Page 75 of Pictures in Blue
He chuckles. “Yes, we have a lot of those. But, if this is what I get out of them meddling, I think I like it that way.” I don’t respond and try not to think of the weight behind his words.
“Do you have festivals?” I ask.
“Tons of them. Way too many if you ask me, but it’s a way to bring extra money into the town.”
“You have yourselves a regular Stars Hollow here.”
He lets out a guttural laugh. “Stars Hollow has nothing on Blue Grove. Trust me.”
I scoff in surprise. “You’ve seen Gilmore Girls? You’re kidding me, right?”
Hudson levels me with a glare. “Sunshine, I grew up with two younger sisters and my mom. Of course, I have seen Gilmore Girls. More times than I care to admit.”
I count off my fingers. “Flannel, grumpy, a hermit, all you’re missing is a backwards baseball cap to fully complete your transformation into Luke Danes.”
“I have one in my closet for that” he quips.
“Mmmmm, I like the sound of that.”
“Let’s see, in the summer we don’t have much going on with festivals. Just a lot of people coming into the area for hiking and camping,” he continues, fully ignoring my comment. I’m not going to let him forget it though. No way am I going back to California without the very real image of him in that hat. Maybe I’ll raid his closet later.
“But in October, we have a Halloween weekend festival and the town goes all out. We have a haunted house in the mechanic shop and Axel makes it his goal to have someone leaving screaming for their life. Elias usually. He’s a big scaredy cat. But when the kids go through, he has a more mild version for them. And endless amounts of candy that the parents are never super thankful for. But the kids rave about it for at least a week afterward.”
I picture Hudson dressed up as some kind of scary monster hiding behind a mask, but the image that comes to mind is him guiding a mini superman through the house, his hand completely enveloping the boy’s as he whispers to him that nothing scary will pop out.
“And then there’s the annual hayride around the town that Frank hosts.”
“Frank?” I blurt out. “Frank from the bar? He hosts an annual hayride? Willingly?”
Hudson nuzzles me closer. “Yes. He’s an old grump, but he has a soft spot when it comes to the holidays. And he knows the kids love the yearly tradition of bouncing up and down with sticks of hay up their butts.”
I laugh at the image. “Who knew you took after Frank.”
“I do not take after Frank,” Hudson says in a mocking defensive tone. “I’m the actual town grump. He’s the one who’s soft around the edges.”
“You like to think of yourself that way, don’t you?” I ask, raising my head up an inch to meet his eyes. “I see you, Hudson.” I didn’t mean to turn the conversation into something deeper, but I want Hudson to see himself the way I see him. The way I know the rest of the town sees him.
He reaches down to peck a too-quick kiss on my lips and continues.
“Then there’s the fall festival, which is different from the Halloween one. This one is actually in the middle of November and is filled with your typical fall stuff. Caramel apples, apple pie, warm apple cider, finding the crunchiest leaf.”
“The crunchiest leaf?” I ask
“Yeah, we make it a big competition each year. Whoever finds the crunchiest leaf that year gets to take home all of Fran’s day-after-Thanksgiving goodies. Almost none of the town shops for food after Thanksgiving and Fran usually stays closed that weekend, so she stocks the town’s favorites and lets the winner raid the shelves. It’s actually pretty stiff competition, especially among the kids, but Ethan and I have a standing win for the last two years.”
I hold up my hand and start counting on my fingers. “Okay, so there’s the Halloween festival, the fall festival, so I’m assuming there’s a winter festival?”
“Yep, in January. We have every winter-themed activity you can think of. Snow cones, sledding, a snowman-building contest—”
“Thatone you got from Gilmore Girls.”
“Guilty,” he says and his face turns somber. “It was actually Sarah’s idea. We’ve just kept it going the past three years and all of the money we raise we donate to breast cancer foundations.”
“And do you and Ethan win that one too?”
“Oh no, definitely not. Our snowmen are shit every year, but we participate anyway to boost morale. And Ethan enjoys it. The winners of those are actually Fran and Cordie usually.”
“You’re kidding?” I say, surprised.
