Madison didn’t even look in her direction. “Was I talking to you, bitch?” she snapped.
“Don’t talk to my wife like that.” Rand took a step forward, and I saw his eyes flash with anger. I had only just met the man, but something told me he was someone you didn’t piss off and get away with.
Brooklyn touched his arm. “Rand.”
“You’re being rude to my guests, Madison, and I think you should apologize,” Hutch growled and dropped his chin.
Madison rolled her eyes. “Is this how it’s going to be for the rest of our marriage? I’m going to come home every night to find her here? I thought you said you were done with her.” She rolled her eyes before she looked back at me. “I want you to leave,” she demanded. When I didn’t move, Madison’s blue eyes turned dark. “Are you deaf or something? I said I want you to leave.”
“Madison!” Hutch roared. “That’s enough! Take Hazel and go upstairs. We will deal with this later.” At first, I thought Madison wasn’t going to listen, but then she quietly picked up the car seat, and left to go upstairs to their apartment, leaving the four of us alone.
Hutch looked mortified. “I’m sorry.” His eyes were on me before he looked at Brooklyn. “She never should have spoken to you like that, and I apologize.” His shoulder slumped slightly.
Rand snaked his arm around his wife’s waist. “You didn’t do anything, man, that was all her. I’m just sorry you have to live with her.” He surely didn’t sugarcoat things.
“I should go now.” I started toward the door only to have Hutch grab my elbow and pull me against his chest. He didn’t say anything as he held me, his arms tight, and his heart beating wildly in my ear. When he released me, we stared up at one another before Hutch gave me a quick nod and then I started back toward my studio.
That’s where Brooklyn found me half an hour later with color swatches, trying to figure out just what would look best. “Knock, knock,” she called out. “I just wanted to say goodbye, in case I didn’t see you before we left tomorrow.”
“I’m glad you did,” I told her. “I hope we get to hang out again soon.”
Brooklyn nodded. “Rand has already invited Hutch to the next NASCAR race closest to us, but he said Madison isn’t invited.” She chuckled softly.
“He’ll probably bring Pat. I know he’d like to come.”
We exchanged numbers before Rand popped in to say goodbye too, and told me I was always welcome at a race, and to come visit them down in North Carolina if I was ever in the area. I stayed at the studio until the sun went down, planning out my next move, figuring out colors and thoughts of what I might like to do next with the place.
It wasn’t until I was in bed that night that I remembered the pictures I had taken on my phone, so I uploaded them to my Instagram, and found that Hutch still had his account too, so I tagged him, figuring he would want to see them. The last picture he added was nearly four years ago from when we went to the carnival. I felt my heart stutter in my chest at the memory. I had teased him into creating his account and all the pictures were of us or things we did together that summer. A notification came up saying someone had liked my photos.
Hutch had liked the pictures I had posted, and now that I had made my account public again, he could see the pictures I had posted over the past four years. Not that there were a lot—just pictures of ballet, New York, and with Madison, my roommate. There were a few of me with Knox at the wedding, a couple with Jo at her bachelorette party, and one I took of the beach when I was walking the other morning. When my phone buzzed with a text a few seconds later, I knew it was from Hutch.
Hutch:Thanks for the pictures, Jills.
Hutch:I’m sorry. You know I’ll always care about you.
I didn’t respond because I didn’t want to engage him in a conversation. Instead, I turned off my phone and tried to go to sleep. But the truth was I loved Hutch, and I wondered if I would ever be able to get over him.
