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She waves her hand. “Of course I did. We may not be blood, but you and your mama are family.”
Appreciation swells inside me. She may never know how much her welcoming us made mom feel at home. “Thank you.”
Sally pulls me into a warm hug, squeezing me hard, like she wants to force her love into me. “It’ll be okay,” she tells me, then lowers her voice to a whisper. “I hope you’re having fun with those three.”
My mouth falls open, and I pull back to stare at her in shock. Sally chuckles, far too proud of herself, before twinkling her fingers like she’s as innocent as a bunny. “Y’all have fun now,” she says, already digging her phone out of her jacket pocket as she continues down the trail. Her fingers fly across the screen.
“She’s about to tell the whole town she spotted us, isn’t she?” I ask.
“Yup,” Hudson says, shaking his head. “Us picking you up from work was one thing. This is going to have the town chattering for weeks.”
I sigh, worried about what this means for them. “I guess so. Will it impact you guys?”
“In what way?” Cole’s eyebrows pinch together.
“Business wise. I don’t know, what will people think when they try to hire you?” Not to mention, what will Hudson’s dad think? It is his business that might be at risk, after all.
“If they’re worried about who we’re fucking and not the quality of our work, their priorities are all wrong,” Gage says matter-of-factly.
Heat floods my cheeks. “Well, technically, we’re not fucking.”
“Yet,” he says, dropping his arm around my shoulders. His voice drops to a low rumble that makes my knees weak. “But very soon I’ll have that pretty red hair wrapped around my fist. Would you like that?”
Fire races up my neck, and his deep laugh sends electricity straight down my spine. The beautiful fall scenery and rushing waterfall are the last things on my mind.
Chapter Fourteen
HUDSON
After the talk about how me and the guys dating Lily might impact the business, I decided it would be best to share the news with my dad before he found out through the gossip mill. I rap my knuckles on his office door. His head pops up from a pile of paperwork. Construction is rough on a person’s body. His face is weathered and tan from years of working in the sun, but he still looks good for sixty. The way his features light up, the smile accented by wrinkles, remind me of the type of man I want to be.
The kind that laughs and lives, despite life’s hardships.
“Hey, Son. How’s it going?”
I stride into the room, smiling back. “Closer to world domination every day.” Daylight spills in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, bright enough there’s no need for the overhead lights. I take a seat across from him, eyeing the paperwork. “Everything okay?”
“I think so.” He sets a piece of paper down and leans back in his chair. “What’s with the face?”
“What face?” I ask, bristling.
He chuckles. “You forget I can read you like a book. I’m your dad, remember? I have a radar for things like–”
“My face?”
“Serious conversations,” he corrects.
Exhaling, I shake my head. “As much as I want to pretend like you’re wrong, I do have something to talk to you about.”
His grin deepens. “Go on.” Picking up his worn coffee tumbler, which is older than I am, he sips on what is probably his second cup of coffee. The funny thing about parents is that for the most part, they operate on a very consistent schedule, growing into full creatures of habit as they age. Dad gets up an hour before the sun. He stretches, has his first cup of coffee, then waits exactly one hour after finishing that one before getting another.
Unfortunately, because we work together, I also happen to be all too aware of his bathroom cycle. I have about ten minutes before he’s going to have to get up.
Clearing my throat, I look him in the eye. “I’m seeing someone.”
He lifts an eyebrow.
“Lily Emerson.”
