Love Signals: An opposites-attract, forced proximity, only one bed, revenge romantic comedy (Love St

39. Redemption, Love, and All the Good Things…

Hudson

“There’s my little guy,”I say into the phone. “Hi, Oscar! I’ll be home in twenty hours.”

I called home to give Gersh a heads up on my speech, in case he hadn’t heard yet. But it turns out, he already knew. Paul and Brittany are in ‘damage control’ mode, which is basically just pumping out all the stuff I told them to say originally. According to Gersh, the public’s response has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Oscar, buddy, where’s your chewie ball? Where is it?”

Oscar yawns and curls up with his back facing the camera.

Gershwyn’s face fills the screen. “You know he doesn’t understand video calls, right?”

“He does, but he’s upset that I left again.”

“I’m not so sure that’s it,” he says. “I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that he’s a dog with a tiny brain who lacks any understanding of technology whatsoever.”

Shaking my head, I say, “He’s mad.”

“So? Have you talked to Mom and Dad since you came out to the world?”

“Not yet. You?”

“Yeah, Mom called me about an hour ago. I guess Aunt Lydia called her as soon as the story broke. Then Lydia called every one of our relatives to tell them. Shit’s hitting the fan because Mom kept such a big secret from her sisters all these years. Dad’s been getting calls from former staff too. Apparently he’s hearing the word ‘disappointed’ a lot.” He smiles at me, then says, “There’s a certain poetic justice to it, isn’t there?”

I grin back. “I’m not going to lie. That feels pretty good.”

“Let yourself enjoy the moment. You deserve it,” he says. “Speaking of enjoying the moment … you and Allie?”

My heart expands three sizes at the thought of her. “Oh yeah, me and Allie. In fact, she should be here soon. We went for dinner in the hotel’s Japanese restaurant and she got mobbed by fans when we were leaving. She’s holding an impromptu QA in the lobby right now.”

“That’s awesome.”

“It really is. I couldn’t be happier for her. She’s finally getting her due. She’s so talented and hard-working, and I’m just so damn proud of her,” I say, meaning every word. “Anyway, I should let you go so I can call our parents. I’m sure they have a few things to say to me.”

“If one of those things isn’t sorry, hang the fuck up.”

“Will do, bro. Catch you soon.”

“See yah.”

I hang up, then take a deep breath and dial their number. My dad picks up. “Hudson, I was wondering if you’d call.”

“Hey, Dad, you know you can always call me, right?”

“We weren’t sure if you’d want to talk to us.”

In the background, I hear my mom’s voice. “Is that Hudson?”

“Yes. I’ll put him on speaker. Hang on.”

I walk over to the minibar and grab a bottle of water while he switches over. My mom says, “Hello, Hudson.”

“How are you doing?” I ask, even though part of me doesn’t want to hear the answer.

“A little worn out,” she says, her voice cracking. “This has been a very big day for Dad and me.”

“For me too,” I tell her.

“Of course, of course it is. Silly of me. I just … wish we would’ve known you were doing this so we could have prepared for it.”

Walking over to the window, I stare out at the evening skyline. “I was worried you’d manage to talk me out of it, and it was something I had to do.”

“Why?” my father asks. “Why now?”

Not wanting to talk about Allie, I say, “I think a better question would be why not thirty-three years ago when you found out.”

“It was a different time back then,” Mom says. “And with your father’s job, we were worried it would reflect poorly on him.”

“Believe me, I know. I know it by heart.”

“We never meant to make you feel ashamed,” Dad tells me, his voice a little wobbly too. “But I know that’s exactly what we wound up doing, isn’t it?”

I sigh, not wanting to hurt them, but also knowing that I need to say this. “You did. You really did. My whole life, I have never fully let anyone know me because I was scared that if they found out, they’d think less of me.”

“But we thought you were over it. You’re such a huge star. You’ve got everything,” my mom says. “How could you possibly feel bad about yourself?”

“Because I grew up believing I was seriously flawed. Beyond repair. That I was unacceptable to my own parents. That’s not just something that goes away because you make a lot of money.”

She sniffs, then says, “No, I suppose it’s not.”

“Hudson, I’m … your mom and I are so sorry we did that to you,” my dad says, his voice barely above a whisper, which is sort of shocking for me to hear.

“It’s true,” Mom adds. “If we could go back, we’d do so many things differently. So many things. We just thought we were doing the best thing for you and for the family. We were worried that if people knew, they wouldn’t give you the same opportunities. We didn’t want this to hold you back, so we thought if we worked with you enough, we could…”

“Fix me?”

“Yes,” she says. “We know now that it wasn’t the right way to think about it. To think about you.”

“No, it wasn’t, but I appreciate you admitting it now.”

“We mean it,” Dad answers. “If we could take it back…”

“Sometimes parents screw up so badly, but they can’t see it when they’re doing it,” Mom tells me. “That’s the hardest part of being a parent. The last thing you want is to hurt your child, but you inevitably wind up doing it anyway.”

“We really bunged things up with you,” Dad says. “You turned out to be this amazingly successful person, and I now see that you did that in spite of us, not because of us.”

“You did a lot of things right, too,” I answer. “And I appreciate what you were trying to do.”

“Are you okay?” Mom asks. “Now that the story is out?”

“Yeah, I’m great,” I answer. “In fact, I’ve never felt this good in my entire life. I feel like my life is finally starting.”

“Really?” she asks.

“Really. And I’m sorry that you’re going to take some heat from people. I hope it won’t be too bad, but I think the main thing is that I can help a lot of people feel better about themselves. And I can stop hiding, which is an amazing feeling.”

There’s a knock at the door and I hurry over, knowing it’s Allie. “Listen, I have to go, but I’ll call you when I’m back home.”

“Okay, we love you,” my mom says.

“And we’re really sorry,” my dad adds.

“I know. I love you too.”

I hang up and open the door, only to see Allie grinning at me. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Are you doing anything this evening?”

Taking her hand, I pull her into the room and let the door shut, then press her up against the wall. “I thought I’d spend the entire night showing you how I feel about you.” I nuzzle her neck, then plant a slow, soft kiss on her collar bone.

She lets out a little moan. “That sounds nice, but I have to be up early because I’ve got a big presentation to give.”

“That’s going to be a problem because I have a lot of feelings.” Kissing my way up her neck, I murmur, “Big ones.”

“Is that so?” she asks, capturing my mouth with a kiss.

“Yeah, it is. But if you’re worried about being tired, we can always wait for a more opportune time.”

She grins at me and bites her bottom lip. “That’s why coffee was invented.”

“Really?”

“It’s a fact,” she says, unbuttoning my shirt. “The first person to ever grind up and brew coffee beans had just been on a sex-bender.”

“Is that so? I had no idea.”

“I’m a bit of a history buff, so…”

I burst out laughing, then say, “Now who’s the liar?”

“Me, I’m the liar, but we should only allow it for comedic purposes.”

“Deal. Otherwise, complete honesty.” I pick her up under her knees and kiss her hard before carrying her over to the bed. I set her down on it and she lies back, looking absolutely perfect. I lie on top of her and rub her jaw with my thumb. “To be completely honest, I’ve never in my life loved someone the way I love you, Allie. I have never been as happy as I am right now, knowing you’re giving me a second chance. These past days without you have been awful. I’ve never felt so alone, so hopeless—because I knew without a doubt that you’re the one for me and I couldn’t have you. I couldn’t talk to you or listen to you or know what you were doing. I couldn’t watch you work or share in your excitement or tell you how proud I am of you.”

Her eyes glisten and she lifts her head up to kiss me. “I’m so proud of you too. What you did today was incredible.”

Shaking my head, I say, “It’s something I should’ve done a long time ago.”

“But you did it, and that’s the important thing.”

“I only did it because of you. You made me feel worthy,” I tell her, rubbing her cheek with my thumb. “You made me feel whole for the first time in my life.” Tears fill her eyes and I kiss her. “Thank you for that, Allie.”

“Thank you for what you did today.”

“It was nothing.”

“It was everything,” she says, reaching up and taking my face in both hands. She pulls me toward her and we kiss again. We’re both more urgent this time, and I know in about thirty seconds, we’re going to be fully undressed and I really will spend the entire night showing her how I feel. How much I love her and how desperately I want to be with her always. How I only know who I am when I’m with her. Because it’s true. I’m the best version of myself when we’re together, and I’m going to be that man for her every damn day for the rest of my life.