Page 19 of Waiting for Forever
Hudson chuckled. “Gotcha.”
“Besides, I’ve put what I learned in my business classes to very good use. I have plans for the restaurant that no one even knows about yet and—” She stopped short.
“Secret plans?”
Paige hesitated. She hadn’t revealed her primary business goal toanyone, as far as Sparks Barbeque was concerned. Strangely, she felt safe telling Hudson, aware that he wouldn’t spill her secret. Which was the weirdest revelation of her life, because she wouldn’t have trusted his guy as far as she could throw him a decade ago. Maybe it was because she’d begun to think of this house as her baby, and he was so sweet and gentle with it, constantly telling her what a great place it was.
Or maybe it was the fumes.
“It’s something I’ve been considering for a long time, but I…I really haven’t told anyone else, not even the girls at work.”
Hudson tilted his head. “I understand if you don’t want to tell me.”
She could see that he meant that. Hudson had made lots of little comments like that over the past couple of weeks. While they hadn’t discussed the details of their past outright, he’d still alluded to that time in small ways, letting her know he understood why she might not trust him to do one thing or another.
The fact that he wasn’t pushing her, that he was making sure she was always comfortable with this new dynamic, had been building her trust in him. That, and the fact she’d seen him outside of the four walls of this house. He and his granddad were big fans of the lunch and dinner specials, so she’d seen him at the restaurant, as well. She’d been touched by the respect and care he showed his grandfather, and the polite way he’d interacted with the other patrons, even those who seemed determined to condemn him for his teenaged actions forever.
“I’ve been doing a lot of research into what it would take to franchise the business.”
Hudson’s eyes widened. “Damn. That would be cool.”
“I can’t begin to tell you how many people drive to Maris specifically for our barbeque, always with the remark they wished there was a Sparks Barbeque in their town. I’ve been crunching numbers, and I’ve found a way that we could make this a true family business, with me, Sydney, Jeannette, and Gia buying in, and sharing it with Macie and Adele when TJ finally retires.
Hudson snorted. “I thought he already had.”
“Right?” Paige said, laughing.
“So you want to build a barbeque empire,” he said, clearly impressed.
“Something like that. I’m making slow and steady steps toward putting Sparks Barbeque on the map…and then widening the circle.”
“I think that’s an incredible idea.”
“I’m still building the proposal. Bottling the sauce, doubling the size of the restaurant, and getting us exposure on the Food Network are all part of that. Macie has said a million times that in her mind, the restaurant belongs to all of us, and Adele agrees. I’m hoping they’ll let us make that a reality.”
“I hope they do too,” he said. “And your dad is definitely wrong. Nothing about your college degree was a waste.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I appreciate you saying that.”
They shared a look, one that felt heated and meaningful. Especially when Hudson’s gaze lowered for just a second to her lips. Was he considering kissing her? How would she respond if he did?
God. As if that was a real question.
She knew without a shadow of a doubt she’d kiss him back. Paige wasn’t sure why she was so confident that a kiss fromHudson would be earth-shatteringly amazing—especially since she couldn’t recall any of the girls from high school ever talking about hooking up with him. Hudson had been a big enough asshole that even the girls who were known for chasing the bad boys gave him a wide berth.
Sadly, the moment lingered a few seconds too long, and then it was gone.
Hudson turned away, lifted his beer bottle to his lips, and took a long swig.
Leaving Paige feeling envious of a damn bottle.
Hudson took a drink of his beer and tried to pull himself together. He’d been perilously close to kissing Paige, which would ruin any forward movement he’d made in gaining her trust.
He’d tried to play by her “handyman” rules the first week because he really did want to make some strides toward cleaning up his reputation. The Sparks were respected in Maris, so if Paige sang his praises to her family, Macie would do the rest, making sure all the locals who stopped by for barbeque knew Ryan Construction was back in the game.
Unfortunately, he’d come to Maris determined to stretch his wings as a contractor and as his own boss. Paige was a slave to her own schedule, sometimes to the detriment of the project. She’d always been high-strung in school, the type of student who stressed out before every exam, who panicked if she got an A-minus rather than an A-plus, and who would rather eat shit than let her GPA drop below a 4.0. That didn’t appear to have changed much. She was a regular bundle of stress, and he got the sense her schedule and to-do lists somehow helped alleviate that.
Hudson had dedicated the past twelve years of his life to this work, so it was difficult to continue to toe the line when he knew there were better ways. He was a huge proponent of work smarter, not harder, and there were times when Paige wasn’t working as smart as she could.
