Page 111 of Blind Luck

“Patience isn’t your strong suit, babe.”

“I hate surprises.”

“No, you don’t.”

I felt the car turn and crunch over gravel before finally slowing to a halt. Where were we? The urge to cheat and peek was almost overwhelming, but Rusty was right. I’d learned to love surprises, especially his surprises.

“Okay, now you can look.”

We were parked in front of a house. A beautiful house, white with pale blue trim and a yard planted with flowers and grasses. When I stepped out of the car, a breeze brought the sea air.

“Where are we?”

“Do you like it?”

“It’s pretty. Who does it belong to?”

“It’s ours.”

I whirled to face him. “What?”

“Right now, I rent the place in Fresno, and I could gettraded anywhere on the continent. There’s no stability, and I want that for you. For us. So I bought this place. I might not be able to live here all the time, but I’ll always come back to this spot.” Rusty wrapped me up in his arms and kissed my hair. “I’ll always come back to you.”

“Great, now I’m going to cry.”

“As long as they’re happy tears, I’m good with that. I brought tissues.”

Of course he did. Rusty thought of everything. In the two months since we left Las Vegas, we’d spent time in Fresno and Seagrass Point, and we’d met each other’s families. His parents were surprised to see me but real polite, and I liked his sisters. Oh, and Florence’s fiancé got arrested for being drunk in a strip club, which took some doing, I could tell you from experience, so that was nice.

Selene was doing okay too. The charity Priest referred her to had helped her to rent an apartment not too far from Kelsey and Silas, and she’d gotten a part-time job in an art gallery. Kelsey said she’d even started painting again. We planned to get together as soon as Rusty’s and Silas’s schedules allowed, but that wouldn’t be for several months. Kelsey was still settling into her new job and getting used to the responsibilities of partnership, while it looked as if I had a house to decorate.

“I love you,” I blubbered.

“I love you too.”

“So where even are we? I mean, where’s this house?”

“A couple of miles up the coast from your brother’s place.”

I turned and saw the sea view, and the beach, and the tears wouldn’t stop.

“Locals surf here,” Rusty said. “I asked around before I signed the papers.”

“But you don’t even like surfing.”

“I like watching you surf. Do you want to look around inside?”

The house had four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a dream kitchen, and a huge living room that overlooked the terrace. I’d be able to watch the sunsets from there. See my kids play on the beach. Grow old with Rusty overlooking the ocean.

“There’s no bed,” I pointed out. There wasn’t any furniture, but the missing bed seemed like the most pressing issue at this particular moment.

“I thought about buying furniture, but I figured it would be more fun to do it together.”

“So…wall sex?”

“Wall sex later. Ari has another surprise for you.” Rusty glanced at his watch. “We should mosey on over to her and Zach’s place.”

Another surprise? I’d spoken with her this morning, and she hadn’t mentioned any surprise. But it was Kai’s birthday next week, so maybe that was part of it?

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