Page 22 of Say You Love Me

And there goes that smirk again. I merely narrow my eyes and grab the tea towel off the bench to flick at him again. He laughs as it cracks against his backside, bending over slightly. “Oh.” He waggles his brows. “Do it again.”

I relent my mock annoyance and laugh. “You’re impossible, you know that, Mr James?”

“Impossible to resist, that’s what you mean, isn’t it?” The doorbell rings and Hudson jerks away from my attempt to flick him again. “I’m just going to go get that,” he says. “You should probably, you know…” He waves in my general direction. “Fix yourself up a little. You’re all disheveled looking.”

He laughs and darts out of the way before I can reach him. I hear him greeting his parents at the door and I take the chance to fix my hair and my clothing, and douse a little cold water over my face. By the time I go to greet them, I look perfectly assembled again. Or, maybe not perfectly assembled, but at least the heated flame of my skin has cooled somewhat.

Lori greets me with her usual hug and Lance with his usual nod. From the moment I met Hudson’s mother, I adored her. She’s everything a mother should be. Everything I hope to be. One day. Not that Hudson and I have discussed having children.

I flick a glance over to Hudson, the vision of him holding our baby in his arms making my heart leap. It’s something we should have talked about before marriage, but once the decision was made to skip the elaborate wedding and just go down to the courthouse, everything happened so quickly.

Lori holds my cheeks between her hands and peers into my eyes. “How are you, my dear?”

When Lori asks the question, you feel it in your bones. She’s not asking to be polite, she’s not asking out of habit or even obligation. No. When Lori James asks you how you are, it’s because she cares. Her kindness makes my own mother’s lack of maternal instinct seem even more vivid.

“I’m good.” I’m dying to hold my ring up. I’m dying to get out the photo we have framed in our bedroom and tell her everything that happened, but when we made the decision to get married without our parents’ involvement, we swore we would tell them all together, at the same time. Hence, tonight’s dinner.

She peers closely into my eyes as though trying to gauge whether I’m telling the truth. Finally she must find what she’s looking for, because she nods, narrowing her eyes briefly before letting me go. Lori has the most amazing blue eyes I’ve ever seen. I swear she uses them to look into my soul. Sometimes it worries me what she might find there.

Our house is much too small to hold a dinner party, so we opted for a barbeque outside. Hudson found a set of outdoor furniture, and I’ve already set the table up for our guests. Lori and Lance, my mother, Bonnie and of course, Liam and his girlfriend Megan.

Mum arrives shortly after Lori and Lance. It’s the first time she’s been to our house. The first time I’ve known her to leave her own house. Ever since my father died, she became somewhat of a hermit, preferring her own company, the company of the cat, and the entertainment of the television over the presence of others.

Her smile is tight and her eyes dart around the room anxiously. Hudson tries to hug her, but she manages to duck out of his way, quickly taking one of the wine glasses I have laid out. It was a struggle to get her to agree to come, but somehow we did it. I think it was when Hudson got on the phone, something he’d never done before that it stunned her into agreement.

She settles herself in the corner of the room, fingers gripping like claws around the wine glass. She smiles hesitantly at Lori and Lance when Hudson introduces them. They do their best to be polite and make conversation but she answers each of their questions with one syllable answers.

Hudson grabs me and pulls me into the kitchen. “Breathe.” He takes my cheeks between his hands and presses a kiss to my nose.

“But she’s not making any effort to—”

“Breathe,” he says again, his lips pressed to my forehead this time. “It’s fine. Everything will be fine.”

“It’s awkward.”

One thing that Hudson does when he laughs is throw his head back. I love that about him. It’s so careless and free. He does it now.

“It’s just one dinner and she can return to her cat.”

“And her television.”

The doorbell rings again. “That will be Liam.” He moves to go open the door, but I race ahead of him.

“It’s fine.” I smile sweetly with my hand on the door handle. “I’ll let Liam in while you go talk to our parents.”

He narrows his eyes and shakes his head, chuckling under his breath, but walks away.

I take a deep breath. At least the arrival of Liam and Megan will help lessen the tension. Liam is one of those people who talks easily, whether with strangers or people he knows. Megan is one of those bossy types who does nothing but contradict Liam and roll her eyes at his antics, but at least they’re entertaining.

I plaster on a smile and pull the door open. But it’s not Liam standing there, or even Megan. It’s Ava with her arms wide and a giant smile on her face.

“Surprise!” she calls then her face falls. “Oh, it’s you. I didn’t know you’d be here. Where’s Hudson?” She peers behind me, trying to catch a glimpse of him.

Liam moves forward to hug me. “Sorry,” he whispers in my ear. “She just arrived home. It was a bit of a surprise.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” My smile stretches wider as I usher them all inside.

I feel sorry for Ava really. From what Hudson’s told me, he basically grew up with the Connellys and Ava has been in love with him all her life. She’s been overseas for the last two years, though no one knows exactly what she’s been doing, and now she’s arrived, hoping for some sort of romantic reunion. She’s not going to like the news we have to share.

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