Landon drove us to a neighborhood that seemed so familiar. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was at first, but then I realized I had been here before. Only the last time I was here it was dark and I was on the back of a motorcycle. This is the same neighborhood Kane had driven us through the night he had taken me to his spot and I spilled my guts to him.
We pulled up in front of a large house and I could see Kane’s bike sitting in the driveway. If I looked close enough to the end of the street, I could see the park. He never told me his grandparents lived on this street, but then again why would he? But still, Kane was pretty much raised by his grandparents so that meant he was raised in the ginormous house setting in front of me. I could see someone like Nate growing up here. He screamed rich and proper lifestyle. Not Kane though. With his tattoos and piercings you would never expect to see him walk out the front door of a house like this, but there he was, stepping out onto the porch making his way down the perfectly manicured lawn to Landon’s truck.
I was still a little awestruck when Kane pulled the door to the truck open and helped me out. I couldn’t take my eyes off this house. Now I was really nervous to meet his grandparents. What if they were like those old time people on TV that already had who their children and grandchildren were going to end up with picked out and they would look at me as no more than a threat to their plans.
“Glad you could make it. You look beautiful.” Kane’s words finally drew my attention away from the house and I looked at him and saw he was slowly running his eyes up and down my body.
“She ought to! She went through every damn piece of clothing both she and I own to get that look,” Jessi said as she slid across the seat of the truck and hopped out behind me. When Landon made his way around the truck to her she gave his stomach a hard slap.
“Ugh! What the hell was that for?!” Landon grunted and grabbed his stomach.
“Did you see what Kane did there? He opened the door for Kelsey and helped her out. You need to take note, dummy.”
We all started laughing but mine was more of a nervous laugh. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a chance his grandparents would hate me.
“Thanks a lot man,” Landon growled and pushed past us all, playfully dragging Jessi toward the house. “We are going in to get some grub. I’m not sticking around you and taking a chance on you making me look bad in front of my girl anymore.”
“Brother, you don’t have to have me to do that,” Kane yelled, earning him a middle finger from Landon as he disappeared into the house with Jessi.
“So you ready to head in?” Kane asked as he gave my hand a slight tug, but it was like my feet had taken root in the front yard and they wouldn’t budge. He turned back to me; the smile that was on his face was now slipping. “What’s wrong?” he asked, and I could hear the concern in his voice.
I took a deep breath. “What if they don’t like me. I know how important they are to you and honestly I have never met a boy… anyone’s parents before now, well besides Jessi’s.” I couldn’t believe I had almost slipped and called Kane my boyfriend. I wasn’t sure what we were. Sure the things Jessi had told me about him not liking other guys looking at me might have been true, but that didn’t make him my boyfriend.
Kane sighed and cupped my cheeks making me look into those mesmerizing gray eyes. Out here in the sunlight they were reflecting back at me so bright. “Kelsey, they will love you. I haven’t been able to stop talking about you to them since we met, so it’s pretty much like they know you anyway. You make me happy and they love to see me happy. I promise you’re going to be fine.”
I took a deep breath and nodded. I was here now anyway so there was no turning back. He lightly kissed my lips, then took my hands in his again and led me to the house. Once we were inside I heard several conversations happening and the loud barking laughs of some men. But the smell … it was like I had died and gone to heaven. I could smell the familiar smell of food cooking on the grill, and then there was this sweet smell in the air.
I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly the smell was. Maybe it was butter? I don’t know, all I knew was if it smelled that good, I could only imagine what it would taste like. Now I could see why Landon was so eager to eat. My stomach was growling at that moment and I prayed the noise level in the house was enough to mask it from Kane.
“This way.” Kane began pulling me through the foyer to the living room. The far wall was made of three sets of French doors put together. Every door was open, allowing the smells of the grilling meats to make their way through the house. Once we stepped outside, I scanned the yard that was full of people standing around talking and little kids running around playing tag. He wasn’t joking when he said the neighborhood got together for this. There were so many people here I wouldn’t doubt if all their neighbors were here in this one backyard.
He continued to lead the way over to a very large outdoor kitchen. Mastering the grill was an older man, his hair was gray and he had a large smile on his face as he talked with a few other men. I could see the resemblance of his smile with Kane’s. This must have been his grandpa.
“Hey, Paw,” Kane said as we approached the old man, who turned in our direction at Kane’s greeting. His smile never wavered.
“Well now, who do we have here?” he said as he glanced back and forth between Kane and me.
Kane pulled me up beside him and wrapped his arm around my waist. “This is Kelsey. The girl I told you about.”
The old man looked at me for another second or two before barking out a laugh and pulling me from Kane’s side into a tight hug. “It’s about damn time, boy. Me and your maw were beginning to think you had done lost your mind and made the whole thing up.” He pushed me back at arm’s length, then looked over my shoulder at Kane. “I will tell you this, she sure is a pretty one.” I blushed at his statement and I could hear Kane laughing behind me. “Now you tell me, sweetheart, what in the world is a pretty little thing like you doing with that ugly mug back there?” The old man nodded in Kane’s direction. “I tried to tell him when he went and put that dang thing in his lip that there was no way he would ever get a girl now.”
“And I told you, old man, that the ladies love it. Makes me look all hard ass,” Kane said as he pulled me from his grandpa’s arms. “Now gets your hands off my woman. You got one of your own … and then some.” Kane playfully punched his grandpa’s shoulder.
“What can I say, the ladies love me.” He shrugged. “But that little ‘ol gal in there cooking away stole my heart when I was about your age, and the little thief never gave it back.”
I loved the way his grandpa lit up when he talked about his grandma. I hadn’t grown up seeing love like that. Sure my mom loved me, but there was never any love that I could see between my parents. Just control and fear. Seeing the way Kane’s grandpa was still so deeply in love with his grandma after all these years had me hoping that I would be that lucky to have someone love me like that.
“My name is Ralph. Ralph Riley.” He smiled and held out his hand.
“Kelsey Rien.” I smiled back and placed my hand in his, and he gave my arm a good, firm shake.
“Boy, don’t just stand there like a stick in the mud. Take her on in there to your Maw and get her something sweet to eat. I will have these steaks done shortly,” Ralph ordered Kane. I gave him a slight wave goodbye and then Kane led me back into the house.
Okay, that wasn’t so bad. One grandparent down, one to go. If his grandma was anything like Ralph I think I would be just fine. When we were back in the house Kane started leading me down a short hall. With each step I took, the smell of baked goods grew stronger and stronger. I wonder if their house always smelled like this. No need for scented candles if you could bake I guess.
At the end of the hall was a massive kitchen. I guess it would have to be massive though to fit into this huge house. There were a few women exiting the other side of the room, but then there was one short, plump woman with short, dark hair and flour on her apron running all around the large room.
“Maw,” Kane said, but the woman didn’t stop what she was doing. She had her back to us and was running back and forth from the oven to what looked like pie dough on the counter. “Maw!” Kane yelled, and the little old woman abruptly tuned to us and grabbed her chest.
“Kane Matthew! Are you trying to give your maw a heart attack?! Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
Kane laughed and let go of my hand and wrapped his arms around his grandmother. She hardly came up to Kane’s shoulders so I could tell she was very short.
“How are you, sweetie? I put two apple pies in the back of the fridge for you to take home with you later.”
“Thanks, Maw. I have someone I want you to meet.” He glanced over at me and her eyes followed suit. “This is Kelsey.” He smiled and so did his grandma.
I nervously made my way to them. “It’s so nice to meet you. You have a beautiful home. Thank you for having me.” Oh God, Kelsey. Stop rambling.
His grandma continued to smile at me, even with all my awkwardness. “We are so happy to have you, honey. I could tan Kane’s hide for not bringing you around sooner. He picks a time when he knows we are going to be swamped with people to bring you around.” She reached up and firmly grasped Kane’s chin. “I love you, but sometimes you are not very bright.” She pulled his face down by his chin and placed a kiss on his cheek.
“Ha! Thanks, Maw. You see what she did there?” Kane glanced at me. “She insults me, but because she loves me and kisses me it makes it okay. You women.” He shook his head and I giggled.
“Boy, just because you are a man now don’t think I won’t take a wooden spoon to your hide. Don’t sass me. I know what you were thinking. You thought if you bring her when we have the big cookout she would get lost in all the commotion, but Maw knows how you think. That’s why Kelsey is going to help me finish up these pies and you’re going to go out there and help your Paw with the grill. Go on now, scoot. We have girl things to do.”
I sent Kane a panicked look, but he just smiled and kissed his grandmother on the cheek. He then came over to me and whispered, “You will be fine,” in my ear and left the room. Now it was just me and his grandma. What in the world did she want to be alone with me for? I just stood there knotting my hands together. Not sure what to do next.
“Well, come on over here, girl. I won’t bite.” She sweetly smiled at me, but it didn’t help my unease. I slowly made my way toward her and she handed me the rolling pin.
“You ever roll out pie dough before?”
I shook my head. “No, ma’am.”
“Oh, honey, you’re going to have to cut the ma’am stuff out right now. My name is Emma. You best learn to use it.” I noticed then she said everything with a smile. This woman could be insulting you, but her smile was so sweet that you would never realize it was an insult.
“The trick is, you have to make sure you have enough flour so that the pin doesn’t stick to the dough. Like this.” She said as she sprinkled the flour over the ball of dough in front of us and began to roll it out. “See? Now you try. I have a couple pies I need to get out of the oven.”
She handed the roller back to me and I went about rolling the dough out just like she had. My mom had never made pies from scratch before. We always bought the frozen kind or the ones already baked from the deli. My mom was a hell of a cook, but she could not bake to save her life. The cookies were always burnt, the one time she tried to bake me a birthday cake the middle of the cake was still wet. We had laughed about it for hours and she vowed to never try baking again.
Lost in my memory, I didn’t notice Emma had returned to her position beside of me.
“Am I doing this right?” I asked, the dough was rolling out easily but I had no clue if I was rolling it too thin or if it was too thick.
“That’s perfect. I’ll grab a pan and let you lay it in it.”
She laid one of those aluminum pie pans in front of the dough I had just rolled flat. “Now what you have to do here is fold the dough over the roller and then lay it over the pan.”
Yeah, that would be easier said than done because when I tried to lift the dough from the countertop it began to tear. I immediately stopped what I was doing. “I’m going to mess it up. Maybe you should do it.”
She just shook her head. “It’s okay. Just quickly move it and we can worry about if it tears later.”
I took a deep breath and did as she said. When I finally had the dough in the pan, there was only a slight tear.
“Now here’s how we fix that. Just take your fingers and pinch the tear closed. Then lightly press down on it ‘til it is even with the rest of the dough.”
I did as she said and had the hole closed in no time. She then dumped a bowl of cut apples into the pan with the dough, sprinkled some sugar and cinnamon on top, then placed the dough she had already rolled out on top of the now-full pie pan. She then cut off the excess dough, pinching the edges to seal the two doughs together before placing the pie in the oven.
“Now that that’s done, come sit and talk with me.”
She led the way to a small corner table that had a pitcher of lemonade sitting there. We both took a seat and she filled up two glasses that sat beside the pitcher.
“That grandson of mine has not stopped talking about you. I think he might be in love.”
I choked on my lemonade. Kane … love me? That was just crazy. Though I had some crazy strong feelings for Kane, I wasn’t even sure the feelings were mutual. I could always hope they were, but until he said the words to me I would never know.
“Kane has never brought a girl here or even talked about one to us before. You must be something special.”
I could feel the blush creeping up my neck. I was nothing special. It made me happy to think that she believed I was but when she found out about my past it would be a hard fall. I should probably set her straight about it now, but I didn’t want to. For just a little while I wanted to be someone different. I wanted to be special.
“Kane is something else. I have never met anyone like him before,” I said in between sips of my lemonade.
“He sure is. That boy has not had an easy life. Losing his parents so young changed him. He went through a faze for a while where he wouldn’t let anyone close to him. He was out of control. The rage that was inside him about things he could not change, and the fact that he wouldn’t let himself grieve over the loss of his parents, had me fearing he was ruined. His first instinct was to react with his fists. I don’t know how many times I had to go to the school and talk to the principle about him fighting with the other kids. He actually broke one poor boy’s nose with a locker door once. We tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t let us in. As soon as he graduated he moved out and hardly came around for a while.”
I couldn’t believe the things she was telling me. This didn’t sound like the Kane I knew at all.
“Oh, sweetie, I didn’t mean to scare you. I can tell by that look on your face that you never expected to hear all of this. He is nothing like that boy anymore. From time to time we would hear the rumble of that dang motorcycle go by and we would see him park at the park down the street. His daddy used to go there when he was a teenager and had been taking Kane there pretty much since he was born. Then one day instead of driving right by our house he surprised us and pulled in. Ralph and I had been sitting on our porch and he walked right up to us and hugged us, apologizing for everything. He said that he knew that his parents would be disappointed in the way he had turned out, and it made him sick to think of the way they would look at him now … and from that day on he has been a completely different person. He goes to school, he works, and he still takes time to come see his old Paw and Maw.”
Now that was more like the Kane I had come to know. Considerate and kind. I knew Kane had a past, everyone does. Lord knows my past is far from fairytale perfect, but it hurt me to know that he went through so much pain and fury over his parents the way he did. It also made me hope, though. Looking at where he had been to where he is now sparked some faith that I too would one day heal. That I would be able to come to terms with what had happened.
“He has also changed since he met you.” Her words jarred me from my thoughts and she placed her hand on mine. “He has seemed happier these last few weeks. When he talks about you he lights up. I haven’t seen him light up like that since he was a boy. Sure he has come to terms with his parent’s death and has learned to live again, but you my dear, you make him happy again. And I thank you for that.”
I just smiled back at her. I didn’t really know what to say. Kane made me happy too. I never thought things would end up here but I was glad they were. I was glad Kane was in my life. I was surprised when I felt a set of warm lips brush against my cheek and when I turned, I found Kane’s gray eyes and his wide smile.
“Can I have her back now, Maw? Paw is pulling the steaks off the grill and everyone is already sitting at the tables out back. I came in here to get the two prettiest women I know.”
Emma got up from her chair and patted Kane on the cheek. “Such a kiss ass, but I love you anyway.”
I covered my mouth with my hand to hold in my laugh. I never thought I would hear the word ass come out of that little old lady, but boy was it funny. Emma headed out back where everyone was waiting, leaving Kane and me alone in the kitchen.
“So how did it go in here?” he asked as he jumped up on the counter and popped some kind of Emma’s sugary goodness that was sitting in a basket on the counter into his mouth.
I got up from my chair and went to stand between his legs. I just wanted to be near him, to hug him for a minute because of all the pain he’d gone through in his past. I was so happy that after some time he was able to find peace with it all.
When I was tucked between his legs, I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my face in his chest. I hadn’t had a home in quite some time, but whenever I was in Kane’s arms, I felt at home. I felt comfort and peace.
“Not that I am complaining about this, but did something happen? Did my Maw say something to you?”
I just shook my head. I didn’t want to tell him she had revealed some of his past to me. When he was ready to tell me about it, he would. “No. I just missed you and I am happy you brought me here today. Your family is great and I can see why you care about them so much, and it’s obvious they adore you.”
He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose. When he pulled back he looked me in the eyes. “But come on, who wouldn’t adore me though?”
I laughed and shoved his chest hard, catching him by surprise and almost knocking him off the counter.
“What? I was being serious.” He winked.
“Come on, let’s go see if we can eat enough to fill our bellies as big as that head of yours.”
Kane hopped from the counter and wrapped his arms around my waist before lifting me into the air. “I don’t know how I ever went without you in my life, Kelsey Rien, and I sure as hell never want to be without you now that I have you.”
I softly kissed his lips as he held me suspended in the air. I knew exactly what he meant and I made myself a promise right there in his grandmother’s kitchen that I would learn to live again. There was too much good happening in my life right now for me to keep dragging everyone down with me. Like the tiny dandelion seeds, I had longed to be set free. Free from the memories, free from the pain … and the shame. Maybe Kane was that tiny puff of wind I had been waiting for to come and set me free.