Page 18 of Waiting for Forever
Her dad was another subject they were both careful to avoid. She wasn’t sure if it was exhaustion or maybe the fumes from the old adhesive, but it felt like they were turning a corner tonight. Moving away from adversaries to something that felt like genuine friendship.
Sure.
Friendship.
Paige wished her feelings were something as innocent and easily contained as friendship. In truth, she was fighting a pretty strong attraction to Hudson, and she had since the day he showed up in her yard and hefted that heavy-ass rug over his thick, muscular shoulders.
The man’s body had been chiseled by hard work, refined so perfectly, she suspected there wasn’t an ounce of fat anywhere on him. He had this habit of lifting the hem of his T-shirt up whenever he got too hot, using it to wipe the sweat off his brow, which treated her to the sweetest sneak peek of his washboardabs and tattoos. Paige had been tempted to turn on the heat, just so he’d do it more.
“I told my mother,” Paige said. “And she told Dad.”
Hudson chuckled. “Chickenshit.”
She narrowed her eyes, though he wasn’t exactly wrong in his assessment. “To be perfectly honest, that’s how most information about my life is disseminated to Dad. I don’t see him that often, usually only at family functions or on the rare occasions when he stops by the restaurant for lunch, and we never talk on the phone because that’s not his thing at all.”
“I’m assuming he didn’t take it well.”
“He had some concerns,” she hedged, wondering if it would be stupid to ask him for a damn resume now. “But he hasn’t seen you since you’ve come back to town.”
“Yeah. I’ve been lucky there.”
Paige punched him on the arm. “My dad isn’t that bad, you know.”
Hudson wisely held his tongue.
“He’s just not the type of person who’s overly…” she searched for the right word, “free with his praise. Truth is, I’m pretty used to disappointing him.”
Hudson gave her an incredulous look. “You’re joking, right? You get that you’re a parent’s dream?”
Paige laughed, even though she was pleased that he thought so. “Dad’s always had high expectations for me and Tyson.Veryhigh.”
“Weren’t you both valedictorian?”
“Yes. And don’t get me wrong, Dad was proud of us for that. But he’s always seen my life going in a different direction from the one I’ve chosen.”
“What direction?”
“He thought I should go to law school. I chose to get a master’s in business administration. Then, once I got the degreeand the job offers started rolling in, he had extremely strong opinions about which ones I should accept. None of them were Sparks Barbeque.”
Hudson snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure they weren’t.”
“Dad sort of lost his shit, said college was a huge waste of money, given I was choosing to work in the restaurant and no degree was necessary. Uncle TJ would have hired me for that job right out of high school.”
“I don’t think college was a waste of money.”
“I don’t either. For one thing,notattending college wasn’tan option for me and Tyson. That had been drilled into our heads since birth. I loved furthering my education, and I took a lot of classes that I think helped me grow, not just in my career but as a person. I was able to explore things with my elective courses that I never would have been able to otherwise, like photography and even social dancing.”
“Social dancing? No shit. That’s actually a class?”
“It counted as a physical education credit, so you can be damn sure I signed up for it.”
“Still quite the jock, huh?”
Paige had two left feet, and everyone who ever had to play basketball with her in gym class knew it. Her P.E. teacher used to joke that only Paige could trip over her own shadow. She probably still held the school record for taking the most people down during the longest, most awkward fall ever while attempting to dribble a ball. She doubted anyone would ever top knocking over three people like they were bowling pins.
“Can’t imagine dancing would have been much easier,” he pointed out.
“It moved slower, so I had time to think about where I was putting my feet.”
