Chapter 23
Amelia
“I heard the guys are playing video games,” Charlie, Rosie’s maid of honor, whispered longingly as we quietly sneaked through town, wearing all black, as requested by the bride.
There were five of us total: Rosie, Charlie, Lia Halifax, Lily (Dylan’s younger sister), and me. I was limping behind everyone on my crutches, trying to keep up.
“Shhhh,” Rosie hissed to Charlie. “We don’t want to get caught.”
“Heaven forbid someone finds out we’re hiding your truck,” Lily said with an eye roll. Rosie shot a look at Charlie that clearly said, reign her in. Rosie and her future sister-in-law, Lily, famously did not get along. Hudson said it had something to do with Lily breaking Rosie’s brother’s heart.
I liked them both. Lily had been nothing but kind and sweet to me since we’d met. And Rosie was a lovingly loyal personality for sure. But they certainly brought out the worst in each other.
Rosie had overheard a plan to decorate her truck with all manner of embarrassing things before the wedding, so we’d hidden it in the woods where the boys wouldn’t find it.
And now we were on our way to put embarrassing things all over her brothers’ rental car.
Being an only child, I wasn’t totally familiar with sibling dynamics.
My only real experience with it was Hudson, and I was currently thinking of him as anything but a brother.
But apparently siblings liked to gently vandalize each other’s cars before big events. Or something.
We made our way back to town, my underarms aching with the pressure of the crutches. Poor Tiny Tim. I guess if I’d gained anything from this, it was an ability to connect with a character in one of my favorite classics.
Lia Halifax sidled up beside me. For being such a big star, I was learning she was down to earth. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah. Thanks for asking.”
“Well, we are supposed to be in a big bridesmaid feud, I heard.”
I groaned. “Do those tabloids always get things so wrong?”
“Almost always.”
“They got a black SUV,” Rosie said. “There.”
We were outside Dylan's townhouse, coming from the front, and a few doors down we spotted the SUV. She had hidden a black plastic bag beside Dylan’s trash can earlier that day.
It was filled with streamers, cream-filled cookies, shaving cream, empty cans, and some suggestive, anatomically shaped items that would raise a few eyebrows in Winterhaven.
I’d never covered anyone's car with lewd decorations before, but I had to admit, with this group, it was fun. Not a new hobby or anything, but it felt good to be included with a community of women. Most of my close friendships right now were men from the hockey team. They’d rallied around me even when I’d pushed everyone else in my life away.
There were a few women in the community college English department I’d like to get to know better, but I was lacking in female friendships.
We heard someone shutting a door, and then loud male voices.
“Run,” Rosie whispered-shouted.
We ran—me going as fast as I could—through the streets of Winterhaven and into the forest. We were grown adults.
Professionals. I was a mom, for heaven's sake. But as we darted into the forest, my heart pounding recklessly in my chest, I felt all the wild abandon of being a teenager again. Being here, in Winterhaven, I was happier than I’d been in quite a while.
“Hey!” someone shouted, and we giggled as we went deeper into the shadows. Rosie tripped over something, and we all collapsed on top of and around her, our laughter stealing all our breaths. Even Lily looked like she was having a fun time.
Rosie let out a long, contented sigh. “Who’s up for ice cream sundaes and playing Would You Rather?”
“This is the strangest bachelorette party in history,” Lia said with a wide grin. “And I’m loving every second of it.”
Once it was established that I’d rather eat a worm than raw beef, I’d rather walk through a waist-high pond of leeches than swim in a pool of jelly fish, and I’d rather be accidentally naked on television than have everyone be able to read my mind for one year, I begged off to use the restroom when Lily and Charlie went to the kitchen to get all the sundae makings prepared.
One of Charlie’s foster dogs, an adorable three-legged chihuahua named Hansel, followed me down the hall with a tiny wagging bum. I picked him up and let him lick my face.
“Would you rather live in a rom com or a musical?” Lia was asking Rosie as I gently set the dog down and closed the bathroom door.
Rosie let out an agonized cry of protest. “That’s an impossible choice!”
I laughed and stared at my reflection in the mirror. My cheeks were flushed from laughter. My hair was mussed from rolling around in the forest, and I plucked a stray leaf from my braid. I was happy. Really, really happy.
I pulled out my phone to check my messages. Anita had sent me and Hudson a picture of Quinn curled up next to her on the couch, in the middle of Quinn’s favorite princess movie. The second picture showed Quinn blowing me a kiss.
I took a picture of myself blowing a kiss and sent it back.
A few seconds later, another picture came in, this one of Hudson, wide-eyed, both hands pressed to his cheeks as if he’d caught our kisses. I stared at him, and the happiness in me expanded.
Anita sent another picture of Quinn, this time with her eyes dramatically closed, with her hand over her heart. I snorted out a laugh. That girl was a ham and a delight. Hudson sent back another picture, this time all the men at the bachelor party making hearts with their hands.
If the women of the world could see this picture. That many hot men making heart-hands to make my little girl smile? Yet my attention was only for one of them.
Lia and Rosie were in a quiet conversation when I hobbled out of the bathroom, so I joined Charlie and Lily in the kitchen.
They’d all been friends all through childhood, despite their ages.
Shiloh had even had a crush on Dylan’s sister, Lily, and had figured he’d wait for her to grow up and then he’d go back home and marry her.
Then he’d met me instead, and the rest was history.
Charlie slid a bunch of bananas over to me to cut while she and Lily debated if it would be better to sleep in a haunted house or swim in shark-infested waters.
“We swim in shark infested waters every time we go in the ocean,” Charlie argued.
I listened to their debate, and for the first time, I wondered if I could move to Winterhaven.
I’d love to be near Shiloh’s parents. And to have friends like this close by.
Maybe they even had an opening at the high school for an English teacher. Quinn would absolutely love it here.
And we’d be closer to Hudson. But was that a good or bad thing? My heart sang that it would be amazing. My stomach wasn’t so sure.
“Did Shiloh ever tell you about the time he, Hudson, and Dylan spent the night in that old cabin you guys were in, determined to prove if it was haunted?” Lily asked me.
“No.”
“They never said it, but it freaked them all out, and they swore up and down it was haunted. Hudson hates that island now.”
I stopped cutting the banana to look at her. “No, he doesn’t. He loves it there. He convinced the Forresters to buy it and made them promise not to tear that cabin down. He thinks it’s a beautiful story.”
Both women stared at me.
“What?”
Lily set the ice cream scoop down. “Did he actually say ‘beautiful’ story?”
I shrugged. I couldn’t remember his exact words, but it was definitely something similar. “Hudson is a romantic,” I informed them.
“Hudson?” Charlie’s eyes were wide. “The quiet man who hardly has more than two words to say to any of us when he's in town?”
“The man who shows no mercy on the softball field every spring?” Lily added.
“Yes,” I said, feeling a little defensive for him, though I was intrigued about the softball thing. I hadn’t seen him be super competitive, maybe because Shiloh always won, it wasn’t worth being too competitive with him.
“Huh,” Charlie said, and then a slow grin slid across her face. “How else is he romantic?”
I could feel the tell-tale heat spread across my cheeks, broadcasting my crush on him.
“Wait.” Lily moved even closer, so the three of us were in a whispered huddle. “Do you have a thing for Hudson?”
I opened and closed my mouth like a fish.
What were my feelings for Hudson? I wanted to kiss him again.
All the time. I missed him when he wasn’t close.
I loved talking to him and being in the same room with him.
It was taking all my self-control not to pull up the picture of him holding his hands to his cheeks and stare at it.
If I said no, I’d be lying. But if I said yes, I might lose the respect of these women I was starting to think of as friends. Their loyalties would lie with Shiloh, even if he was gone.
Charlie threw Lily a look I couldn’t interpret. “Let’s start with an easier question,” she said kindly. “Do you find Hudson attractive?”
I nodded.
“Okay,” she said. “I mean, he’s an attractive man, so that’s totally understandable. Have you imagined kissing Hudson?”
So, so many times. My imagination was helped by experience, but I wasn’t sure if they needed to know that detail. I nodded slowly again.
Charlie let out a deep breath. “If you could get stranded on a deserted island with anyone in the world—” I looked at her with my eyebrows raised, and Charlie started laughing “Okay. If you got stranded again … would it be with Hudson?”
I nodded for a third time. Charlie took me by both arms and looked at me very seriously. My stomach churned.
“Amelia, I’m afraid I have to diagnose you with an incurable case of … love.”
Lily patted my arm. “I’ve avoided it so far, but it comes for the best of us eventually.”
“But I can’t love Hudson,” I said, with a too-high laugh. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” Charlie asked.
“Well, I was married to his brother for starters.”
“And?”
“It’s not done.”
“It’s totally done,” Lily said. “It’s not your fault the Blaires have a thing for the Amelias. And if it works out, you won’t have to change your last name. That’s pretty convenient.”
Charlie snorted. “I can always count on Lily to be practical. Who cares what anyone thinks, Amelia. Life is too short to walk away from love. Besides, we’ve all seen the way he looks at you.”
“You have?”
“The boy has got it bad,” Lily said, fanning herself. “If I can find someone to look at me like that …”
“Yeah,” Charlie said, a little quieter, and not meeting our eyes. She had a fiancé, but I hadn’t seen the two of them together much this week. “He looks at you like he could do so for the rest of his life, and nothing would make him happier.”
“Plus, how he is with Quinn?” Lily asked. “Girl. Snatch him up.”
“What would Anita and Elm say?” I loved them both so much. I wouldn’t want to put them in an uncomfortable position. Especially if I was seriously considering making the move to Winterhaven.
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” Charlie said. She held up her phone to an open chat screen.
Charlie
I like the idea of Hudson and Amelia together.
Anita
Me too. Very much so.
“You texted her just now?” I asked, my voice a little higher than usual.
“Yep,” Charlie put her phone in her back pocket. “And it seems like they’re on board. Any other objections you need us to help you work through?”
I sat on the stool, feeling like my legs were too weak to carry me any longer. “No. I don’t think there is.”
“Good,” Lily said, a huge grin on her face. “I can’t think of a more perfect couple.”
“Hey!” Rosie yelled from the other room. “Where’s my ice cream?”
“The queen calls.” Lily rolled her eyes. “Coming!”
I followed more slowly, thinking through everything they said. An urge settled over me to talk to Hudson as soon as I could. They were right. Life was too short to walk away from love.
But not tonight. Tonight was for Rosie and the girls. Tomorrow though, after the wedding, before he high tailed it out of town to go to work again and I didn’t see him for another six months. I’d pull him aside and tell him I was one hundred percent, absolutely in love with him.