Page 6 of Loving You

I’m not surprised that Hudson shares every little detail with her, but it still makes me curious to know where he would draw the line.

“Is there anything my brother doesn’t share with you?” I ask.

She nods. “Nope. Believe it or not, we do find time to talk … occasionally.”

Brooke snorts, and I groan. “I’m fine.”

Sadie’s gaze narrows as if she doesn’t believe me. “Just take it off the market if you don’t want Cherry to see it.”

I sigh. It really is the only way to guarantee she doesn’t see it. And truth be told, there isn’t a single local looking to move, so either I rent it to a tourist, or it sits empty until my dad is ready.

I nod. “Yeah, I’ll call Linc this afternoon.”

Linc is both Sadie’s brother and Hudson’s best friend.

As I said, Lovers is a small town, and Linc and Mr. Collins, Sadie’s dad, own the only real-estate company here.

I tell the girls goodbye on my way out the door.

Not only is my shop at the opposite end of Main Street from the lodge, it’s one block over. It gives me just enough privacy but still lets me walk everywhere I need to in town.

I reach the shop but walk past it, then past the apartment built on the back and across the small yard to my new house.

I’ve done a lot of building in the last couple of years. It helps that Luca owns his own contractor company here in town.

I put my brownies in the fridge and then return to the shop to get to work. I really should step into the office to do some invoicing, but my hands itch to work on the baby-blue 1968 Chevy Chevelle SS in front of me.

As I pause to admire the car, my phone starts to go off repeatedly.

I loathe group texts.

I grab my phone to see a fuzzy picture from Luca. He’s clearly hiding to take this picture, and despite the grainy look, it’s clear as day to me.

Cherry is back in Lovers.

Officially.

Fuck.

I hate being stressed, and adding her presence to a life I already feel is out of control gets under my skin.

I just need to stick to the shop and keep my head down. If I stay busy, I won’t have time for anything or anyone.

Sure, I might miss out on some of the town's festivals and other fun events, and it’ll suck not to see my brothers if I lock myself in my house or the shop and get caught up on life, but it’ll be worth it.

Yeah.

I’ll just keep to myself.

It’s not like my summer can get much worse than this, right?

CHAPTER TWO

QUINN

I am completely out of my element right now.

I love babies, but as someone who hasn’t spent much time around them, holy cannoli, they cry a lot. At night, too. All the time, really, especially when they are six months old. Babies are a lot of work.

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