Page 63 of Pictures in Blue
She has insomnia and continues to tell me how lucky I am that she doesn’t call me at 2 a.m. when she’s bored. I’d block her number if she followed through with that plan. At least put her on ‘do not disturb’ until after the trip. I should stop at Fran’s and hand her off to her or Cordie. I have a feeling the three of them would get along swell.
“Are you okay?” I hear Charlotte ask. I hold the phone up so I can see her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just ran into someone. Literally.”
“Who?” She asks and I can feel my cheeks redden. I just hope Hudson doesn’t notice it in the dim lighting coming from the front entrance of the bar.
“Oh, nevermind. I can see you’re blushing. Hellooooo Mountain Man!” She yells louder and I can feel the heat flare in my cheeks, deepening what I am sure is a very obnoxious and now clearly noticeable blush. “Avery,” I hear Charlotte say quietly. “You’re staring,” she saysnotso quietly.
I’m going to kill her. And then I remember I can just hang up on her, the beautiful, big red button now singing its siren song and I gladly allow myself to be pulled into its depths.
“Charlotte, I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“You better,” she manages to get in before I hit the end call button. I swear she’s going to pay. Some form of revenge is in order. Maybe I’ll get Fran and Cordie to help me. They’ll know what to do.
“I’m sorry again. For this,” I gesture to me and them. “And for her,” I hold up my phone, now a black screen.
“It’s okay, Dory!” says Ethan.
Right, Dory. I almost forgot our game. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Avery.” I hold out my hand to him.
He laughs. “I’m Ethan.” He says taking my hand, playing along. “And this is my Uncle Hudson.”
I glance at his uncle who is making an effort to look anywhere but me. “We’ve met. He actually took me on a hike yesterday.”
“Cool!” he says. “Hey, do you like dogs?”
“I love dogs. Why?”
“Because you’re staying with Uncle Hud and he has five of them.”
Staying withwhonow? I think I might have just had a heart attack. A heart palpitation? Heart murmur? Whatever it is, my heart has stopped beating. “Wait, what?” This kid needs to rewind.
“He has five golden retrievers. They’re all super friendly and like to take up the whole bed!” He spreads his arms as wide as they can go completely oblivious to the tension in the air.
I look at Hudson, whose eyes are on the concrete below him like if he concentrated on that spot hard enough it would crack open and swallow him whole. If only it would take me too.
Finally, he lifts his eyes to meet mine and I can physically feel my stomach flip. I’m on a rollercoaster and it just went down the steepest of inclines. “The town likes to meddle,” he says, in a way of explanation. I give him a questioning stare and he waves it off like it’s no big deal.
It’s a big deal and Charlotte is going to lose her shit tomorrow when I call her.
“Don’t worry about it. The point is, you have a room at my place until the inn’s roof is fixed, which most likely won’t happen until you’re gone. I have plenty of spare rooms and I work odd hours so you probably won’t even see much of me. It’ll be like your own cabin.”
“Oh,” I say, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. I may not want to start anything romantically, but having him around as a friend might be nice.
“Well, thank you,” I say, still pondering the logistics of me somehow ending up at Hudson’s cabin. Of all places.
“Okay, I’ll see you guys later!” Ethan calls before he starts heading back inside.
Hudson grabs his shoulder. “Not so fast, traitor. What do you mean, you’ll see us later? You and your dad are coming for dinner.”
“Sorry, Uncle Hud,” he says in a sly tone. “Grandma and Grandpa asked us to stay and help around the house for a few days so that’s where we’ll be.”
“You just said you were having dinner with me!” Hudson exclaims.
He shrugs his shoulders. “Forgot. Sorry!” he calls back as he starts to run toward his dad.
I don’t thinkthatwas part of the plan. From the look on Hudson’s face, I’d say none of this was part of the plan.
