Page 19 of It’s fine. Everything's fine

I wanted to defend myself, but I was terrible about rushing and being clumsy. Regardless, I was like a persistent little roach that couldn’t be harmed no matter how many times I tripped or bumped my hips into things. Holly was the same way—it must be a woman thing. Of course, men wouldn’t understand. Their brains would have to be filled withthoughtsto understand how easy it was to bump into something when there were a billion scenarios running through the brain. When I was stuck in la-la land, it could make a short walk to the toilet seem like a minefield.

“Oh,” I said with dramatic flair. “How did I ever manage to walk up the stairs before you?”

He snorted, and I grinned. I let him continue holding my hand as we walked up the stairs. His knuckles and fingers were so much bigger than mine—that made sense considering he was a man, but it was nice. Big arms, tall man, no electricity in his giant house. I yanked my hand out of his grip the second we reached the top as my insides twisted.

Oh, no, no, no. I’d been great with the no-man’s-land lifestyle. While it was perfectly okay to admire the perfection that stood beside me, I didn’t need to project a fantasy onto the situation. I’d never speak to Hudson again once I left that cabin in five days.

“You make it a habit of holding your guests’ hands?” I asked to ease my discomfort.

Hudson opened the bedroom door, gesturing for me to enter. “You’d be my first guest in a while.”

Although he couldn’t see it, I arched a brow as I slipped inside and grabbed my things. “It makes sense, but I don’t think you should grab people’s hands, especially if you hardly know them.”

“You’re right, but I probably shouldn’t allow strangers inside my home either.”

Oof.He was right, so I called a ceasefire for the rest of the conversation. Thankfully, he didn’t try to take my hand again as we walked back down.

“I’m going to turn on the generator for the fridge,” Hudson said as I settled myself in front of the fireplace with my Kindle.

I didn’t respond as I wrapped myself in a blanket, but he didn’t move from his spot. I glanced up and asked,

“Do you need my help?”

With a grunt, he finally strode off, and Max followed him. Okay. I hoped I didn’t somehow offend Hudson. Maybe I was getting too comfortable in his home, and he didn’t like it, which was crazy. I was far too relaxed to be in a place I wasn’t familiar with. I was usually the very definition of awkward.

When I heard him returning, I set down my Kindle. I wasn’t about to repeat his watching me read again until I could forget about that last encounter. His hands were full, and I couldn’t make out what he had until he was bending before me. He placed a bottle of water and a sandwich on a plate in front of me, then rose and went over to the recliner with his own food.

“Thank you. You didn’t have to.”

I noticed lettuce, tomato, and pickles were on the plate beside my sandwich.

“I didn’t know how you liked your ham sandwich or if you even liked ham, so I added a few things on your plate in case you wanted them.”

Nothing about the bread or ham looked cheap as I added lettuce and tomatoes. I recognized two-dollar ham anywhere since I’d lived off it and ramen a lot in life. That wasn’t inexpensive ham. It was finely cut and smelled like heaven.

“You really are a cook, aren’t you?”

“It’s just a sandwich,” he murmured. “But yes.”

I inhaled the sandwich and would have asked for another if it wasn’t too shameful. The man was letting me stay there for free and had given me foodthreetimes already. I was taking a drink of water when my phone started ringing.

“Hello?”

“Eugene.” My brother’s voice was stern on the other end.

“Edwin.”

“You’ve been in town for two days and you haven’t visited.”

“I’ve been looking for a job. I found one, by the way. Subway. And I don’t like your guest, remember?”

“Power out at Hudson’s, too?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine.”

“He’s a good guy,” Edwin began. “He’s treating you okay, right? No funny business?”

I looked at Hudson and saw him staring. “Yes.But I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

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