Page 44 of Promise Me

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

I chuckle and then follow him down the stairs.

“This place really is neat. I wanted to live here once upon a time.”

“Where? In Lovers?”

“No, your apartment. Last I knew, it was empty and vacant, and I was ready to move out of my parents’ house.”

He stops on the stairs to turn and look at me.

I can’t decipher the gaze he gives me, but the wrinkle between his eyes says he’s thinking a little too hard.

But I don’t say anything else, and he shakes his head, and we make our way to the bakery.

I let us in, and we make coffee. I don’t get as emotional as I did yesterday, but even as we hang out, nothing comes back to me on why I did this.

Why would I choose the bakery over my own dream?

“Ready?” Hudson asks, handing me my coffee.

“Would I bask in this?”

“In what?”

“You serving me instead of the other way around?”

He lets out a deep laugh.

“Oh, yeah.”

“Good.”

Our eyes meet, and I can’t help but decide that I like being friends with him a lot more than I like fighting.

We walk out the back door, and Hudson turns left.

“Isn’t the gym this way?”

“We aren’t going to the gym.”

“What? I thought we were working out.”

“We are going for a walk first.”

He’s steps ahead of me, so I jog a little in my flats to catch up.

Just Sadie and Hudson, walking down Main Street, sipping their coffee.

I giggle.

“I’m thinking it, too,” Hudson says. “It’s probably good that the sun is just now coming up, and most people aren’t awake yet.”

“They’d be taking photos like we were royalty walking around. So,” I start and catch him shaking his head. “What?”

“You talk a lot.”

“Me?”

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