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“I didn’t see you watching.”
“I was there. You guys worked your butts off.”
Liam dropped his gear and walked over, peering around Hudson at the display case. Hudson saw the moment when realization hit. Wasn’t hard to miss. Liam’s eyes grew as big as saucers, and he began mumbling, “No way, no way.”
“Is that…” Liam pointed to the rookie shot, his mouth open, expression pretty much priceless. “You guys have the same last name.”
Hudson nodded. “Travis is my younger brother.”
“Holy crap. How come no one said anything?” The kid was practically dancing. “Mom.” Liam was so loud several people turned. “Travis Blackwell is Hudson’s brother.”
Hudson spied Rebecca just behind Liam, chatting with another mother. She nodded, her gaze not quite meeting his before she turned back to whatever it was the woman was saying. She was putting on her public face. He couldn’t take it personally.
“He’s like, amazing. Like a ninja between the pipes.” Liam stood beside Hudson, his face full of awe.
Hudson looked back at the photo. “Yeah. He’s kind of great.”
Something hit him square in the chest. Something harsh and painful. The photos of Travis reminded him of everything he’d lost. Of a mother taken much too soon and a father who’d retreated from the world, brought down by guilt and pain. Of brothers he’d lost touch with and a community he’d been entrenched in. They’d been a family once. They’d been happy. They’d been everything he wanted for himself.
Hudson was thirty-five years old, and while a lot of folks would look at him and see success…all he saw was failure. He had no family. No wife and kids. He had a career he was damn good at, but did it make him happy?
He used to think so. And maybe at one point, it had. Maybe back then, it was all he needed. But now? Now he wasn’t so sure.
“What do you think?”
Startled, he glanced down at Liam.
“What was that?”
“I was just wondering if, like, he ever comes home? Like maybe for Thanksgiving?”
Hudson slowly shook his head. He knew what Liam was getting at. “No. I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
“Oh.” Liam was disappointed. “That’s too bad.”
“Yeah,” he murmured. “It is.”
“Liam?”
They both turned as Rebecca approached them. As always, Hudson was struck by her natural beauty. By the clarity in her eyes. The soft curve of her cheek and the gentle swell of her lips. She’d pulled her hair back into a simple ponytail and was makeup free. Dressed in jeans, brown boots, and a thick cream-colored turtleneck, she looked younger than her years.
She cleared her thr
oat, avoiding Hudson’s eyes, and patted her son on the back. “We need to get going, hon. If you want to get to the comic book store before it closes.”
“Okay.” Liam turned back to Hudson. “Thanks for coming to my game.”
“You guys did good.”
“Come on, Liam.”
Rebecca didn’t look at him. She grabbed her son and offered a wave before shepherding him out of the arena. Just like that, he’d been dismissed. This was what they were, he and Rebecca. Two people who fucked and had some fun, but under the cover of darkness. In the harsh light of day, he didn’t belong.
His mood dark, Hudson left the arena. He nodded to a few people he knew, but didn’t stop to chat. He wasn’t in the mood, and he didn’t have time. Regan Thorne had left a message on his cell, and he was already five minutes late for a meeting at the hospital.
Snow began to fall by the time he reached Crystal Lake Memorial. It melted as soon as it hit his windshield, but still, it signaled a turn of the season. He hunched his shoulders against the wind and headed inside. The now-familiar path to his father’s room was littered with people he’d come to know, nurses, porters, and clerks, but he ignored them all. He didn’t have it in him to make polite conversation.
He spied Regan at the nurses station. She was on the phone and indicated she’d meet him in his father’s room. When he got there, he was surprised to find Darlene at his father’s side, though John was fast asleep. Instantly concerned, he crossed the room.
