Chapter 2 #2
Granddad laughed. “That you do.” He pointed toward the swinging door to the kitchen. “She’s back there right now, making our meal. Jeannette Sparks.”
Hudson didn’t bother to hide his surprise, his eyebrows raised.
Jeannette, like Macie, had been older than Hudson, but he still knew who she was. For a minute, he thought maybe he was mixing up his Sparks girls. “Jeannette’s the shy, quiet one, right? Who moved in with Judge Sparks when her parents were killed in the car accident?”
“That’s the one.”
“Wow. I wouldn’t have seen that coming. Good for her,” he added. Then he recalled the first thing his grandfather said. “But you said there were two threesomes?”
Granddad nodded. “The second is our local doctor, Tyson Sparks. He’s happily settled down with Harley Mills and Caleb Hott, whose parents run the Feed and Seed. The three of them still play in that bluegrass band of theirs, Ty’s Collective, from time to time.”
The shock he felt over Jeannette’s throuple didn’t hold a candle to this news. “Judge Sparks’ son is in a committed ménage?” Hudson couldn’t help it. He laughed hard this time. “Bet that went over like a lead balloon with the holier-than-thou prick.”
Granddad narrowed his eyes. “You need to let go of that hostility toward the judge, Hudson. While you might not believe it, he wasn’t the hard-ass you thought he was when it came to you and your crimes.”
Crimes.
Hudson hated when Granddad used that word, but the truth was, he had committed quite a few crimes while in high school.
Vandalism, shoplifting, some accidental arson caused when he was smoking a joint in Old Man Potter’s crappy shed.
He even did a bit of joyriding one night in his granddad’s pick-up truck with a couple of buddies, none of them older than fourteen.
As far as criminals went, Hudson had proven himself to be a shitty one, because he managed to get caught more than a few times.
And when he did, he always found himself standing in front of the haughty Judge Sparks.
Hudson had hated the judge with the passion of a thousand fiery suns back in the day.
He’d transferred all his anger over being forced to move to Maris after his father’s incarceration to Judge Sparks and Granddad and…
Her.
Hudson couldn’t even think her name without feeling like the world’s biggest prick.
“I was a total shithead.” Hudson had been a cocky, arrogant asshole, strutting around town with a chip on his shoulder as big as Colorado.
Recalling the terrible things he’d said to Granddad, the disrespect he’d shown pretty much everyone, was something he’d regret until the end of his days.
“I don’t know why you didn’t wash your hands of me.
You should have told the judge to kick my ass into juvie or put me in foster care. ”
Granddad sighed. “I would never have done that, Hudson. Yeah, you were a pain in the ass, but I understood why you were acting out. In truth, I blamed myself for a lot of your behavior.”
“Yourself? Why?”
“Because I knew your dad was drunk ninety-nine percent of the time, and I still left you there with him in Dallas. I should have pulled you out of that damn apartment years before I did. Maybe if your grandmother and I had still been together. Or if I’d remarried…”
If there was one thing the Ryan men had in common, it was their inability to establish long-term, committed relationships.
Granddad got divorced when Hudson’s dad, Granger, was six.
Apparently, she didn’t like the long work hours Granddad kept while trying to get his business off the ground, so she found herself a nine-to-five banker and left him.
She remarried and moved to Boise. Dad went with her at first, but he hated his new stepdad, so within a year, he was back with Granddad.
Then history repeated itself when Hudson’s mom cut and run.
He was only four. Mom was tired of supporting an alcoholic husband.
When she found a new boyfriend, she spied a way out—one she could only take if she left Hudson behind, because the new guy didn’t want any excess baggage.
So, she left him with Dad, never looking back.
Those two examples of unwedded bliss had made an impact on Hudson.
And while he wouldn’t say he lived like a monk—he went out with plenty of women—he hadn’t put any effort into finding someone to live out his days with. He kept his dates casual, his affairs sexual only. He told himself he was happy that way and that he’d made a conscious decision to remain single.
But the truth was, he hadn’t bothered to make the time for a relationship. Between work and dealing with his alcoholic dad, his cup hadn’t just overflowed, it had flooded the whole damn house.
A relationship had always felt like one thing too many, something he didn’t have time for, and he didn’t expect that to change in Maris.
Getting Ryan Construction back on track was going to take a great deal of work.
Especially since he was starting with a big black mark—the high school years—against him.
He was going to have to prove himself. He just hoped people would give him the chance.
Macie returned with their beers, and they nodded their thanks before she returned to the bar.
“Granddad,” Hudson started, wanting to reassure his grandfather that he harbored no ill will toward him, but the man wasn’t finished.
“I did what I always did back then,” Granddad continued. “Made excuses to myself. Claimed I was too busy. Told myself I had too much work to do to take on a kid. Made the job more important than you. And I can’t tell you how damn sorry I am for that, Hudson.”
Hudson couldn’t fault his granddad for putting work first. Hell, it was just another way the fruit didn’t fall far from the tree.
Hudson had spent the last thirteen years of his life burying himself in work, because life was simple when all you had to think about was hitting a nail with a hammer.
Getting out and forging friendships or romantic relationships took too much effort and required you to make yourself vulnerable—something he sucked at—so he just didn’t bother.
“You might not believe it,” Hudson said, not wanting his grandfather to feel any guilt, “but I don’t think my childhood was all that bad.”
Granddad chuckled. “Of course, you don’t. You ran wild. Did whatever the fuck you wanted when it was just you and your dad.”
Hudson couldn’t argue with that. “I know you sent money every month for rent and food. You kept us fed, kept a roof over our heads.”
Granddad shrugged, clearly not considering that enough.
“I had a bunch of friends in the neighborhood, and their moms all knew the deal with my homelife. It was why five nights out of seven, I was always invited to one of their homes for dinner. Between that, and the free breakfast and lunch they served at school, it wasn’t like I was going hungry.”
Grandad sighed, unconvinced.
“Seriously, without you, Granddad, I don’t have a clue where I’d be.
” While he didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, Hudson always feared he would have ended up like his dad, a deadbeat drunk, serving time in prison.
“You got me that job with Jerry in Dallas right after graduation, and it changed my life.”
Granddad smiled, pleased.
Hudson’s graduation came just three days after his dad was released from prison, and Hudson was bound and determined to “get the fuck out of Maris and never come back.” Granddad had begged him to work for him, but Hudson had been too stupid to get out of his own way.
Since Granddad couldn’t convince him to stay, he’d called up an old buddy of his, who ran his own construction crew in Dallas.
Somehow, he’d convinced Jerry to take a chance on his punk grandson.
It had been a rocky beginning, because Hudson had definite issues with authority figures, but Jerry—like Granddad—had believed in him.
Jerry was the one who’d encouraged him to apprentice as a plumber, so he’d put in the hours and become one.
Jerry confessed when Hudson gave his two weeks’ notice that he’d always known he was destined to run his own company one day, and that was why he’d pushed him to learn so many aspects of construction—from drywall to refinishing floors, from tiling to plumbing.
“I’m sorry I was such a prick when I was younger.” That apology was way too overdue.
Granddad waved his hand, dismissing his words, letting him know they were unnecessary. While his grandfather hadn’t said as much, Hudson knew Granddad had forgiven him for his bad behavior years ago. “Water under the bridge. I’m proud of the man you’ve become.”
Granddad cleared his throat, choked up, and Hudson felt the need to do the same. He’d lived his life surrounded by men who couldn’t express an emotion even if someone held a gun to their heads. Soft words had never been a thing in either of the homes Hudson had grown up in.
However, since Dad’s death, Granddad had started sharing more of his feelings with Hudson. It was cathartic and nice, and it made him want to follow his grandfather’s example.
“I can’t thank you enough for inviting me back here to live. For believing in me enough to let me carry on the Ryan Construction name.”
Hudson had made a lot of money in Dallas, but the majority of it had gone to pay the rent and his dad’s exorbitant medical bills. As such, the nest egg he’d been slowly building was now depleted.
Granddad patted Hudson’s hand. “Everything I have would go to you after I died anyway. This way, I get to see you make a success of it before I leave this world.”
Hudson narrowed his eyes, pointing his beer bottle at Granddad. “You’re not going anywhere. Ever,” he stressed.
Granddad’s eyes misted with happy tears.