Page 71 of Please, Sir

My mouth falls open and my brows droop. “I…”

Hudson faces Dolly, wincing. He looks at the mess but then his face registers something private between them. “Did you give Jake the blue lemonade by accident?”

She nods. “I got them switched.” Her eyes dart to mine for a second before veering back to her husband’s. “I’ll get him another.” With that, she disappears inside their house, leaving me standing there, blinking at Hudson, confused as all hell.

“What was that all about?” I ask, grabbing a rag from the box to clean up the mess.

Hudson puts his hat back on with a chuckle. “Well, it’s Friday night. The kids are at my sister’s house for the weekend, and when the kids are away, Dolly likes to slip me a Viagra and see if we canride till dawn.” He levels his gaze on me. “Her words, not mine.”

I blink a few times. “Well.”

“So tell me what’s the matter. You’ve been off all morning.”

I sigh, scratching at the center of my chest where faint pain lingers. “I don’t know how to transition from your thing to mine because… blue lemonade?” I question.

“It actually dissolves clear but yeah, we call it blue because of the Viagra.” He gets a few vases out, and moves them around on the table. “What’s your thing?”

I launch into it without preamble, because it feels like the best way. “I’ve been sleeping with Miss Riley… you know, the JV cheerleading coach. Jo Jo’s coach.”

“Oh wow,” Hudson says. “You catch feelings?”

I look him in the eye. “I got something with her I have never had with anyone else.” May sound dramatic, but damn if it isn’t the truth.

“Damn, Jake,” Hudson says, clapping my back as he moves around the table, still pulling items from the box.

“Well,” I hedge, “Jo Jo walked in on us two weeks ago. She freaked out. I think… it made her feel like what she and Miss Riley had was… gone. It made her feel like we deceived her. I think she thought I was choosing Miss Riley over her but I would never do that and… I don’t know,” I admit with a heavy-hearted sigh. “It’s all fucked up.”

“What did you do?” Hudson asks, plunging long-stemmed faux florals into vases, arranging them as we talk. “You know, when Jo Jo walked in.”

“I had to make sure Jo Jo knew she came before anything or anyone else, so I asked Miss Riley to leave. I guess I broke it off with her.”

Hudson nods. “So that’s why you look like shit.”

I nod. “Oh, and by the way, I brought your items.” I lift my brows. “They’re in a bag in my pickup.”

“Oh perfect timing,” he beams.

“Yes, just in time for your blue weekend,” I deadpan.

Hudson ignores my grouchy snark. “Look, Jake, Jo Jo knows you choose her. Okay? Look, you’ve been single since Janie. Refused to date, you haven’t even slept around a lick. Everything you do is for Jo Jo and so she can have the best, most stable life after enduring so much trauma losing her mama so young. Instead of not chasing the first spark of true happiness you’ve felt in years, why don’t you just sit down with Jo Jo and talk to her about it?”

Thank the Lord for passionate as hell Dolly Gray. She reappears, this time with a new glass of lemonade—hopefully viagra free. “I’m sorry, Jake,” she says sweetly. “Here, enjoy this lemonade. And I brought you a sandwich for your drive home.” She raises her arm to show me a tiny Hudson Farms bag, with a sandwich and chips poking out.

“Thanks, Dolly,” I tell her, taking the drink and the bag.

Hudson and I finish the table in just a few minutes, with Hudson’s sister-in-law Juniper stopping by to make sure flowers are where they need to be, and that everything is laid out to her liking.

I get in my truck, sip my lemonade, and stew on Hudson’s words.

Am I fucking things up with Riley by trying too hard to makeit all perfect for Jo Jo? Is Jo Jo old enough to sit down and talk to like adults? Is it too soon for me to be seeing someone with Jo Jo still in the house? Am I overthinking everything and in the process, ruining things with both of the women I care about?

I don’t know. But a growing part of me thinks Hudson isn’t wrong.

I don’t get more than a mile down the road, headed home to think about this more, this time over a beer, when my phone rings.

“Dad?” Jo Jo’s panicked voice echoes through the line before I even say hello.

“Jo Jo, what’s wrong? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are you?” A litany of questions spews from my mouth as my heart kicks into overdrive. I have no clue where she is, but I hit the gas anyway, speeding up the road.

---