Page 40 of Amelia and Her Prince Charming
“Would you rather live in a rom com or a musical?” Lia was asking Rosie as I gently set the dog down and closed the bathroom door.
Rosie let out an agonized cry of protest. “That’s an impossible choice!”
I laughed and stared at my reflection in the mirror. My cheeks were flushed from laughter. My hair was mussed from rolling around in the forest, and I plucked a stray leaf from my braid. I was happy. Really, really happy.
I pulled out my phone to check my messages. Anita had sent me and Hudson a picture of Quinn curled up next to her on the couch, in the middle of Quinn’s favorite princess movie. The second picture showed Quinn blowing me a kiss.
I took a picture of myself blowing a kiss and sent it back.
A few seconds later, another picture came in, this one of Hudson, wide-eyed, both hands pressed to his cheeks as if he’d caught our kisses. I stared at him, and the happiness in me expanded.
Anita sent another picture of Quinn, this time with her eyes dramatically closed, with her hand over her heart. I snorted out a laugh. That girl was a ham and a delight. Hudson sent back another picture, this time all the men at the bachelor party making hearts with their hands.
If the women of the world could see this picture. That many hot men making heart-hands to make my little girl smile? Yet my attention was only for one of them.
Lia and Rosie were in a quiet conversation when I hobbled out of the bathroom, so I joined Charlie and Lily in the kitchen. They’d all been friends all through childhood, despite their ages. Shiloh had even had a crush on Dylan’s sister, Lily, and hadfigured he’d wait for her to grow up and then he’d go back home and marry her. Then he’d met me instead, and the rest was history.
Charlie slid a bunch of bananas over to me to cut while she and Lily debated if it would be better to sleep in a haunted house or swim in shark-infested waters.
“We swim in shark infested waters every time we go in the ocean,” Charlie argued. I listened to their debate, and for the first time, I wondered if I could move to Winterhaven. I’d love to be near Shiloh’s parents. And to have friends like this close by. Maybe they even had an opening at the high school for an English teacher. Quinn would absolutely love it here.
And we’d be closer to Hudson. But was that a good or bad thing? My heart sang that it would be amazing. My stomach wasn’t so sure.
“Did Shiloh ever tell you about the time he, Hudson, and Dylan spent the night in that old cabin you guys were in, determined to prove if it was haunted?” Lily asked me.
“No.”
“They never said it, but it freaked them all out, and they swore up and down it was haunted. Hudsonhatesthat island now.”
I stopped cutting the banana to look at her. “No, he doesn’t. He loves it there. He convinced the Forresters to buy it and made them promise not to tear that cabin down. He thinks it’s a beautiful story.”
Both women stared at me.
“What?”
Lily set the ice cream scoop down. “Did he actually say ‘beautiful’ story?”
I shrugged. I couldn’t remember his exact words, but it was definitely something similar. “Hudson is a romantic,” I informed them.
“Hudson?” Charlie’s eyes were wide. “The quiet man who hardly has more than two words to say to any of us when he's in town?”
“The man who shows no mercy on the softball field every spring?” Lily added.
“Yes,” I said, feeling a little defensive for him, though I was intrigued about the softball thing. I hadn’t seen him be super competitive, maybe because Shiloh always won, it wasn’t worth being too competitive with him.
“Huh,” Charlie said, and then a slow grin slid across her face. “How else is he romantic?”
I could feel the tell-tale heat spread across my cheeks, broadcasting my crush on him.
“Wait.” Lily moved even closer, so the three of us were in a whispered huddle. “Do you have a thing for Hudson?”
I opened and closed my mouth like a fish. What were my feelings for Hudson? I wanted to kiss him again. All the time. I missed him when he wasn’t close. I loved talking to him and being in the same room with him. It was taking all my self-control not to pull up the picture of him holding his hands to his cheeks and stare at it.
If I said no, I’d be lying. But if I said yes, I might lose the respect of these women I was starting to think of as friends. Their loyalties would lie with Shiloh, even if he was gone.
Charlie threw Lily a look I couldn’t interpret. “Let’s start with an easier question,” she said kindly. “Do you find Hudson attractive?”
I nodded.
