Page 6 of Here's to Tomorrow

“You do know how test drives work, right?”

It takes me a second to understand what he’s getting at—I haven’t started the car yet. I lower my eyes to slits and stare him down. “Yes, I do.”

“Just checking,” he says, laughing lightly.

Meeting someone you like right away, someone you click with instantly is an unusual event. To have that person just happen to be the hottest guy you’ve ever seen? Unheard of.

But it’s happening. Right now, with Hudson, it’s happening. Our grins come easy and the teasing rolls off our tongues. You don’t get that often with a stranger, especially since I know I come off as snarky and sometimes rude to a lot of people. Hudson seems to understand what sarcasm is, a language I’m fluent in, and Isoappreciate that.I’ll add that my list of winning attributes for the dude.

“You sure?” he prods.

Shit.I’m still just sitting here.Luckily, this time I was staring out the front window instead of at him. Granted, Iwasthinking of him, but that’s not the point…not entirely.

I slide the key into the ignition and she fires up beautifully.

“Good so far,” I mutter.

Hudson chuckles from beside me. I ignore him and make my way out of the parking lot, turning right. I make it to the first stop sign, about a quarter mile down the road, before Hudson speaks again.

“Where you taking her?”

I shrug. “Probably just a drive around the block.”

“That’s it? After insulting my ability to repair a car, you’re just going to ‘drive around the block’? That’s…a letdown. I figured we were going for a nice long drive—you know, to make sure I know how to trade out a transmission adequately.”

I love the way he teases me with ease, love the way it feels…familiar. I make a split-second decision to continue straight instead of making the turn I had planned. “Well, I thought about going to visit my MawMaw in Boston, but I figured you had some work to do—unless you want to meet her, of course. It is the middle of the afternoon, so traffic may be heavy. We could be looking at an hour-long road trip, at least, and I’m telling you, if you plan on meeting her inthatoutfit… Ugh.” I roll my lips up in mock disgust. “It’s hideous and you could probably use a bath. MawMaw would never appreciate your grease-stained fingers the way I do.”

“You appreciate my fingers, huh?”

I nod, loving how he doesn’t miss a beat. “Very much so. They got this POS up and running again. I’ll be forever grateful for them. Magic fingers, I tell ya. Magic.”

My seat starts vibrating from his silent laughter. I glance over to find his face red from trying to contain it.Damn. He’s even hot when he looks like a cooked lobster.

“That’s…” he starts, still laughing too hard.

It hits me then what I said and how that can be easily misconstrued.

“I swear to God if you say ‘that’s what she said’ I will pull this car over and drop you off on the side of the road and never look back,” I tell him, only half kidding. “What are you anyway, fucking twelve?”

He’sstilllaughing. My stupid, stupid lips betray me again, a small smile forming. I don’t know if it’s his immature reaction or his laugh that makes me smile, but either way, I like it.

God, I don’t remember the last time I clicked with someone like this. Maybe with Maura? It’s been twelve years since we became best friends. That’s a long time ago, which is why it’s so surprising that everything has seemed so easy with Hudson.

It sounds stupid and sudden, but hey, it’s true, and I like it. Ireallylike it.

“I am most certainlynottwelve.”Don’t I know it.“I just don’t get a chance to goof around often so I make sure to take full advantage of it when the opportunity arises.”

“Sounds fair, I guess.”

“And don’t you know it’s rude to ask someone their age?”

“Correction. It’s rude to ask awomanher age, not a man.”

“Women are excused from this question because?” he challenges.

“Because…well, because I said so. So there.”

I can see him staring at me from my peripheral. I glance over to see that he has his dark eyebrows raised, trying to hold his smile back. I mimic his expression and flick on my blinker, inching close to the side of the road as if I plan to pull over and give him a piece of my mind.

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