Page 72 of Promise Me

He turns from slicing onions and tomatoes. His eyes fall to the beer in my hand.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re going to take this away from me too.”

He chuckles and shakes his head.

“Nope. You’re a grown woman, Sadie—you can make your own choices.”

He says it so calmly that the next question comes out of my mouth before I can’t think twice about it.

“Is that why you haven’t pestered me to move back home?”

He nods slowly. “Partly. On the one hand, I’d love nothing more than to be here with you each day while you recover, but on the other hand, I also know you well enough not to push you. Plus, Hudson’s a good man. I trust that he’s taking just as good of care of you as I or your brother would.”

Yeah, he is. I wish he’d take a little better care of me in other areas, but that’s probably not something to share with my dad.

“He is a good man.” I let my gaze drift to where Hudson and Linc are by the garden. Linc is probably gushing over the tomato plants again. He does this every year, even before Mom passed, so I know I didn’t miss anything in that area.

What I did miss was the way Hudson is standing. Such confidence. The way his entire body owns the space he’s in. Not to mention the jeans he picked out today. They fall straight over his legs, but they hug his butt in just the right places. He reaches back to scratch his neck.

He has big hands, and those fingers would?—

Dad clears his throat, and I nearly jump out of my own skin.

“Dad!” I place a hand over her heart. “What?”

“It’s not polite to stare, Sadie.”

“I wasn’t staring.”

“Mm-hmm. Just help me take this outside. Dinner is almost ready.”

Soon enough, the four of us are all sitting at the table eating dinner, sharing stories of who snuck out better in high school. Then, of course, after story time, I crush all three of them in a friendly game of poker.

The loser has to do the dishes.

Linc’s favorite.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Dad asks as he hugs me goodbye.

I spot a picture of me and him on the mantel and sigh. I have no idea when that was taken.

“Not tonight.”

He leaves it at that.

“Bye, Linc!” I shout toward the kitchen, where the water is running.

“Goodbye!” he yells back in a grumpy tone.

“See you soon, Mr. Collins.” Hudson shakes my dad's hand.

Once we are out the front door and back in his truck, I relax into his seat. I was fine until I saw that picture. For a brief moment, I was so caught up in the night and the company that I forgot I’d forgotten so much.

“How do you feel?” Hudson asks as we pull onto the road. It’ll be a quick drive, but I’m glad we drove instead of walking.

“Fine.”

“Fine?” he repeats. “Fine, as in this is where you strike up an argument, or fine, as in it wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad?”

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