Page 29 of Off the Record

“It would be fun if we went together.”

“Yeah, but you’d like it if it was just you and him,” I say, grinning.

She smiles so widely, I know I’m right. “Maybe.”

“Go. I’ll find my own way back.”

“Hudson probably has a car. Or a driver.”

“He drives his own car,” I hiss.

Simone rolls her eyes, laughing. She leaves to speak in Phil’s ear, and soon they slip away.

“Are they leaving?” Hudson asks, pressing into my arm so someone can pass behind him.

“It’s kind of their first date. Simone invited us, but I told her to go without us.”

“Probably a good idea,” he says, sounding like he’d rather not go with them at all.

I look up at him, craning my neck. “They’re a lot of fun—well, Simone is. I don’t know Phil.”

Hudson looks surprised by my defensive tone. “I’m sure. I’d love to go out with them. Trust me, they won’t want me there.” He holds my gaze. “You shouldn’t, either,” he adds quietly.

Because he’s the big scary boss man with eccentric parents and an uncle who’s obviously grooming him to take over the company? He has much too high an opinion of his impediments.They’re all external. He’s surprisingly real. “Do you have anywhere you need to be tonight?” I ask.

He holds my gaze. “No. Do you want to come over?”

“I’d love to,” I say without giving myself a chance to think about it.

“We can walk from here.” He reaches for my hand. We head out to the foyer of the hotel before he stops. “Actually, I should give my mother a hug or I’ll never hear the end of it. They’ll be in Cabo until December.”

And his dad thought they neededlongertrips?

I pull my hand free. “I’ll wait for you here.” I step out of the center of the walkway, admiring the textured walls and modern light fixtures. It’s tasteful and charming. Groups of people meander past me, and I smile at each of them, greeting the few I know. We don’t have a great turnout from theRhythm,but there weren’t many nominations that included my paper, so it makes sense.

Maybe now that Hudson has had a hand in getting us on track, he’ll be able to influence the awards going forward, make them less biased.

I look toward the open doorway for Hudson just as Leo and Kyla step through. Great. She glances at me and looks away, but Leo slows once they reach me.

“If you listen to the stats, you never really had a chance,” I say, trying to make him feel better. “You aren’t from theTribuneor theOutdoors.”

“What a joke,” he says quietly, shaking his head. “Why do they bother inviting the rest of us?”

“Stan feels the same way,” I mutter.

Kyla reaches for his hand and tugs it gently. “We should get going or we’ll miss our Uber.”

He nods. “Right.”

“Anyway, better luck next year,” I tell him.

“Maybe next year you’ll be up there with me,” he says.

I’m immediately thrown back into the blissful beginning of our whirlwind relationship, our hopeful conversations about winning awards that lead to promotions and doing great things in the news world. While I don’t respect Leo anymore, I can recognize that he isn’t entirely evil. He made some bad choices, and I don’t ever have to like him, but I don’t hate the guy either.

A look passes between us, and I can feel deep in my bones he’s thinking similar things.

“Have a good night,” I say to them both, ending the conversation. I don’t know if it’s him seeing me with Hudson tonight that’s giving us closure, but I feel things shifting in a good way.

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