Page 104 of The New Guy
“But I’m going to learn,” he says. “I have to get through the playoffs. And then I have to go to L.A. for a few weeks to work with some fitness guru my father loves.”
“Okay,” I say patiently. He’d mentioned that before.
“July, though.” His voice perks up. “The team will do a bunch of contract renewals over the summer, and I’m hoping to get one of them. And when the ink is dry, that’s when I sit down with the team and say—guys, there’s something you should know about me. That’s my plan—go straight in. No warning management, no PR huddle. I’m going to shoot first and ask questions later.”
“Wow,” I whisper. Because I can picture it. The guys sitting around in the dressing room, and Hudson standing there with a serious expression in his brown eyes. The team will listen. They’ll give him what he needs—their attention and support. I know they will. “That could be life-changing for you.”
“I know!” He actually laughs. “And then we can navigate the problem of your conflict of interest at work. You and I can sit down with Henry, if that’s okay with you.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Yeah, I could do that. He might help us find a work-around. I actually, uh…I looked into switching to the women’s team.”
“Really? That never occurred to me.”
“Well, don’t get too excited. Their season is so much shorter than the men’s that the job wouldn’t pay me a living wage. I’d have to get a second job…”
Hudson lets out an unhappy grunt. “No way. Okay, so that’s not the answer. But we’ll think of something.”
The fact that he wants to fills me with hope. “Be well, okay? You should sleep now.”
“You could come over and kiss me good night,” he says in a flirty voice.
“Hudson…”
“Kidding!” I can feel his gravelly chuckle in my belly. “Good night, hottie. I’ll go to sleep now, so I can score some more goals for you tomorrow night.”
“I’ll be watching,” I promise.
We hang up, and I lie down in bed and think of him lying in the bigger bedroom on the other side of the wall.
Some day maybe we’ll take a sledgehammer to it and break that wall down.
* * *
I register Jordyn for the camp, and then show her the welcome letter.
“Oh Daddy,really?” she squeaks happily. “I get to go? To Bella and Lila’s camp?”
“That’s right. But now it’s your camp, too.”This year, anyway. I don’t tell her that Hudson helped us. On the one hand, I feel like a jerk for taking all the credit. But I don’t know how I’d even explain it.
He’s busy, anyway. Brooklyn wins game two and then loses game three, in Philly. They stay down there, too, gearing up together for game four.
Hudson has shone in every game, though. It’s not overkill to say that he’s dominating. One sports writer even put it like this:Hudson Newgate has been a shining star of Brooklyn’s deep defensive bench.
I’m thrilled for him. He’s finally getting the attention he’s worked so hard for.
On the evening of game four, another courier arrives at my door. This time there’s a box with a cheesecake from a nearby Italian restaurant. Plus three tickets to game five—even Reggie gets a seat.
Dreaming of you, says the ticket envelope. I hide it in my sock drawer, like a teenager with a crush.
Then I text him my thanks for the cheesecake and the tickets.
That restaurant is my favorite, he replies.Have you been there?
Nope.
How about I make a reservation for two, for the week before preseason games start? By then I will have made my big announcement, and we’ll have had a chance to talk to Henry.
My heart bounces around inside my chest.Sounds like a fun date.
