my kitchen, hoping some coffee might cure the headache. I felt like I had an Olson hangover. I poured the water in the coffeepot, pushed the button, and went to get the paper from the front step.
As I sat drinking my coffee and reading the paper, I thought about everything my brother had said yesterday and Talia had said over the weekend.
I did miss home. For a long time, I hadn’t. In fact, I welcomed the busyness of the city, and I loved being in the middle of the action. I enjoyed the challenge of proving myself and relished every opportunity to tackle something that no one thought I could manage. If I thought honestly about the past year and a half though, I could see why Talia had sensed my discontent.
Even my relationship with Austin had been nostalgic. He was from a small town in Texas originally, and though he lived in the middle of the city, I always felt like we had a common background.
Unfortunately, I learned that Austin was more pretentious and boring than down-home and real. The doorbell rang.
“Damn it.” Speak of the devil…
It’s eight thirty in the morning, Kelsey. Gee, I wonder who could be sending you flowers?
“Coming.”
When I opened the door, I was partly disgusted and partly elated. Yes, there was a hideous, overdone bouquet with too much baby’s breath and ribbon, but at least it was being held by a cute guy.
Felipe must have intercepted the delivery man.
I leaned around the bouquet to kiss him on the cheek, then grabbed the flowers. I waved him in the house and took the flowers to the kitchen.
Filipe nodded toward the bouquet. “The boring one is still pulling this crap?”
“Yes, and he knew I would be back this morning, which is borderline creepy.”
“Have you actually asked him to stop?”
“Not in so many words. I was trying to be kind, but apparently he’s as dense as he is boring.” I glared at the baby’s breath. “Hint time is over. I’m calling him and telling him the flowers have to stop. Even the people at the nursing home have had enough.”
Felipe strode into my house like he owned the place, which was the way Felipe walked pretty much everywhere in the world. His short crop of curly black hair was smooth in a way that told me he’d just come from the barber. His dark brown skin was glowing and freshly moisturized. He smelled like expensive soap and lemon.
He was also dressed immaculately, and he looked me up and down while I stood in my bathrobe. “Kelsey.”
“Don’t judge me when I have guilt flowers in my hands.”
“It’s difficult, but I’ll try. Hard night?”
“Headache city.” I took the flowers to the kitchen.
I’d met Felipe after his café became my go-to breakfast place here in San Anselmo. He discovered I wrote about food, and we became friends over our shared interests and his crazy sense of humor. Despite what Talia said about me not having many friends, Felipe was a true one and maybe the one person besides Talia I felt comfortable confiding in.
He’d also disliked Austin, and the feeling was mutual.
Why did I date that man for so long?
Felipe grabbed a mug and poured some coffee before he sat down. “I told you so. I don’t say that often but?—”
“You’ve said it many, many times since we broke up.”
Felipe sipped his coffee. “That’s true.”
“Is this a Southern thing? I don’t know why the words ‘I really don’t want to see you anymore. Stop trying to convince me we’re soulmates’ are so ineffective with this man.” Felipe was also from Texas, but he was a city boy from Houston.
He snorted. “Don’t blame the South, honey. I think that’s all Austin. And you tell me if he doesn’t start backing off. That shit is unacceptable. I’ll call Josh if I have to—the two of us can scare some sense into him if need be.”
I rolled my eyes. “Where’s Alan?”
Alan was Felipe’s partner and a lawyer in the city. “He had an early meeting in the city. I told him to go ahead and I’d walk to the café with you.”
“Open the paper, will you? I’m going to go pick all the crap out of this bouquet. We can drop it off with Mrs. French on the way downtown.”
After the third day of daily bouquets from Austin, I felt guilty about just throwing the flowers away no matter how garishly they were arranged. I had taken to tossing out the junk that the florist put in and taking the flowers down to Maxine French, who ran the local nursing home. She distributed them to residents who would enjoy them, and I felt a little better about Austin wasting his money on a lost cause.
I finished up with the flowers and went to toss the baby’s breath, fern fronds, and miles of ribbon in the trash. When I came back, Felipe had pulled out the Business section of the paper and set two cups of coffee down at my tiny kitchen table.
Felipe never subscribed to the paper, he just stole the Business and Sports sections out of mine, which I never read anyway. The only section we really fought over was the Food and Wine, and I usually came out on top of that argument since it was, actually, my paper.
He stopped by to read the paper with me, drink coffee, and chat on most of the mornings he wasn’t opening the café downtown. In an alternate universe, we would have already been married with two kids.
“How’s the schedule working out with Caroline?”
“Not bad, but she’s taking more weekends with Russell now” —Felipe wrinkled his nose a little at the name of his business partner’s boyfriend— “so I’m opening three days and she’s taking four since her days off are the weekends. I think it’ll work all right. We’ll tweak it here or there.”
I smirked into my coffee at his obvious distaste for Caroline’s new boyfriend and decided to tease him a bit.
“Oh, come on, don’t be like that. You know young love. I mean, you and Alan were there once upon a time.” I batted my eyelashes at him innocently, but he knew me too well.
“Girl, don’t start with me.” He slapped my hand with the paper. “Tell me about your weekend. How is everyone? Did you meet that luscious chef you were talking about?”
I felt the heat rush to my face before I could bring the paper up to hide it.
Felipe’s eyes widened with delight. “Oh yes you did. I can tell. Don’t try to hide it, just give me every single detail.”
I blushed harder and went to the kitchen to refill my coffee cup.
“Look at her. Oh, I know there will be dirty details with that blush. Tell me everything.”
I doctored my coffee and sat down again. I could tell I was still blushing, but if anyone would relish hearing the details of my amazing weekend, it would be Felipe.
“Kitchen sex.”
His eyes went wide. “Damn.”
“Yeah. One minute I was eating at the chef’s table in the kitchen, the next minute… he was.”
“Was what?”
I whispered, “Eating.”
His jaw dropped open. “You’re a lucky bitch, Kelsey Rankin. I’m a cook, and I’ve never even had kitchen sex.” Then he frowned. “Why the hell haven’t I had kitchen sex?”
“Don’t ask me. It was awesome. You know, you and Alan?—”
“Shut up—don’t even go there. I am not the only one with keys to that place. Let’s talk more about you. I know you didn’t just jump his bones, so start at the beginning.”
So I did. I told him about meeting at the winery. I told him about the meal Oskar cooked for me at the restaurant and the “dessert” we had after. I told him about our morning cuddling in bed and drinking coffee curled up on Oskar’s couch. There might have been some happy sighing involved. Felipe didn’t say a word the whole time.
It felt good to tell him the whole story; it made the whole weekend seem more real somehow. I wished Talia were here too and felt sort of bad that I hadn’t filled her in. I’d have to remember to call her tonight.
When I finished telling him everything, including the omelets, I stood up, heated my coffee and got out two travel mugs. Felipe was silent while I fixed our coffee to go. I was sort of expecting him to shower me with questions or offer a million ridiculous sex tips, so I was taken aback that he was so quiet.
“What? Nothing? I just had the most incredible sex of my life and you have nothing to say? Come on.” I smiled at him and walked back to my room to throw on some comfortable jeans and a sweatshirt.
I pulled my hair back and put on my UGGs to walk downtown with him. I was starting to really get hungry, and I wanted eggs. I also wanted to know why one of my nosiest friends was suddenly silent.
I walked to the kitchen, handed Felipe his coffee, and grabbed my purse and the bundle of flowers for the nursing home.
“Walk and talk, Cortez. I know you’ve got something to say, but I’m going a bit crazy here with all the silence.”
He looked up at me with a little smile on his face and an almost wistful expression in his eye. He stood up, kissed my cheek, and threw his arm around me as we walked out the front door.
I frowned and leaned into his side. “Why are you being so weird?”
The sun was starting to burn off the fog as we made our way down the tree-lined streets toward downtown San Anselmo. We passed the bungalows and cottages that made up our small neighborhood and waved at familiar faces. After a quick good morning at the front desk, I dropped off the flowers at Mrs. French’s, and then Felipe and I kept walking, hand in hand, down the quiet street.
“Talk to me.” I squeezed his hand. “Do you think I messed up or something? I mean, I know it’s not usually my style, but?—”
“What?” He shook his head. “Messed up? No, baby. That’s not what I’m thinking at all. It’s just…” He got that wistful expression on his face again.
“You’re driving me nuts. I mean, how many times over the years have you told me about a crazy hookup? We always laugh about this stuff. What’s going on?”
“Oh, Kelsey.” He chuckled a little under his breath. “Whatever this is with you and the hot chef, please don’t call it a hookup. I’ve seen you talk about guys. I’ve seen you excited about guys, but I have never seen the look on your face that you had when you were telling me about this man.” He looked at me. “Honey, that was not a hookup.”
I was speechless for a moment. I finally mumbled, “Come on. I just met this guy—don’t make it so serious, okay?”
He shrugged. “Okay. Maybe I’m reading too much into it. I just know that the more I live, the more I realize that there are certain people who come into your life that just fit. And the longer you live, the more you realize those people are the exception, not the rule. Don’t miss an opportunity because you think the timing isn’t right, okay?”
I leaned up and kissed his cheek, threw my arm around his waist, and kept walking toward the café.
The moment stretched until Felipe laughed and squeezed my waist. “Damn, how’d this get so serious? We should be smiling and toasting that man’s skills. You needed a good lay.”
“You too? That’s what Talia told me on Saturday. Did I look that desperate when I was with Austin?”
“It wasn’t desperate so much as bland. Every time I’d try to weasel details out of you, you’d just say, ‘It’s good, Felipe’ with that crazy smile you get.” He smiled with gritted teeth. More like a grimace than a smile.
“I did not look like that.”
He held his fingers up, close together. “Little bit. Plus you had this look on your face whenever he started telling a story. It was like you just caught a whiff of smelly cheese—not the good kind—and you were trying to be polite.”
“He did tell really bad stories, didn’t he?”
“And they just dragged on and on.” He rolled his eyes. “No, I like the sound of this chef better. More your style. Where did you say he was from, and does he have a sexy accent?”
“Ha ha. He’s from Denmark originally, and hardly any accent at all. Sort of a bummer.”
“Kelsey, did you just admit to having sex with the Swedish Chef? Damn, girl, that’s kinky.”
I busted up laughing. “Denmark is not Sweden. I don’t even know if he’s heard of the Swedish Chef. Do they have The Muppet Show in Denmark?”
“Don’t ask me. What did Talia have to say about this fine piece of man?”
“Um… I haven’t really told her everything yet,” I mumbled.
He raised his eyebrows and laughed out loud. “Oh, she is gonna skin you alive that she’s not hearing this first.”
“If I had told her yesterday, I never would have made it home.”
“Knowing Talia, he could be halfway to an ogre and she’d still like him ’cause he lives down by her.” He raised an eyebrow.
“I know. This will be further ammunition in her crusade.”
“Don’t act like you’re not thinking about it. I know you are.”
“Maybe I am.”
Felipe froze. “What?”
“But not because I met a hot guy.” I clarified that immediately.
“Good.” He started walking again. “Good that you’re thinking about it, I mean. And good that it’s not because of a man.”
“You getting sick of me already? Wouldn’t you miss me?” I stuck my lower lip out at him like an obnoxious child.
“Please.” He rolled his eyes again. “Yes, of course I’d miss you, but it’s not like you’d be moving cross-country or anything. Besides, you don’t hear yourself when you talk about home. You compare everything in the Bay Area to what’s down the coast. I swear, the sun doesn’t shine as bright here as it does in Paso Robles.” He threw his arm out in a dramatic flourish.
“Felipe, it’s the Bay Area. The sun doesn’t shine here at all most mornings.”
“Point taken. I would like to point out that it’s not even ten o’clock and the fog has already burned off. So there.”
We turned the corner to the café and waved to a few regulars sitting on the patio in front of the restaurant.
Felipe opened the door for me, and I poked my head in the kitchen to say hi to Caroline, who was behind the grill wearing pink glasses, her hair held back by a yellow bandanna.
He kept talking while he washed up and put on his apron. “Kelsey, you haven’t been happy here for a while.”
“I’m happy with you. And Caroline.”
“We love you, Kelsey.” Caroline smiled at me and batted her eyelashes. “Your energy is like sunshine.”
“Thank you!” I looked back at Felipe. “My energy is like sunshine, and I like my job.”
Felipe leaned over, kissed my cheek, and patted my butt to scoot me out of the kitchen. “We love you, but I always feel like this is a temporary place for you. You don’t really have any roots here. That’s not important to everyone, but I think it’s important to you. Now what do you want with your eggs?”
Caroline walked over to take a break and let Felipe man the stove for a while. She gave me a quick hug and grabbed a cup of coffee and a table right outside the kitchen door.
“Cheddar grits and fruit, please and thank you, mom.”
He swatted me with a kitchen towel. “Sassy bitch, get out of my kitchen. Go eat with Caroline and give her all the gory details about your sexy weekend with the Swedish Chef.”
“See, when you say it like that, it sounds so dirty. And he’s Danish.”
“Out.”
I muttered under my breath and went to join Caroline at her table. Soon Felipe delivered our breakfasts, perfectly poached local eggs and grits for me and a bacon, avocado, and tomato scramble for Caroline. We sat, talking and eating, while Felipe finished up cooking for the breakfast and brunch crowd and started prepping for lunch.
Caroline was a great audience, and she loved hearing all about Oskar. She was such a romantic, but she was disappointed that I hadn’t gotten any pictures.
Just talking about Oskar was getting me a little worked up, and I had no chance of seeing him anytime soon.
This could be a problem.
Before I knew it, it was almost noon and I had to rush home. I didn’t have to go into the office, but I did have a couple of stories I needed to file with Octavia before my day was over. I’d already written most of one about the history of the Santa Maria barbecue, but I was feeling stuck on the other, which was supposed to be a profile of Mesa and its hot new chef.
I definitely felt conflicted about that one. I knew I could give a great review of the restaurant just from the food, but I hadn’t exactly gotten your average guest treatment when I was there. I decided to call Octavia when I got back to the house and explain that the chef was a family friend and I couldn’t be objective.
Which he was… technically. Josh was my family, and Oskar was a friend of Josh’s. Nobody needed to know that I was ridiculously attracted to him and having moony daydreams about breakfast in bed, puppies, and rainbows.
Besides, technically I wasn’t working this weekend anyway, so she really couldn’t bitch at me. I’d do an extra profile later this week to make it up to her.
That decided, I grabbed a glass of iced tea and sat down at my desk to finish up my barbecue article. My desk faced out onto my small backyard, and the window was shaded by the old orange tree that grew over the patio. I could see the leaves rustling in the breeze and the bright glow of the oranges as they ripened in the sun. Soon the tree would be covered in sweet citrus and I would have more than I knew what to do with, but for the moment, I just had to wait.
My musing at my desk was interrupted by a chime from my phone in the other room. I went out to grab it and walked back to the office.
It was Oskar. Hot damn.
I did a little happy dance as I saw his name but stopped when I read the message.
I think Josh might know we’re involved.
My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t imagine Oskar would have said something to Josh, but…
I quickly texted back.
Did you say something???
Oh shit. Too many question marks. Did that look like I was embarrassed or something?
My phone chimed again.
Did you?
Okay, Mr. Smarty Pants, we’re playing it cool, are we?
To be fair, Josh had hinted to me that he thought something happened between Oskar and me when I saw him yesterday. Plus we weren’t exactly being discreet at the party. Josh always managed to find out about this kind of stuff anyway. He and Kurt were the worst gossips around; old church ladies had nothing on farmers and salesmen. I just hoped that Josh wasn’t giving Oskar shit about being involved with me. I finally texted back.
I didn’t, but he tends to know things. Is he being an asshole??
I hit Send before I realized I just put in too many question marks again. I really had to get my grammar under control around this man. If I wasn’t stammering and rambling, I was texting extraneous punctuation marks.
Luckily, Oskar texted back.
No, we’re fine. How is your day going?
How was my day going?
I woke up with an Olson hangover. I dreamed about you last night but didn’t sleep well because my body missed yours. I ate eggs this morning that you didn’t cook. I’m daydreaming about you, and I feel like I’m going crazy. Probably because I am.
My phone chimed again.
Did you get a good night’s sleep?
Cocky bastard.
Slept like a baby, thanks. ;) You?
Yes. I had this great dream about you. You were naked.
That should not have made me as hot as it did. How to respond?
Wow, what a coincidence. I slept naked last night.
There you go, Chef. Take that mental picture.
I heard my phone chime again.
Tease. I have to go cook in my desecrated kitchen now.
That made me laugh out loud. Apparently Oskar was in a playful mood.
Have fun with that. I know I did the last time I was there.
Oh yes I did. Just the memory sent my temperature soaring.
I may lose a finger during dinner prep, and it will be all your fault.
Maybe I was better at this flirting by text thing than I knew.
That’s too bad. I’m quite fond of those fingers. You should take care of them.
I was giggling at my phone while simultaneously getting turned on by the memory of all the things that Oskar could do with his fingers. I heard the chime signaling a new text.
Kelsey?
Oskar?
Are you at your desk right now?
What the heck? How did he even guess that? I texted back, curious where he was going with this.
As a matter of fact, I am.
You might want to clear it of breakables.
What? Was he predicting earthquakes now? A memory tickled my brain.
Is that so?
Just thinking ahead.
It was then that I remembered Oskar teasing me about fucking me on my desk so I wouldn’t be able to concentrate when I was working.
I gasped, and the sudden image of Oskar thrusting into me while I was naked on my desk rushed into my brain. My temperature shot through the roof. I imagined his strong hands gripping my hips, his mouth teasing and torturing my neck as I leaned back in ecstasy.
I was an amateur. He had me completely turned on in a heartbeat. I realized I hadn’t texted back yet. Shit.
So. Fucking. Cocky.
And fucking sexy. And fucking sweet. And fucking not-even-in-my-area-code-right-now, damn it.
Kelsey?
I sighed in defeat.
Oskar?
Are you blushing right now?
Hell yes, I was blushing down to my toes.
Wouldn’t you like to know?
I was a wreck, but I hoped I at least sounded cool.
Ha ha. I’d better get back to the restaurant.
Oh right. The restaurant where you gave me the single most memorable sexual experience of my life. That memory is not really helping this situation, Chef Olson.
I’ll talk to you later.
Bye.
“Bye? Just… bye?” I tossed my phone on the desk, wishing he was here or I was there. I didn’t care. At the moment, physical proximity of any kind would be preferable to the situation I currently found myself in.
I was turned on, distracted, and couldn’t think of anything but Oskar’s hands and mouth all over my body.
Oh, and mission accomplished, Chef. I was going to be useless sitting at my desk. I grabbed my laptop and moved to the kitchen table.