No need to feel sorry for me though. I’m used to things ending badly. Usually, I bring it on myself. I mean, I just produced a boyfriend out of thin air. A boyfriend I know absolutely nothing about. Hell, he could be serial killer.
Honestly, I deserve a serial killer after all the lies I’ve told.
“You must be Hank.” Bonnie’s leaning over me with her hand out for him to shake. In the process, her elbow is pressed against my left boob, practically pushing it back into my chest. Not an easy task since my boobs arenotsmall. Or perky.
“Yep.” Hank or Hudson, rather, shakes Bonnie’s hand.
“I’m Bonnie. I’m Willa’s bestie but I’m sure she’s told you all about me.”
My nerves are frazzled with all of this. My heart is beating hard. If there weren’t noise around us thanks to the game, I’m pretty sure everyone would hear it. Hudson glances at me so quickly that you’d miss it if you weren’t looking. “She has. She talks about you a lot.”
I can’t believe this man is doing this for me. He doesn’t know a thing about me or my situation, yet he’s willing to risk the wrong answer for me.
Bonnie looks at me as she coos. “Awe, thanks, boo.” With her hand still in Hudson’s, she continues, “I hope you know how lucky you are, Hank. My girl, Willa, is a catch.”
“Oh, Iknow.” Hudson looks me in the eye and gives me that smile again. Ugh. How can his smile gives me goose bumps?
“What’s wrong, Willa?” Hudson has leaned in slightly. I feel his arm slide around my shoulders. He’s so close I can smell him.
It’s good. So good, I’m tempted to ask him what cologne he wears so I can buy some and just have it around for whenever I need a little pick-me-up.
Whispering close to my ear, he says, “Is this okay? Do you want me to move my arm? Should I leave?”
I’m sure he’d love for me to say yes to that. That it’s okay for him to walk away. I mean, he’s probably here with friends. They’re probably wondering what happened to him.
Oh. My. Gosh. What if he already has a girlfriend?
A guy like Hudson? A man so hot he belongs on the cover of GQ magazine? Of course he’s got a girlfriend. Or twenty.
I say as softly as I can, “Um, if you need to go, you should go.”
“No.” He shakes his head slightly. “I’m asking ifyou’d like me to go.”
From the corner of my eye, I see Spencer three rows down. His upper body is practically turned to face me, and he’s glaring. Daggers. “Can you stay a while longer?”
“Of course.” He pats my shoulder as he leans back in his seat. His eyes return to the field, but he keeps his arm around me. That’s when I feel a slight tug on my ponytail.
Turning my head, I see the responsible party. It’s Sheila, executive assistant to Mac McAllister. She’s worked for our moderately-sized accounting firm the same amount of time as me, since we started work at McAllister Accounting LLC on the same day, three years ago. We went through orientation together and became fast friends. “Hi, Sheila.”
She gives me a sweet smile. “What does your boyfriend do for a living?”
I feel heat rush into my cheeks. I’d avoided this question for a while but there came a moment a week ago when I couldn’t answer Spencer’s question. I’d told everyone he was an––
“Accounting.” Hudson interjects. “Of sorts.”
“Right.” God, I want to laugh and sigh with relief at the same moment because that’s exactly what I’d told Bonnie and Spencer. I mean, it’s whatIdo. It made sense my boyfriend would be in the same field.
“How’d you meet?”
Hudson has the perfect response. “You tell her. I love to hear you recount how we first met. What’d you call it again?” He smirks. “A meet cute?”
How the heck does Hudson, whatever his last name is, know about meet cutes? And why does that make him even more appealing? No matter. I go with the story I shared with Bonnie who blabbed it to everyone in my department. “At a wedding.”
That’s not as far-fetched as it seems since I’ve been in a whole lot of weddings lately. What is that old saying… always a bridesmaid, never a bride? Well, that’s me in a nutshell. I clear my throat and start the story I made up on one particularly trying Monday with Spencer. “I was the maid of honor; he was the best man.”
Sheila giggles. “This is gonna be good.” She gestures for me to continue.
“I, um, I thought he was snort of snob because he didn’t say word one to me at any of the events prior to the wedding.”
