Page 147 of Rare Blend
A burst of emotion starts to work its way up my throat, and I clench my jaw to hold it back. My hands settle around her jaw and cup her face to hold her gaze.
“I ever tell you how lucky I feel that you even gave me a chance? That I get to wake up to you every day? I’m so in love with you that I can’t remember the man I was before my heart belonged to you. And I don’t want to remember him. You make me better. I’m a better man because I want to be a man deserving of you. You’ve been it for me since day one and you’re going to be it for me until my heart stops beating. And even then, you bet your ass I’m finding you in the afterlife. It’s a forever kind of love, baby. And I’m yours”— I take her lips in mine and give her a soft kiss—“always.”
Eventually we leave the hallway and join the rest of the partygoers. My dad does his McConaughey impression, andmy siblings exchange money across the table. The celebration passes in a whirl as speeches are conducted and my parents do a repeat of their first dance from thirty-five years ago. As I watch my parents, I can’t help but wonder if one day it will be me and Marisa. If one day, we’ll be the ones celebrating our thirty-fifth anniversary in a room full of friends and family. I highly doubt my anxiety will ease with age, but I wouldn’t be opposed to celebrating the day with any kids we might have.
That’s the amazing thing about our relationship, with Marisa by my side, the possibilities are endless. She’s a rare find and the perfect match for me.
Bonus Epilogue
MARISA
THE FOLLOWING OCTOBER
“Baby, I’m home,” Ethan shouts from downstairs.
His voice sounds echoey, and I know he’s in the formal dining room, because there isn’t any furniture in there yet.
We’ve officially been in the new house—our house—for a little over a month. Just in time for harvest. I was excited for this new chapter of life with Ethan, but it was bittersweet leaving the cottages. We fell in love with each other within those tiny walls, and it felt like the end of an era. Though change is hard—even welcomed change—it’s been an adventure filling our home with all the pieces of us.
I would’ve been happy with a smaller house, something simple, but Ethan convinced me to go bigger. I think sometimes he’s more like his dad than he realizes, wanting to build me an ostentatious, oversize home, just like Jack built the chateau for Leanne. We compromised somewhere in the middle, and the house is still almost five thousand square feet.
I asked him, “What are we going to do with all this space?” Instead of answering me, he smiled shyly and shrugged. It mademy stomach dip in that way it always does when I’m reminded we’re intertwining our futures together.
He didn’t say it and I didn’t press, because we both knew the answer. A family. We’re nowhere near ready to jump on that train but once I came back from Seattle, the space to discuss the future opened. As an only child, I’ve always dreamed of having a larger family, and Ethan, despite his siblings driving him crazy most of the time, also wants a large family.
“Coming,” I shout, descending the stairs as quickly as one can in four-inch heels.
It’s our anniversary. One whole year since I plowed through a vineyard and flipped my life upside down. I tried to argue that our anniversary should technically be from when we had our first date but, in all honesty, I feel like I’ve been his and he’s been mine from the moment we met. It was like a shift in the planets, the falling of an asteroid. There would be no reverting, no going back. We may not have realized it at the time, but our lives were irrevocably changed from that point forward.
His back is to me as I approach, and from the looks of it, he changed at the office. Gone is his uniform of Wranglers and a flannel. They’ve been replaced by a pair of camel slacks and a checkered button down. Still ruggedly handsome, just a little dressier.
He turns at the sound of my heels clacking against the hardwood floors. His eyes trace my body, leaving flares of heat in the places they linger for a second too long.
“You look so fucking beautiful.”
Before I can get a word out, his hands are on me, gripping my waist and pulling me against him. His lips capture mine, and my body melts into him. The kiss starts out slow and languid, but quickly transforms into a desperate mess. My wrists cross behind his neck, dragging him down to my slightly taller level thanks to my sky-high stilettos. Meanwhile, his hands exploremy hips before traveling further to my ass, where he grabs a handful of it, and I feel it all the way to my core. A moan floats out of me as his lips pull from mine and he starts trailing kisses down my neck. You’d think we hadn’t seen each other in months, but really, it’s because it’s harvest season.
The past few weeks have felt like we’re passing ships in the night. He’s awake and out the door before I’ve even woken up, leaving Goose to keep me warm. And then he comes home just in time to eat dinner before passing out from exhaustion. I can understand now why he was such a cranky ass when we first met.
Somehow, he still manages to find the energy to mold his body to mine in the middle of the night, and show me all the ways he’s missing me. I have no complaints there, but it doesn’t stop me from missing him throughout the day.
“Ready for dinner?”
Truthfully, I’d rather have a night in. Ethan is having Gavin cover winery operations for the remainder of the day so we can have a quiet evening together. I know how much he wants to take me out and spoil me, but cuddled up with him on the couch, watching a silly TV show is really all I need. I didn’t have the heart to try and change his mind, especially when he’s been so determined to do something special for today.
“Let’s do it.”
I already know we have reservations at an Italian bistro in Badger Canyon, so I relax into my seat and let my gaze fall to the rolling hills of vineyards that flank both sides of the highway as we leave Red Mountain.
Not ten minutes into our drive, Ethan’s radio blares loudly between us. He grabs it from the middle console, and I try my hardest not to look irritated. One night. That’s all I wanted.
“Go for Ethan,” David’s static voice says.
Ethan sighs and then pulls over to the shoulder of the road, shooting me an apologetic expression. I smile tightly at him, because it’s all I can muster without looking fake.
“This is Ethan.”
“Something weird is going on at the Syrahs in sixteen. Might want to check it out.”
