21. Hudson
Chapter 21
Hudson
H udson let Ty convince him into at least trying to talk to Michelle, to apologize. To fix things between them. But when he and Ty found Gabe at the mess tent that afternoon and asked him about borrowing a truck to drive to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Gabe shook his head.
“You can’t go across state lines until your parole ends,” said Gabe. “But who’s to say she went that far? She’s got kids, right? And didn’t you say she was talking with Maddy?”
“That’s true,” said Hudson. “Do you have Maddy’s number? Can I borrow your phone?” He could have rushed to his tent to get his own phone, but it was important—it felt important—to call Michelle right away.
He felt unsettled standing there in the mess tent as he listened to the phone ring, even though he was a grown man trying to do the right thing. His heart jumped in his chest when Maddy answered.
“Hey Maddy, it’s Hudson,” he said. “Do you know where Michelle and her boys are?”
“As far as I knew, she was planning on staying at the Iron Mountain Inn in Farthing after her visit with you,” said Maddy. Has she gone? “What happened?”
Hudson clutched Gabe’s phone even tighter than he already had been. “The conversation didn’t go well,” he said. “I upset her and now I’m regretting what I said. And Maddy—” He paused to gather his courage. “I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want her to go back to Scottsbluff without straightening things out between us.”
“Let me see if she’s still there at the inn,” said Maddy. “My old school chum runs the place. I’ll call you back.”
“This is Gabe’s phone,” said Hudson before she hung up.
He looked at Ty and Gabe and scanned the group of men hanging out in the mess tent. He didn’t have much time to dwell on what an ass he’d been before Maddy called back.
“She’s still there,” said Maddy. “I had my friend check on her, like maybe to see if she needed more pillows, and she said that Michelle had been crying. That she’d given those boys cheese sandwiches to eat. Thin cheese sandwiches and nothing else. Well, those boys weren’t eating even that much, and all three looked pretty miserable.”
“Maddy—” He stopped again, his heart pounding.
He was not a family man. If he picked up the task of caring for Roger’s wife and boys, it would be a weight he could never put down again. Once he got back on the road, and he hoped he would, then wherever Michelle and the boys were, would be like an anchor to him.
Just like Ty would be an anchor. But would that be a bad thing? To have a place to call home and people to call his? He’d been all on his own since he went to prison and somehow now, inexplicably, not only was he getting a second chance, that chance included people to care for.
“Maddy, what do I do?” he asked, though he already knew the answer. His heart felt full of something he wanted to hang onto, a warmth of belonging, of being part of a family again.
“Bring them lunch,” she said simply. “You could bring them lunch from the mess tent, but small boys want chicken fingers and fries and mac and cheese. Everything beige, plus cookies and milk. And I bet you Michelle would like a nice, hot meal as well. Something besides whatever she can heat up in a motel microwave.”
“Yes,” he said. He flexed his fingers around Gabe’s phone. “That’s a good idea.”
“I’ll call ahead to the tavern and order something nice,” she said. “By the time you get there, it’ll be ready to pick up. The inn is just on the east edge of town. You can’t miss it.”
“Maddy,” he said and then paused, blinking at Ty, who was watching Hudson with an expectant look on his face. Hudson turned away to give himself a bit of privacy. “Why are you helping me?”
There was a long pause, during which Hudson could feel his heart beating hard.
“Because you’re a good man,” she said, at last. “You made a mistake, and you did your time. Now you’re figuring out what your life will be like. Helping men like you is what the valley is all about. Sure, next summer when all those rich folks are there, it’ll be different, but now, it’s about you and Ty and Blaze and Wayne and everybody. Fresh starts. Fresh chances. You see?”
“I see,” he said, blinking against the sudden heat in his eyes. Maybe he did understand, even if he didn’t quite believe it. He turned to look at Ty and gave him a thumbs up. “Can you ask them to include enough for Ty and me? Then we’ll all eat lunch together.”
“I can do that,” she said. “I’ll have my friend make sure they don’t leave before you get there.”
“Thank you,” he said, and smiled as he ended the call. He walked over to where Ty and Gabe were waiting and handed Gabe his phone back.
“How’d it go?” asked Gabe.
“They’re at the Iron Mountain Inn,” Hudson said. “Maddy’s ordering lunch for them, so I’ll need to borrow the truck to get it to her. And—” He paused, then soldiered on. “I’d like to give her some money for gas so she can get back to Scottsbluff in the morning.”
“You got it,” said Gabe. He pulled out his wallet and handed Hudson a twenty, and then another twenty. “Tell her everybody says hi and that she’s more than welcome next Sunday. Because she is, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is.”
Hudson nodded, then folded the bills in his back pocket. It had been a long time since he’d owned a wallet, so maybe when he had money of his own, that would be one of the first things he’d get so he’d have a place for his license as well as ready cash. “Is it okay if I take a truck?” he asked.
“Of course,” said Gabe. “Get your phone before you go, in case anything comes up and you need to contact me.”
That was reasonable. Gabe needed to keep track of where they were, but he also wanted to be available in case something happened, which was how Gabe was all the time.
Hudson and Ty hustled to their tent to grab their phones before racing to the nearest silver truck. Once they were buckled in, Hudson drove a little too fast up the switchbacks, which meant that Ty had to hold on to the Holy Christ handle at nearly every turn, swearing under his breath.
Dust flew from his tires as they raced over the top of the hill, and it wasn’t even twenty minutes before they were screeching to a stop in the sleepy town of Farthing, on a side street just outside the tavern.
It was quiet as they entered the tavern, which seemed dark and still after the bright sunshine outside. The host came up to them with a stack of menus in his hands as if he’d been wiping them down.
“Can I help you?” he asked, and Hudson told himself he was imagining that the host seemed suspicious of them.
“I’m here to pick up an order,” said Hudson. “Maddy Greenway called it in. It’s got?—”
“Oh,” said the host. His whole attitude changed into one of welcome. “Yes, let me get that for you. Just stay put.”
Within five minutes, the host came back with two brown paper bags and a smaller white paper sack.
“That’s got cartons of milk in it,” he said as he placed everything on the host stand. “Fresh out of the fridge.”
“How much do I owe you?” Hudson asked, wondering why he’d not thought of this before that moment. He did have forty bucks in his back pocket, but from the amount of food they were being handed, he didn’t think it would be enough.
“No, no,” said the host. “Maddy said the Fresh Start Program would cover it, so don’t even worry about it. And the tip, too. All covered.” He waved his hands in the air as if waving away the idea of Hudson parting with even a single cent.
“Thank you,” said Hudson a bit breathlessly as he picked up one of the big paper bags. Ty picked up the other and stacked the white one on top.
Together, they hustled out to the truck and packed everything carefully in the passenger footwell. Ty put his legs on either side of those bags, and Hudson drove a bit more carefully to the edge of town than he had up the switchbacks.
Just off the end of Main Street, Iron Mountain Inn was an old-fashioned motel set in an L shape with seven rooms on one arm, and five on the other, plus the office. There were only a few cars in the parking lot, so having no idea which room Michelle and the kids were in, Hudson parked near the office.
“I’ll go in and ask,” he said. “If you see her leaving, beep, okay?”
“Sure thing,” said Ty, but by the time Hudson was out of the truck, an older woman was coming out of the office. She wore a dark blue cleaning apron and was wiping her hands on it as she came up to Hudson.
“Are you Mr. Blackwell?” she asked. “Mrs. Blackwell is in room number four, but before I let you knock, I want to make sure that she wants to see you. You understand, don’t you? I’m feeling quite protective of that little family right about now.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, his throat tight at the thought that the woman would be so protective of Michelle and the boys. It was as if all the feelings he had for his brother’s wife had been locked away in a dark cupboard full of resentment, and now, let free, were making a mess of him. “Can you tell her I’m sorry?”
“You can tell her yourself,” said the woman. “Just give me a minute first.”
Hudson gestured to Ty to get out of the truck. Ty came around and stood close to Hudson, a comforting presence that made Hudson feel a bit better.
Together, they took in the scene of the quiet parking lot, waiting in the bright sunshine as the manager went to door number four and then knocked.
All the while, Hudson’s heart was beating. He knew he could make this right, if Michelle would just give him a chance. Doing this felt so risky, yet he knew it was the right thing to do. He took a deep breath and watched the open doorway, where there were only shadows and no movement.
In the next minute, the manager came out and waved to them, and Michelle was standing in the doorway, looking for him.
Hudson grabbed one of the paper bags of food from the truck and said thank you to the manager as he passed her, moving fast, on his way to Michelle.
“I brought lunch,” he said, his breath coming a little short. “And my friend Ty. Ty!” Hudson turned to wave Ty to come to the room and felt Michelle’s hand on his arm.
“Thank you for coming,” she said. She sounded tired, and he could see the traces of tears on her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have surprised you like that. I just got it in my head that I needed to see you. So, I came.”
“You did fine,” he said, stepping into the cool darkness of the room. The AC was on low, making a humming sound. “You did surprise me, but it’s okay and I’m sorry?—”
He put the bag of food down and hugged her. She hugged him back and for a moment, everything was quiet.
Then a little voice said, “Mama, there’s a man at the door.”
“Hot food,” said Ty. “Coming in. May I come in?”
“Yes, yes, please come in,” said Michelle.
The room brightened as she shut the door behind Ty, and for a moment Hudson felt lost and foolish as he took in the scene.
Two little boys sat on one of the two queen beds with their meager lunch placed on paper plates in front of them, which was those thin cheese sandwiches the manager had talked about. They probably had been made that morning and had probably been all that she could afford.
“We’ve got chicken fingers and mac and cheese,” said Ty, his voice bright. “I’ll just set things up on the desk, okay? Then you can serve your kids with whatever you think they should have.”
Hudson blinked at Ty’s easy going manner, and how he knew to leave it up to Michelle as to what her kids might eat. And marveled at the way Ty was bustling about, doing regular everyday things, making all of this feel normal and good. Rather than a clutch of emotions in Hudson’s chest that he had no idea what to do with.
“Cookies and milk,” continued Ty, taking little cartons of milk out of the white bag. “And for you, ma’am, chili with cheese on top. And crackers. An iced tea. The same for us,” he added, looking up at Hudson as he spread plastic cutlery on the small desk by the flat screen TV, as well as napkins and little packets of salt and pepper.
“It’s a feast,” said Michelle, her eyes wide. “Let’s sit and eat.”
She must have been hungry to not stand on any ceremony at all, though Hudson noted she prepared plates for her boys first. Then, and only then, did she fix herself a bowl of chili and, opening the plastic bottle of iced tea, she sat at the desk to eat, leaving the two cushioned chairs for Hudson and Ty.
Hudson was hungry and not hungry at the same time. The last time he’d really seen Michelle, it had been right before the bank robbery.
He’d stopped by Roger’s house that day because Roger had asked him to, only he wasn’t there yet. Michelle had let him in. She had been trying to decide whether to wait for Roger, or to call their sitter to watch the boys, Gareth who had been two, and Trevor, who had been only a few weeks old.
As to where Michelle had been headed, all dressed up as she was, he hadn’t known at the time. He later learned that she’d not, as he’d long thought, been on her way to go shopping at the local mall, but instead she’d been headed to the bank. Roger told him later the house was about to be foreclosed upon, but Michelle had been the one to try to deal with the mortgage payments and the bank.
Now, years later, the two boys looked exactly like he and Roger had looked at that age, with soft brown eyes, dark russet hair, and quiet, watchful expressions. Before life had gotten to Roger, before Hudson had gone on the road. In the way long ago.
“Ty, this is Gareth,” she pointed to the older boy sitting cross-legged on one of the queen beds, who was helping the younger one with his chicken fingers. “And the younger one is Trevor. Boys, this is your Uncle Hudson. Can you say hello?”
The hellos were quiet, as it seemed both boys were shy. Hudson couldn’t blame them. Their lives had changed so much. Everyone’s had.
“And this is Ty,” said Michelle. “He’s your Uncle Hudson’s friend.” Her voice rose at the end, and he nodded at her. Whatever Ty and he would become, they were friends. Good ones.
“Were you headed back to Scottsbluff tonight?” asked Hudson. He started to eat, now that the conversation was underway. He hadn’t realized he was so hungry, and it was good to have the food to focus on.
“I was,” said Michelle. “But then the manager came by and said the room was already paid for and that we might as well stay the night. Which was nice, because Trevor does not like being in the car for very long, and two trips in one day would have been too much.” She paused, and said, “Thank you for lunch, by the way. It’s so nice to have something hot and filling.”
She said this as if hot and filling meals were few and far between, which filled Hudson with a sense of horror. Just how long had she been struggling for? Since Roger passed away, that was for certain.
“That’s the Fresh Start program,” said Hudson, thinking that she looked pretty exhausted, and was glad she was staying at the inn so she could get some rest. “They did that, and paid for this room as well.”
“That’s the program you’re in, isn’t it,” she said. “I didn’t know where they’d sent you until I got the letter from the state, telling me where you were. I was on the contact form, you see. I mean, Roger and I were both on the form, but now it’s just me.”
Once the chain gang had been broken up, and he’d gotten a place to serve his parole, his life had taken a different turn.
And as it looked like that turn now included Michelle and her two boys, he needed to make himself clear and explain to Michelle how he’d like it to be. Except in a way that wouldn’t hurt her feelings or make her feel like a burden. Or that the fact she needed help was not a consequence of anything she’d done, but rather his and Roger’s bad decisions.
As he looked around the room, he could see that it was as tidy as if she’d just come into it for the first time. The bed the boys were sitting on was a little rumpled, but that was to be expected. On the two suitcase stands were two suitcases, firmly zipped closed with everything still tucked inside. She must have had one hell of a morning, but she was holding it all together.
“I wanted to apologize for my rude behavior this morning,” he said, marching into it. “My life has changed so quickly since I was released, it’s been hard for me to keep up. To believe it was real. And then you showed up?—”
“I should have called first,” said Michelle quickly. “But once I learned where you were, it was all I could do to wait until the second Sunday because I wanted to see you and for the boys and you to see each other. I wanted it so badly, I just wasn’t thinking.”
“I wasn’t either,” said Hudson. “But I am now.” He took a deep breath to bolster himself for what he was about to say, all the while aware that Ty was watching him as keenly as a guard dog.
“And as soon as I get a driving job, I’ll start sending you money. It won’t be much, but it’ll be something. And I’ll be there if you and the boys ever need me. I’ll make Scottsbluff my base, unless there’s some other place you’d rather be than Scottsbluff.”
“You should say yes, Michelle,” said Ty, suddenly speaking up. “For your boys’ sake. And for Hudson’s.”
“For my sake?” asked Hudson, turning to look at Tyson with some surprise. Ty smiled at him in a sweet way, and Hudson knew that Ty was supporting him with everything he had.
“It’ll give him a purpose,” said Ty, speaking directly to Michelle. “He’s been lost since he got out, but having you to look out for, well. I’ve never seen him drive as fast as he did getting over here from the valley.”
“I see,” she said, blinking hard. She covered her face in her hands and bent her head.
That’s when Hudson realized she was crying. Without thinking, he put down his food and stood next to her, curled his arms around her shoulders, and held her tight.
“It’ll be different now,” he said. He wanted to smooth her hair and dry her tears, but didn’t want to take liberties. Maybe he would someday, when they were closer. “Don’t know how it’ll work, but it will. I’m here for you and the boys, and I’m not going anywhere.”
The two boys, seeing their mother upset, scrambled up to be close to her, crowding around the desk chair, looking up at Hudson with enormous eyes.
“We’ll take care of Mama together,” Hudson said to them. “Right, boys?”
“Yes, Mama,” they each said, and their expressions were determined as they leaned against her like a protective shield.
“Don’t you cry, too, Hudson,” said Ty, his eyes glittering with unshed tears and an expression on his face that seemed to say, I wish I had a family like yours . “I won’t be able to make it if you cry.”
“I won’t,” said Hudson, though he knew he might, later, when everything settled down. He needed to be strong because he now had a new family. It was a different one than he’d had before, but it was his. He needed to stay sharp and look out for them.