Page 40 of What About Us
“Well, maybe give him a call.” Then, she cracks a big smile. “You could always take Ginger’s advice.”
I glance at her, an amused smirk on my lips. “What’s that?”
“Best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.”
That makes me laugh. “Yeah. Except, I don’t need to get over Hudson. I’m not in love with him.”
“Would it really be so bad to just ask Hudson how he feels?”
My brows knit together. “I don’t know.”
“At the very least, you’ll know you’ll fit into his life if he does start dating her. Or someone else, for that matter.”
I shake my head. “That’d be weird.”
“But it’s already weird, right?” she says. “And you’ve said yourself that you guys talk about everything. Even sex.”
“I’d die if he talked to me about having sex with her.” I shiver.
She lifts her shoulder. “I think maybe you should be asking yourself why Hudson having sex with Erin Parker makes you so salty.”
“Because he’s mine and she can’t have him,” I blurt.
She cocks a knowing brow at me with a smirk.
“Oh, shut up,” I grumble, but its halfhearted. Ican’tentertain thoughts about having sex with Hudson. But just because I can’t go there doesn’t mean I want to think about him having it with anyone else, either.
The front screen squeaks open and slams before the patter of little feet reaches our ears.
“Auntie Wren, we need water!” Paige calls as she comes running in, dark hair flying. When she sees me at the counter, she runs straight for me. “Finnley!”
“Hey, sweetie,” I say and hug her. She smells like dirt, fresh air, and green apple shampoo when I press my lips to the top of her head.
I stiffen slightly when I hear the screen open and close. The last thing I need is to be caught wallowing over my best friend spending time with someone else. I relax when Jennie comes into the kitchen.
“Daddy sent us in to get a drink while he takes Jennie’s mama for a ride,” she says brightly.
Suddenly, this kitchen feels really fucking small as my mind flashes with images of Erin mother-effing Parker riding my best friend. My stomach rolls.
Wren sends a tentative glance my way and then stands. “I’ll get you some bottled waters.”
She rounds the island and pulls out four bottles of water, but not before Paige spots her grammy’s homemade lemonade on the shelf in the fridge.
“Can we have lemonade, instead?”
“Sure.” She replaces two of the bottles and then gets out two small, plastic cups for the girls, filling them each with lemonade. “Why don’t you girls take this out onto the back deck and color for a bit until your parents are finished?”
There’s that image again; Hudson and Erin tangled in the sheets of my guest bed. Fuck. I grit my teeth against the thought.
Wren’s gaze snaps to mine and she grimaces.Sorry,she mouths.
“Ok. Can you take some water out to my daddy and Erin?” Paige asks me, catching me off guard.
That is the literal last thing I want to do, but I nod and watch the girls head out to the back deck.
“Well, I guess I’ll head out,” I say and stand, swiping the waters off the counter where Wren sat them. “I’ve got a mountain of laundry to catch up on.”
Wren sympathetically nods to the bottles in my hand. “You want me to take those?”
