Page 21 of Waiting for Forever
Paige nodded. “I guess we do.”
They fell silent for a few minutes, each of them sipping their beer. It wasn’t an awkward silence. Instead, it felt like they were both at the same place in their lives, standing at the same fork in the road, staring at the options before them.
For most of his life, Hudson thought he’d known which path was for him—determined to cling to his bachelorhood, rather than make the same mistakes his dad and grandfather had.
Now, though…
Now, he wasn’t so sure.
Chapter Five
Hudson took a step back and sighed, rotating his shoulders, which were aching. He’d just finished stripping the last of the horrendous wallpaper in the front foyer. The entryway had a tall ceiling, so he’d spent the last few hours on a ladder, stripping the highest parts.
Today was technically the end of Paige’s one-month trial. After the Battle of the Living Room—that was how he and Paige referred to the war they’d waged against the wallpaper in there—he’d started getting calls from other people in town, looking to hire him.
He was sure he had Granddad and Paige and probably Macie to thank for that, because he hadn’t expected things to start booming quite so quickly, though God knew Ryan Construction needed it to. Most of the work he’d been called to do so far had been minor repairs or emergency plumbing jobs, the types of things that didn’t require more than a couple hours or a contractor. Regardless, he’d said yes to all of it, aware he needed to climb the ladder of success one rung at a time.
And those tiny jobs had done exactly what he’d hoped. Opened the door to bigger opportunities.
After fixing a clogged garbage disposal in Mrs. Kenner’s kitchen, Mr. Kenner asked Hudson about putting a new roof on the house as soon as spring hit. That contract had already been signed, the job scheduled.
Mr. Kenner mentioned his work to Mr. Hott, who then called and asked Ryan Construction to bid on repairs he hoped to do to the Feed and Seed. Hudson was stopping by tomorrow to see what the job entailed and to offer his bid.
With things on the Ryan Construction end heating up, Hudson’s time the past two weeks had been limited in terms of helping Paige with her renovations. Not that she seemed to mind. She’d assured him countless times she knew her home repairs were going to take time—like years’ worth of time—so she didn’t mind that his new work hours had been reduced to just a few in the evenings.
Hudson was pulling long hours, but he’d come to look forward to working beside Paige, so even though it meant he was putting in up to sixteen hours some days, he didn’t care. It was worth it to see her every evening, chatting while sharing those beers before calling it a night.
Last week, however, he’d been offered a legit gig—a big one—and after hashing out the details, he’d signed the contract right after lunch today.
When Hudson told Granddad they’d landed the courthouse project, the old guy had choked up, overcome with happiness. They made plans to grab some donuts from Sparks Bakery in the morning to share with the crew when they announced the job. It was a big project that would keep Ryan Construction busy for the next few months. Winning that bid had felt like the answer to a prayer, and he’d been flying high ever since signing on the dotted line.
The only bad part of the deal was he’d have even less time to work with Paige, which bothered him more than he cared toadmit. While it was her house, he felt truly invested in it, and in seeing the renovations through. He intended to ask how she felt about him continuing on, working on the weekends.
“Oh,” Paige said, as she walked into the house, returning from work. “Wow,” she said, looking at the bare walls he’d just been admiring.
“Yep. This is officially the end of the wallpaper downstairs.”
Paige waved jazz hands in the air. “Hallelujah! This foyer already looks better, even without paint.”
Hudson agreed. “You have to wonder what’s wrong with someone to make them want to plaster the entrance to their house with that wallpaper.”
“Clearly, Ms. Bly was certifiable, probably a serial killer living in our midst and we never knew.”
“She was pretty rich, wasn’t she?”
Paige nodded.
Hudson chuckled. “Granddad always said, ‘Money can’t buy taste.’”
“He got that right in this case,” Paige agreed.
“I can stay late today if you want to start tackling that closet in the kitchen. I’ve got a sledgehammer in my truck,” he offered. One, because he wanted to see if she was keeping him on, and two, because he enjoyed Paige’s company. They’d spent days working side by side in various rooms. If someone had told him in high school that he’d not only be hanging out with Paige one day, but actually looking forward to it, he would have told them they were full of shit.
Originally, their conversations were all business as they discussed her plans for the house, but the last couple of weeks, they’d ventured into more personal topics. He told her about some of the weirder jobs he’d worked in Dallas, and she’d blown him away the night she’d shared her plans for the future of Sparks Barbeque.
He hadn’t been more than a week into the job when Hudson was forced to admit to himself that he was attracted to her. Which was as shocking as it was inexplicable. He and Paige were polar opposites as far as personalities went…a complete mismatch, but there was no denying the sparks that flashed whenever they were in a room together. There had been countless times when one of them would brush against the other, and every single time, it hit him like an electrical shock.
Every night for the past couple weeks, he’d had to take a cold shower upon returning home, merely to try to keep his hormones in check. Not that it worked. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d jerked off since starting this job, the image of Paige’s black eyes, her plump red lips, her perfect tits and ass, fueling his desires.
