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Something warmed inside of me when I heard him refer to Grandpa the way the rest of us did instead of by his first name. Most people in town called him Weston, but all of the kids in my generation and younger called him Grandpa even if he wasn’t their own grandfather. I knew how much it meant to Grandpa since he wasn’t blood relations with anyone in Hobie, and it meant even more to Doc that everyone treated him as if he were.
“Maybe when I move back to the city, I’ll have to find a place with a yard,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood. “Since I’m sure you’re going to force one of those ugly-ass collie-coons on me.”
Charlie took a swipe at me with the back of his hand, catching me in the gut. “You’ll take more than one, Hudson Wilde. If it’s a big litter, you’re taking as many as I say.”
Seeing the partial smile on his face helped me let go of the stress of the situation. I grinned back at him and gave him a salute. “Yes, sir. As you wish.”
I caught Grandpa’s eye over Charlie’s head and noticed him wink at me. I wondered if he was able to see past my lame attempt at casual friendliness and see just how much my heart was beating out of my chest for the man beside me. If anyone knew how torn up inside I was about him, there would be no end to the ribbing I’d get from my siblings. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like if my family discovered I wasn’t straight after all. The questions, the intrusion into my privacy… all of it would make me the center of attention in a way that horrified me to think of.
I cleared my throat. “Stevie, you need a ride back to town?”
He shook his head and gestured vaguely toward the barn. “Thanks, sugar, but I drove. I’ll be going.” He sniffed and looked forlornly at Charlie. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to deflower your sweet Mama.”
Charlie met Stevie’s eyes for a beat before blowing out a breath and yanking the younger guy into an embrace. “Oh for fuck’s sake. It was an accident,” he muttered. “Sorry I gave you the what for.”
Of course that set Stevie off again, only this time he wailed happy tears. “Oh my god you’re the sweetest thing ever. You think maybe we could get a coffee together sometime? You’re kind of disgustingly beautiful, and the two of us together might blind people. Hobie could stand a good old-fashioned blinding.”
Charlie laughed, and I turned around quickly to keep from doing something stupid like grabbing the beautiful Irishman and running for the hills to keep him all to myself. I couldn’t remember a time I’d ever felt so possessive of anyone in my entire life. Not even Darci.
I couldn’t deny my feelings for the man weren’t going away anytime soon. It was harder and harder to convince myself not to act on my attraction.
Instead of standing around watching Stevie flirt with the Irishman, I mumbled a good night before turning and making my way back to the cabin. I’d left Darci fixing us something for dinner in the small cabin kitchen.
When I returned, she was serving up a couple of giant plates of salad. It looked like she’d used every vegetable in my fridge and even found some fish filets in the freezer to go on top of it. I opened up a bottle of wine and filled our glasses before digging in.
“Thanks for making this. You didn’t have to,” I said before taking another bite. “But it’s really good.”
She smiled. “You’re the only man I know who’ll accept a salad as a main course.”
I shrugged. “That’s what you get with a couple of doctors in the family, but we both know if you weren’t here, I’d be having a bowl of cereal with a cookie chaser,” I said with a wink in her direction.
She sighed and put down her fork. “Do you think you could ever give me another chance, Hudson?”
My own fork clattered against my plate before I almost flipped my wineglass onto the floor. By the time I made sure nothing was going to topple over, Darci’s eyes were as big as Frisbees.
I coughed. “I… I mean… I didn’t expect you to say that. It kinda caught me off guard.”
“I miss being with you. You’re a good man, Hudson. I should have realized it at the time.” Her eyes went down to gaze into her glass of wine. “I feel like an idiot. Just because you weren’t ready to get married doesn’t mean I should have broken up with you like that.”
My heart hammered in my chest, and I wondered at it. Was her plea something I wanted?
