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“Yes,” he said. “I knew right away. I didn’t want her to feel like the third wheel. And the fact she was upset I was moving out was just another reason I knew it was right for Hudson. Delaney didn’t even have a place to stay. She was living in the hospital-leased apartment. She couldn’t find an affordable place on the island when she first took the job.”
Never once did Delaney ask Hudson for anything and it only annoyed his brother. Guess they were both bound to end up with women like that.
“Did she move in when you moved out?”
“No. She didn’t move in for months. She’s very independent. But I knew I had to get out of the way and let them work that out. I didn’t want to be the reason they might not.”
Not that he thought that would be the case, but best not to risk it either.
“So you and Brynn are fighting at this point?”
“That and more. She’s making threats again. She didn’t have a lot of family around, but I was moving. The lease was up on our place and she refused to move with me back to Boston.”
Laine frowned. “Did she end up homeless? Or did she bank on you changing your mind?”
“There was no changing my mind. Two months before the lease expired I put my foot down and told her to make a decision. I was going and she could stay and I’d extend the lease for six months for her to find a place. I knew it might not be easy.”
“I bet she didn’t like hearing that. I think if someone told me that, I’d know right away it wasn’t going to work out even if I followed them. Not if you could just say come or stay. It’s like you didn’t love her enough.”
“Looking back, I don’t think I did. Toward the end, no. But I was willing to try and make it work.”
“A sympathy relationship? Even more ouchies. No way.”
“She wasn’t you and never would be. I moved and didn’t look back. I felt like an ass but knew it was the right decision. She stayed in the apartment for those extra six months.”
“She lived off of you?” she asked.
“It is what it is. She moved out a week before the lease was up and I hadn’t talked to her until a few weeks prior. I moved on and she did too. I found out she was dating someone who’d moved into the place.”
“That’s an insult,” she said.
“It was done with,” he said. “I did what I thought was right. I don’t want regrets either.”
“Explain the whole comment on not rushing for years and rushing again?”
“My mother pointed out that for years I rushed. It’s who I was. Kind of like you. I just did what I wanted because it was fun. It felt right. After Brynn I stopped.”
“You stopped being who you were,” she said softly. “No one should make you give up what makes you the person you are.”
“No,” he said, moving closer to her and putting his arms around her from behind. “No one should. And then came you into the ER with a broken finger after a night out at the Idiot Club. I was back to being the person I used to be with the years in between wiped out.”
She leaned her head back and he kissed her on the lips. “I think we are both messed up in some people’s eyes, but as long as we understand each other that is all that matters.”
“That’s right,” he said. “And when you get a chance, I updated your list.”
She put the spoon down she had in her hand and pulled her phone out.
“Really,” she said. “Get arrested. Spend time in jail.”
“You noticed I added them and crossed them off.”
“Not sure I wanted them on my list to begin with, but life is full of living.”
“The stories you’ll have to tell in the future,” he said.
He wanted to add stories to his children but that might have crossed the line from rushing to sprinting. He’d just take what he could get for now.
35
