Oh my, how I loved those four words. “I love you too.”
He wrapped his fingers around mine, and we walked back into my parents’ house.
“Is everything okay?” Kyle asked. Everyone else looked at Hudson, then me.
“Everything is amazing, thanks to Hudson,” I said. “He’s the mystery man who purchased the building.”
I almost laughed when my parents turned to Hudson with stunned expressions. Kyle and Aiden didn’t seem surprised, so I figured they had already guessed who the buyer was.
Hudson shrugged and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I need to run.”
He waved his hand, quickly making his escape while everyone was still stunned into silence. When the front door shut, Aiden started to laugh.
“Wait, did you just say Hudson bought your building?” my father asked.
Kyle chuckled and mumbled, “I knew it.”
I nodded. “He did. He bought it for me. I mean, I’m going to pay him back, but he bought it so I could keep the bookstore right where it is.”
My mother let out what sounded like a strangled laugh. “Isn’t that the most romantic thing ever?!”
Daddy walked over to the window and looked out. He folded his arms over his chest and chuckled. “I knew I liked that boy.”
Hudson
A week later, I returned to New York City to break the news to Russ that I wasn’t going to be living in the Big Apple anymore, and that some major changes were occurring in my life. He sat at his desk and stared at me with a dumbfounded expression. He opened his mouth a few times to speak, only to shut it again, shaking his head as if trying to gather his thoughts.
Smiling, I asked, “Are you going to say anything?”
He drew in a breath and slowly exhaled. “I’m trying to process all this, Hudson. You just dumped a mother lode of information on me.”
I sat back, crossed an ankle over my knee, and waited.
Russ, who had been my literary agent since I’d published my first book and was one of my closest friends, pinched the bridge of his nose and dropped back in his chair. “Let me see if I got all of this straight. You finished the book. You fell in love. You bought a building. And you’re moving back to New Hampshire and taking a break from writing.”
“Almost. I’m not taking a break from writing, I simply want to explore some things with my writing. My father and I are tossing around the idea of doing a book on photography, and I think I might like to dip my toe into self-publishing…maybe with a romance novel.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“Why to which part?”
A humorless laugh slipped free before he replied, “To all of it. Let’s start with you leaving New York.”
With a half shrug, I said, “I’ve been wanting to leave New York for some time now, you know that. I’ve really fallen for the town of Boggy Creek. Why do you think I went up there to finish this book in the first place?”
“Fine. You leaving New York isn’t that big of an issue since you can live anywhere. I won’t lie and say I won’t miss our racquetball matches, though.”
I rolled my eyes. “I kicked your ass every time, Russ.”
He waved me off. “What has me worried is this woman you’ve…fallen in love with. Don’t you think this is moving a bit fast, Hudson? I mean, you hardly know her. What if she knew who you were from the moment you walked into her bookstore, and she set her sights on you?”
I laughed. “You think she’s using me? For what?”
He sighed. “You said it yourself that she wants to publish a book. You bought her a fucking building, for Pete’s sake. Did I mention you hardly know her? Listen, I can maybe get on board with the whole rushing in on a white horse and saving her building, but to move to a town and commit to her like this? This doesn’t sound like you. I just want to make sure you’re not being played.”
How does he feel here? Maybe add an emotional beat. “I guess that goes to show you don’t know me as well as you think you do, Russ. First off, I’m not being played. As far as the building goes, everything has been drawn up by my lawyer and looked over by hers. There’s nothing fishy about it. And if she wants to publish a book, I’ll support her one-hundred-and-ten percent and use every resource I have to help. That’s not even a question. But it’s not something she has on her plate anytime in the near future. She won’t even let me read her draft.”
Just when I didn’t think he could frown any more, he pulled his brows in tighter. “Fine. She’s not using you. What is this sudden urge to not work with a publisher? Why self-publish?”