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Her brow arched. “Is that what you’ve been doing?”
I smiled. “I’m trying.”
Sue crossed her arms. “Ya going to put that poor boy out of his misery or what?”
“What?”
“Don’t play coy. The entire restaurant sees the special treatment Hudson gives ya.”
“What are you talking about?” I knew exactly what she was talking about, but I enjoyed aggravating her too.
“Tell me, do ya struggle to carry your plates out?”
“Now that you’ve said it…” I waved my arm around, pretending it hurt by pinching my brows together. “I do struggle.”
When I smiled, she smirked and then shook her head.
“I need to check on my tables,” I told her, and she shooed me off.
I hesitated as I ventured back over to the weird old dude’s booth. He followed my movement with his gaze as I stopped in front of him. He’d already ordered food and dessert, but I kept returning every so often to offer more drinks. When he refused everything, I asked if he was ready for his bill.
“This is a nice set up you have here.” I frowned at his odd comment while he glimpsed around the restaurant. “You can fool some people, but not everyone.” He glared at me.
I stepped back, confused. “Excuse me?”
He adjusted his ballcap. “I’ll take that check now.”
I nodded, my stomach feeling queasy as I hurried to print his receipt. The quicker he paid, the faster he left. Returning to his booth, I placed the paper in front of him. “Here you go, sir. I hope everything was to your liking.”
“Oh, it was,” he said with a hint of malice. “I definitely got what I came for.”
I didn’t understand the man’s attitude, and it made me nervous. There was no way I was going back to his table. I asked Loretta to pick up the cash from him, but he still caught me by the door as he was leaving. “Enjoy it while it lasts, Eugene.”
My heart froze in my chest as I watched him leave. My nametag said Genie.
???
Could I have a stalker? Did he have something to do with Danny’s case?
I could be overthinking the way the old man had been looking at me. But how could I mistake someone’s obvious hatred? That was the first day in a while that I’d had to run to the bathroom because of my stomach. My nerves were on edge the rest of my shift, which only caused the grumble in my belly to worsen.
Home.
No, the cabin might be where I laid my head down, but home was—
My door creaked open, so I peeled my blanket off and sat up on my bed.
“Every light was off when I came in.” Hudson’s brows knitted together. “What’s wrong?”
“Stomachache,” I said, which wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t the whole truth. A huge part of me wanted to confide in Hudson about what happened. But the little voice in my head convinced me otherwise. It reminded me how much Hudson did for me. I didn’t want to add one more thing because that might be what finally made Hudson see how much trouble I could be. I didn’t want to be a pain for him. All I wanted to do was cuddle with him, talk about our days, and let him bury himself deep inside me. My feelings were impossible to ignore. There was no denying them. I was wholeheartedly in love with Hudson.
He was good. There is nothing like the men from the past, especially Jared.
But just because Hudson was a good man shouldn’t mean I should bother him constantly. In my head, I pictured the screen door at Gran’s old trailer. I remembered how often it opened and closed. Every visit from a family was for something. No one came to see Gran otherwise. My heart ached at the idea of treating Hudson or anyone the way I watched Gran be treated. I refused to be a burden or ask for anything. All I wanted was to be near him.
Besides, the old creep might not be anything to worry about. If he showed up at Homestyle again, I’d let someone else take his order. There was no point in annoying Hudson.
I smiled as he hurried over and dropped down beside me. “Fuck.” He put his hand on my forehead. “Did I get you sick, baby?”
