Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
“Okay. So that’s it for now.” Hudson finished handing out assignments, dismissing his crew to start work.
Today was their first day at the courthouse, and Hudson was equal parts excited and anxious.
This project would be his first true test as a contractor and a business owner.
He’d landed the job on his own. Now, he needed to prove he and his crew could do the work.
There was a lot riding on this, and he was determined to succeed.
Especially since everything in his personal life was finally clicking into place. It had been three weeks since he and Paige spent that first night together, and there hadn’t been too many since where they’d slept apart.
Hudson wasn’t prone to flights of fancy, but if someone asked him to describe his relationship with Paige, he’d call it a whirlwind. An all-in, perfect whirlwind. With the exception of his dad, he’d never spent so much time with one other person.
The two of them woke up each morning, wrapped in each other’s arms in Paige’s bed.
More often than not, they started their day with a quickie…
or a not-so-quickie. From there, they showered, then ate breakfast together.
If Paige had work, she headed to the restaurant as he continued tackling things on her to-do list. If she was off, the two of them worked—and played—together.
They’d christened no less than five of the rooms in her place, neither very good at keeping their hands off the other.
At the beginning, their home repair sexual innuendoes had just been humorous, but now, they hit differently.
They had a tendency to take the jokes to the next level, then the next, until suddenly he was dragging her jeans to her knees and bending her over the nearest flat surface.
It was madness. It was bliss.
He never wanted it to end.
Hudson had never used the word forever for anything. But every night as the two of them fell asleep in each other’s arms, he prayed it lasted forever.
Granddad knew what was up…obviously. After the fourth night in a row of Hudson not making it back to his own bed, Granddad cornered him when he came home for clean clothes.
The dear old man was thrilled, swearing Hudson would be the one to break the Ryan curse once and for all.
Since then, he and Paige had eaten dinner at Granddad’s at least once a week, and she’d even served as his assistant, helping Hudson do little small jobs around his grandfather’s place.
Surprisingly, he and Paige had somehow managed to fly under the radar as far as Maris gossip was concerned, but Hudson didn’t expect that to last forever.
In small towns, gossip was more prized than gold, and he suspected there were quite a few locals who would be entertained by the love story of Maris’ perfect princess and the bad boy.
Paige confided she’d told her mother about them just last week, and since then, her mom had been chomping at the bit to have them over for dinner. Paige was just as reluctant to endure that meal with her dad as Hudson.
When Hudson asked what her father thought about the two of them together, Paige grimaced and said her mother hadn’t told him, because “it wasn’t her place, it was Paige’s.”
That hadn’t happened yet, though Hudson suspected it had less to do with avoidance and more to do with the two of them working their asses off on the house before he started the courthouse project.
They’d put one hell of a dent in her list. Hudson had finished replacing all the old cast-iron pipes with PEX. Paige had served as his assistant for some of it. At other times, she tackled other projects on her own—primarily the living room.
It was the first officially finished room in the house, and it looked fucking amazing.
Hudson had teased Paige about her YouTube training, but he had to admit she was a natural when it came to renovations.
She was a hard worker, a meticulous house painter, and a tenacious floor sander. The woman was tireless.
While neither of them had brought up the future or said the “L” word yet, he felt certain the two of them were on the same page. He wasn’t sure what was holding Paige back. Perhaps it was her dad, or the fact things were going so fast.
It had been on the tip of Hudson’s tongue to tell Paige he’d loved her every night since that first one.
But he still couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he didn’t deserve her love or forgiveness.
He kept telling himself he wanted more time to prove he’d truly changed, that he could make Granddad’s business a success, that he could provide for her and any kids that might come along, that he could be a true partner.
That he was worthy of her.
Hudson sighed, putting thoughts of Paige aside so he could focus on the job at hand. Unrolling the designs they were working from, he studied them again as he looked around the courtroom.
The irony of this situation wasn’t lost on him, as he recalled the last time he’d stood in this room. He’d been a seventeen-year-old punk, arms crossed, scowling as Judge Sparks stared him down from the bench.
This project wasn’t just an opportunity for him to prove himself as a contractor, but for him to prove to the town—and even himself—that he wasn’t the same person anymore.
He was distracted from his recollections when someone cleared their throat behind him.
“Mr. Ryan.”
Hudson had made it two months, one week, and three days in Maris without coming face to face with Judge Sparks.
Mainly because—according to Paige—the judge was a creature of comfort and simplicity, which meant his days consisted of work and home and church on Sunday, with the occasional city council or Lion’s Club meeting thrown in for good measure.
It looked like Hudson’s winning streak was over.
Turning, Hudson dipped his head just once in greeting. “Judge Sparks.”
“I must admit, I’d hoped to never see you in the courthouse again.”
Hudson thought he detected the tiniest bit of humor in the man’s tone, though who the hell could tell with the stoic judge. Regardless, he treated the words like a joke and grinned. “You and me both.”
“Your grandfather tells me you’ve done well for yourself in the years since you left Maris. Became a licensed plumber, I believe.”
Hudson nodded again. “I did.”
“And now you’ve returned home to take over your grandfather’s business.”
Hudson made a mental note to never play poker with Judge Sparks, because the man had a rock-solid lock on his emotions.
“I have.”
Silence fell between them for a moment, and Hudson realized that while he’d offered his apologies to two of his three teen targets, there were still amends to be made.
“I know you could have been tougher on me when I was a kid,” he admitted, recalling the judge’s punishments for his crimes. “I appreciate you never sending me to juvie.”
“Incarceration is rarely the answer, Mr. Ryan. Especially with young people. I’ve always believed it best to let the punishment fit the crime.”
In Hudson’s case, that meant repairing all the damage he’d done.
He’d had to replace a window he’d broken at Hott’s Feed and Seed, repaint the entire beauty salon after spray painting inappropriate pictures on the side wall, and build Old Man Potter a new shed after the unfortunate joint-fueled fire.
“You know, Old Man…er, Mr. Potter’s shed was the first thing I ever built,” Hudson confessed. “It was the first time I’d ever done any kind of construction,” Hudson said, that truth only just occurring to him. “I liked it. Like building something from nothing with my own hands.”
“You clearly have a talent for construction. Bob Potter invited me out to his farm after you finished work on the shed. Said he was sorry you and Ronnie hadn’t burned down the barn, too.”
Hudson barked out a laugh, recalling Old Man Potter’s dilapidated barn. He was shocked that Judge Sparks would share that with him.
Then he tilted his head…confused about something else the judge had said.
The judge knew what he was thinking without him asking the question. “We were perfectly aware that Ronnie McCarty was your partner in crime, but without you stating as much, we didn’t have the evidence to punish him as well. Which is a shame, because I think Ronnie could have benefited from it.”
Hudson considered where his former buddy was now, and he decided the judge was right.
Ronnie couldn’t hold down a job because he still had a hardcore resentment toward authority figures, and he seemed forever stuck in what he considered their high school “glory days.” Hudson suspected if he’d been down for it, Ronnie would have gladly relived some of their “awesome pranks” the other night after drinking at Cruisers.
That was how Ronnie had referred to their vandalism and arson. They’d destroyed other people’s property, but Ronnie—a grown-assed man—still considered it harmless fun.
“Maybe he would have,” Hudson conceded, although he wasn’t sure. Ronnie had never been the brightest bulb. Making amends for his actions would probably be too subtle for him to understand. “Looking back, I think you may have been as responsible for my chosen career path as Granddad.”
The judge gave him what might possibly be the hint of a smile. “Bob Potter and I both serve on city council together these days. We were impressed with your bid and your plans. If this job is successful… Well, let’s just say his barn is still falling down.”
Hudson chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Then something else dawned on him. TJ had been all abuzz about Ryan Construction winning this bid over Beck Reed’s company. He’d kept the patrons of the restaurant entertained for days, likening Hudson’s defeat of Beck to David and Goliath.
According to TJ, the mayor had been determined to go with Reed Construction…but there were two city council members in Hudson’s corner. And in the end, they’d managed to sway the other voting members to go for Ryan Construction’s bid.