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“I had no idea you knew Erik and Sam.”
“I don’t. I’m just crashing.” When he frowns, I laugh. “Just kidding. One of my girlfriends is good friends with Erik and Sam, and they offered me a place to stay when they heard I was thinking of driving down here.”
“How long are you staying?”
“Two weeks.”Or until my producer calls me about an assignment.“It’s nice being back even if everything’s changed.”
Hudson looks out on the beach. “Not everything. There’s still the beach, for example. The sunsets are still gorgeous, and the volleyball games continue.” He pauses, grinning. “Hey, maybe we can play a game or two while you’re here.Ifyou can still remember how.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Of course it is,” he replies, laughing. “Just don’t pull a muscle.”
He sure is cocky, but I don’t mind it. He’s making me smile, and that’s what matters. “I’ll remember that.”
“I’m having a party tomorrow. You should come by.”
“Hey, Huddy!” A tall man carrying a carton of beer over one shoulder shouts from the Strand. Three women carry trays of food with them, and two men pull coolers behind them. “We got the ribs.”
“Awesome, man. Just pop them on the grill whenever you’re ready.” Hudson turns back to face me. “Care to join us for some ribs? Beer?”
I shake my head. “Thanks, but I already have plans.” My only plan for the rest of the day is to make some popcorn and watch old movies on Erik and Sam’s big-screen TV, but he doesn’t need to know that. “Anyway, really nice seeing you, Hudson.”
“You’re welcome to join us if you want. Anytime,” he says as one of the women, a redhead, wraps her arms around his bare torso. “Oh, hey, Rubes.”
The look she flashes at me is unmistakable.He’s mine.But Hudson seems oblivious. Before he can introduce us, she pulls him into the house. I shrug. Can I blame her? Hudson is gorgeous, and I’d probably have done the same thing if I caught my man talking to some strange woman.
The thought makes me chuckle. Yeah, right. Me, the middle-aged woman staking her claim on her man like that?Nah, been there, done that, changed my life for him, and lost him anyway.
Best to focus on myself and figure out what I really want with my life.
HUDSON
“Who was that?” Ruby asks as we walk into the house. I’d have introduced them, but Ruby was already pulling me inside, saying something about how I wanted my steaks since they got a few pounds of those, too.
In the kitchen, the guys put the drinks in the fridge, talking about the volleyball game that afternoon. I don’t have parties often, but Memorial Day weekend has always been the exception.
“She’s an old friend.” I skip the part where I tell her Arden Royce is one of the best photojournalists in the country, having covered war zones for fourteen years before she quit last year. Or maybe she retired. “She’s staying at the Maystroms for the next two weeks.”
“How come you never mentioned her before?”
I grab a t-shirt I’d draped over the couch earlier and pull it over my head. “What’s there to say? She’s a friend from a long time ago. End of story.”
End of story, my ass.
It’s been twenty years, but I’ve never forgotten the girl who babysat me the summer when I was eight. She was hot then, and boy, is she just as hot now with her dark hair falling over her shoulders and wide brown eyes.
And that smile.
I can still remember how it made me feel weird all over, starting with the butterflies in my stomach that are fluttering to life right now.
“Did you invite her to the party?” Ruby’s voice cuts into my thoughts.
“Of course.” I make my way to the kitchen and help put away the drinks. Ruby and I dated for a few months before realizing it wasn’t working for me, and we agreed to remain friends. She’s too jealous, and when I had to travel for work, I couldn’t handle the texts at all hours of the day and night.
Where are you? Why haven’t you answered my text? Are you with someone else?
It’s a weird situation remaining friends, especially when her jealousy rears its ugly head now and then. But we’ve known each other for years, and she’s been part of my group of friends for just as long.
