Page 44 of A Breeze Over Rosewood Beach
“I thought that,” he said, smiling at her. “I said that to myself. You’re my home, Hazel.”
They shared a tender kiss and then climbed the stairs together, hand in hand.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The sun was just beginning to sink, casting a warm, golden haze over Rosewood Beach as Oscar made his way toward Ocean Breeze Café. He’d decided to walk despite the cold, and his breath fogged in front of him. For the first time in a long while, Oscar felt something light, something almost like excitement, in his chest. He realized that his deep-seated pessimism was becoming more and more detached from the core of him, as if it was a weed that Sally had been tugging from him with her optimism.
As he turned a corner, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He almost ignored it, since he was minutes away from arriving at the café and he was looking forward to eating, getting out of the cold, and most especially, seeing Sally. He pulled his phone from the pocket however, and his eyebrows rose when he saw that the caller was an old friend of his from New York.
“Seth,” he said, answering the call, and immediately he felt his body tense up as he slid back into his old persona of the commanding businessman.
“Oscar!” Seth’s voice boomed, as energetic and confident as ever. “How’s life in your new little paradise? I imagine you’vejust about died of boredom by now. Rosewood Beach can’t possibly have that much going on, especially in winter.”
Oscar smiled quietly to himself. “You know, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. There are some great people here.”
Seth laughed on the other end of the phone call. “Come on. You’ve been there, what, a few weeks? You trying to tell me you’ve gone soft already?”
Oscar could hear the disbelief underneath his friend’s amusement. “Soft? No. You should come visit me sometime and see for yourself. Rosewood Beach is a great place.”
“Mm, I just couldn’t tear myself away from all of the things that I have going on here in the land of the civilized.”
Oscar remembered how many times he’d been honked at and sworn at or almost mugged in New York. That was the land of the civilized? In Rosewood Beach, everyone whom he’d met had been kind and good-natured and hardworking. He didn’t know what was more civilized than that.
“I’m not just twiddling my thumbs,” Oscar said. “There’s a woman here who runs a place called Ocean Breeze Café. She needed help making a deal with her food distributor, and I helped her get one. It’s allowing her to get her business back on track. She’s extremely happy about it.”
Happy enough to kiss me,he thought to himself, and grinned hugely.
Seth whistled low. “Listen to you. A regular smalltown hero.”
“That’s right,” Oscar said, unfazed by Seth’s rudeness.
He turned another corner and saw Ocean Breeze Café in front of him. Oscar’s gaze drifted to the café window, where he caught sight of Sally bustling around inside, a pink ribbon in her hair. He smiled.
“Well, good for you,” Seth said, sounding a little surprised.
Oscar found himself chuckling. “It might not be on a big scale, but I’ve learned that my business skills can still be of helpto people. I like that. And there are plenty of people in this town who deserve all kinds of help.”
“Huh. Well, I hope you have a good time.” Seth sounded as though he was at a loss for words.
“Like I said, you should come visit sometime,” Oscar said. “This place is much better than New York.”
“Only if I get really desperate,” Seth replied teasingly.
They chatted for a few more minutes, and then Oscar said goodbye and hung up. He stood on the sidewalk for a moment, his mind racing.
He realized how much what he had just said to Seth was true. He did have a lot to offer other people in terms of his skills, and he fully believed that the people of Rosewood Beach deserved his help.
He slipped his phone into his pocket, feeling a sense of purpose that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He strolled across the street to Ocean Breeze Café, looking forward to seeing Sally but also feeling jittery.
He was realizing more and more just how much he cared about her. When Seth had been making digs at Rosewood Beach, he had been quick to defend it. The town had given him a feeling of being seen, of being important to people, that he’d never experienced in New York, even at the height of his success. He knew that Sally was the embodiment of that kindness, that ability to show people that they mattered. If Seth had insulted Sally, Oscar would have felt the need to drive back to New York and challenge Seth to a fist fight.
He looked through the windows of the café again, watching Sally as he stepped onto the sidewalk outside Ocean Breeze Café. He felt his heart ache a little, and he knew that he was falling for her.
Just before entering the café, he hesitated. What if she wasn’t interested in him the way that he was interested in her?
She’d kissed him, certainly, but it might have been an impulsive gesture of thankfulness. It didn’t necessarily mean that she was interested in taking their relationship toward a steady, committed partnership. And besides, she’d said that she’d had her heart broken before and that she’d always chosen her career over other things in her life. Would she be willing to change all that now for a grumpy old man like him?
He took a deep breath and pushed open the front door. He was no stranger to taking risks. He knew that the only way to move forward into success was if you were willing to have the courage to try things that didn’t have a guaranteed outcome.
