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I finally decided to leave the office an hour early because of a huge migraine I had. I headed to my mom’s house. I didn’t normally show up unexpected there, but today was different.
We were by no means the ideal family, but no matter what happened, we were still close. My sisters would meet me there. The one thing I enjoyed about them was that they wouldn’t ask questions if I texted them and told them I needed them. They were just happy I was reaching out to them. We have had many conversations about my pulling away from the family since being back. It was not something I had intended on doing; it just happened.
I stopped on the way and grabbed some groceries, realizing I never ate today. “Hud!” Christina called out.
“Hey, Tina,” I responded with a smile and noticed a tear come out of her eye. I didn’t question why.
“Good to see you, brother,” Kassie said while pecking me on the cheek and taking the rest of the bags.
My mom was sitting at the table, in stunned silence because I never stopped by on the spur of the moment. I didn’t give her time to get upset; I snatched her into a bear hug and stroked the top of her head. “Hey, Mama.”
Tears flowed from her eyes. “My little man.”
I wanted to show Laurel I was not regretting our moment. So, I jerked out my phone and sent her a quick text.
Dinner at my mom’s. You are invited. In an hour.
I hoped she would come because I needed to talk to her about today. We needed to decide what we were going to do.
I’ll bring cheesecake for dessert. See you soon.
A smile took over my face, and they saw. I didn’t know if she had plans tonight but dropping everything to have dinner with my family was sweet. It meant a lot to me.
“You just gonna stand there or help with dinner?” Christina snapped sarcastically.
“How’s the new job going?” I asked while chopping the meat into thin slices.
It took me a minute to realize they were all staring at me. That wasn’t good.
“I got let go a couple of months ago. Still looking.” I didn’t want to push her for details. I felt bad enough for bringing it up. How did I not know about this? Was I that distant from my sisters?
“Sorry about the job. How’s school?” They were all staring at me again. What was wrong with that question? “I graduated two months ago.” What? My sister graduated, and I missed it? I didn’t recall anyone notifying me about it. That wasn’t something I would miss even with how fucked up I was.
“I sent you an invitation, but I know you have so much going on, so I didn’t think you would come.”
That made me feel like the worst brother in the world. Didn’t she think I would want to go? Of course, I would. Graduating from college was a huge accomplishment. I couldn’t help but hug her and apologize for missing one of the grandest ceremonies in her life. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t get the invitation. I don’t check my mail very often. That’s my fault. I wouldn’t have skipped it. You must believe me?”
I could tell by the look on her face that she knew I was being genuine. Did my family really think I was that distanced to where I wouldn’t attend my sister’s graduation? I was not that far gone. The doorbell rang, and my mother hurried to answer it herself. I knew who it was, and it made me smile. She came in with a blue box and handed it to Christina. One thing I knew about her, she was obsessive about sweets. My sisters and Laurel started cracking jokes. It was nice to see my sisters getting along with her. The doorbell rang again, and then I saw Jeremy and Chris. Who invited them? I looked over to Laurel who gave me a wink. She did.
Liam delivered Christina his box of pie, and she requested him to marry her. There she went, always scaring the guests with marriage proposals. It was weird having so many people sitting at my parents’ dinner table.
If this had been three months ago, I would have been highly uncomfortable, but now I felt content. Laurel was sitting next to me, and that kept me calm. I reached for her hand under the table, and her eyes widened with a smile. I knew right then that this was going to work. I needed to stop being so scared of what could happen and just let it. Not everyone was out to hurt me. Laurel sure seemed to care about me, and I needed to stop pushing her away. After many times, she kept coming back. She proved to me she wasn’t going anywhere.
Chapter 16
Laurel
It had been a week since the dinner at Lorelai’s. I was not sure what that dinner did, but Hudson changed. He was smiling, laughing, and just happy. It seemed like he had finally allowed some of his walls down. It is possible he realized that the people here care for him. We wanted him to be happy. Be himself. He could have said that brooding was him, but we knew that wasn’t true. Why did he try to hide his kind side?? It wasn’t exposing weakness. It was displaying strength.
We were currently sitting in Leo’s backyard around a fire. Hudson was going to be okay tonight because Leo was one of his close friends. They were in the military together before he got out. Presently, Leo was a police officer. Hudson didn’t hesitate to come, and that meant progress. Until now, he wouldn’t even go out to lunch with someone. It made him uncomfortable, but today he was sitting next to me with a smile on his face. He was having a good time with his friends. I almost teared up thinking about the man he was a week ago.
All I wanted to do was be close to him. We hadn’t made anything official or slept together yet. We were taking things slow. Neither of us wanted to get hurt, and the fact that he changed his whole persona overnight meant being careful was the best option for both of us.
Fear had never held me back. I was just not one to do that. The only thing that frightened me was the what-ifs. No matter what, what-ifs come up in everyone’s life, but I tried to keep them down to a minimum.
My most tremendous fear was the fact that Hudson at any time could want to go back to the way things were before. That would break me. I’ve had pierced hearts, but I had never been this emotionally attached to someone. I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it. I didn’t know when I first met him that it was going to end up this way, but it did. I couldn’t be more indebted.
All I could think about was what my life would be like if I hadn’t gone for that interview. I would have never grown this relationship with Hudson. Lorelai would have never asked me to open him up and in return save my job. To begin with, I decided to help Lorelai because I could tell she was hurting and just wanted her son back.
