Page 110 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
“Do you think it’s serious?” Ryder asked him.
“Not sure how it can be so fast, but I guess we’ll see,” Dan said.
“I guess we will.”
“Line up for shots!” Linda, the owner of Circle Left, roared. She was wearing a magenta saloon girl dress, as she called it, and had her blonde hair high on her head.
“God, I love this town,” Ryder said. “Pick a line, little bro.”
He was soon behind June Matilda and Dee Heckler.
“Not working today, Dee?”
“Nah, me and Red are taking a day off.” She wore what he guessed was one of her children’s Leaders team shirts, and it was so tight, someone must have helped her pull it on. On the bottom, she had on a miniskirt.
“Nice. Enjoy the break, then.”
“Go!” Linda shouted.
Dr. Hannah, thankfully now fully clothed, threw back her shot and belched. Next was Leah’s uncle, and he did the same without the belch. Dee sauntered up, bent and placed her mouth around the glass, straightened, and drank it down without using her hands.
“Badass,” Zoe said from her line.
Dan laughed, drank, ate, and talked with friends and family, feeling lighter inside than he had in years. Not that he’d been feeling bad, but he now realized what he was missing. Leah. But not anymore.
“Do you like me?”
Dan dragged his eyes from the door where he’d been looking for Leah and down to Hudson, who was now standing beside his chair.
“Hey, buddy, of course I do. Why do you ask?”
The boy was looking worried. “I saw you kissing Aunt Leah.”
He got it then. Dan pulled out the chair next to him and patted it. “Take a load off, Hudson, and we’ll talk.”
The boy did as he asked.
“I’ve known your aunt Leah for years, Hudson, and loved her for just as long. We drifted away from each other for a while, and now we’re close again, but that doesn’t mean anything changes for you. In fact, what it means is, you get me as a friend too… if you’ll have me?”
He saw the relief on the boy’s face then, but he was hesitating.
“I really like your aunt, and yes, I want to spend time with her, but that means I want to spend time with you too. I’m hoping you won’t mind if I come into your tree house occasionally?”
No one saw you quite like a kid, Dan thought as Hudson studied him.
“Okay, I’d like that. Plus, Aunt Leah needs a friend, and you’ll look out for her, seeing as you’re a deputy.”
“And you,” Dan added. “I’ll look out for you and your uncle Callum too, if that’s okay with you?”
Hudson nodded. He then got off the chair and headed back to where Ally sat.
“I feel like I just passed some kind of test or really tough job interview.”
“I was sweating for you,” Brody said from across the table. “He’s a cute kid.”
“Who needs to laugh more,” Dan added, thinking that he wanted to be the one to make both Leah and Hudson do that. Looking toward the door, he wondered what was keeping her, and then his phone rang.
Chapter 30
