Page 36 of Hudson

I sink into my seat and struggle to breathe.Holy shit.Hudson bought me butterflies.

18

HUDSON

Ilook at the time, nerves dancing in my chest, knowing that the delivery I had organized was just dropped off to the distillery. It has been a few days since our date, and I have purposefully kept busy, because if I don’t, I’m likely to want to see her every damn day. Our little text banter just now has me floating on cloud nine, but I need to keep cool. If I move too fast, it will have her running from me. I need to go slow and steady with Lacy.

“So your date went well, then?” my brother, Huxley, says from the other end of the phone. He has been trying to get it out of me for the entire call, my mother obviously filling him in on the details that she knows.

“It was great,” I say, not wanting to deep dive into it with him just yet.

“And…” he teases, and I laugh at him, trying to relax my wound-up body, but my knee is bouncing nervously under my desk.

“Shit, was that a laugh? Did you just laugh?” my brother teases again.

“I laugh all the time.” I scoff at him as I shuffle some paperwork to distract myself.

“You haven’t laughed like that in a long time,” he says honestly, and I pause, frowning. He’s right. The amount of smiling and laughing I have been doing since I moved back to Whispers has far surpassed anything in the last few years. The realization of that fact is somewhat sobering. I never regret anything in life, but I now understand that I haven’t been myself for a long time, and it feels good to be back.

“I think I’m coming out the other side of things.” I sigh, leaning back in my chair. “Amanda was great, obviously. I learned to love her, and we went through a lot. Shit, I have Harvey because of her, but…” I pause, trying to gather my thoughts.

“But what?” Huxley pushes me, and I roll my head to release the built-up tension in my shoulders.

“I just didn’t have this instant power pull toward her like I find with Lacy,” I admit. “I can’t explain it. I just find Lacy so refreshing, so interesting, so fun to be around, and so engaging.”And smart, sexy, witty, caring—God, the list goes on.

“You married Amanda because it was the right thing to do. You promised her that you will look after Harvey, and you loved her as best you could in the time you had together. But now you are older, maybe a little bit wiser. You know what you want, what you need, and if Lacy is making you feel again, then I say go for it,” my brother tells me, and I think about his words.

“You don’t think age is a problem here? I mean, she is fresh out of college,” I tell him, scrubbing my face, knowing that is something the town is going to really sink their teeth into.

“What is she? Twenty-three, twenty-four? I don’t know her well, but I know her well enough to say that she is more mature than most thirty-year-olds I meet. She has her head on right. She’s smart, confident, not to mention, totally stunning. She is the whole package, and I think you would be stupid to let her go.”

“Harvey loves her too.” My son talks about her all the time, and knowing he is at the distillery with her now fills me with joy.

“So you have already introduced them?” my brother asks. By the tone in his voice, I can picture him leaning back in his office chair with a smirk on his face.

“No, they’ve met before, through Mom mostly, I think.” Seeing their connection to each other is another thing that makes this so much easier. It won't be weird or awkward to talk about the fact I have a son and introduce them because that is a bridge that has already been crossed.

“Well, that’s one battle you don’t need to even worry about, then,” Huxley says, and I nod, even though he can’t see me.

“What about Amanda’s family? Something tells me they won’t like me moving on, especially with someone so young.” I say the next thing on my mind, because while I never broadcasted my previous dates to them, if I continue dating Lacy and bring Melody to Whispers to care for her mom, then my former in-laws are going toknow about it all soon enough. I’m not entirely sure what they are going to think. Amanda was their pride and joy, and I feel like they will take it as a breach of trust or like I’m hurting Amanda’s legacy or something.

“You just need to ask yourself if those people are going to continue to dictate your life, or whether you are going to live your life for how it is best for you and your son. They kept you in LA all this time, purely because they made you feel bad whenever you wanted to leave. They didn’t want you to take Harvey away, even though they didn’t seem to give a fuck about him. But I can tell you now, I think you already know the answer.”

I think on this point and, again, he’s right. Her family has dictated life for me since Amanda passed, and I just haven’t really seen it until now. Their constant calls, their intrusions at Harvey’s school, calling the nannies constantly, yet simultaneously never wanting to spend any quality time with him.

“It’s early days yet,” I tell him, pulling away from the seriousness of this conversation. We have been on one date. I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

“Maybe… so where are you taking her next?” my brother asks, and I scoff.

“She’s a foodie… She’s going to New York for work soon…” There are great restaurants in New York. I have a penthouse there that I use sparingly throughout the year.

“Dinner in the city, I love it.” The decision is obviously made in his mind. I don’t admit to him that I have already called a few surrounding doctors to see if they have availability to cover for me for a few days. Not ideal, since I just arrived here over a month ago, but they weremore than willing, so at least the town will be covered medically while I try to win Lacy’s heart.

“Alright, I need to go. I have ten minutes until my next appointment,” I tell him, feeling a little more settled after speaking to him.

“It’s good to hear you laugh again, Hudson. I’ve missed it.”

“It is a good feeling,” I tell him honestly, just as I hear commotion out the front.

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