“Bullshit. You were brave enough to find me, so why won’t you be brave enough to be honest?”
“Fuck you.” Hudson looked away.
“Fuck your attitude. What do you want to know?” Seth challenged. “Ask me anything. I’m an open book.”
The kid stood there, staring. They were at an impasse. Seth half expected him to storm out, maybe for good. Instead, he shoved his hands on his hips. “How did you meet my mom? Her old letters didn’t say.”
“I used to spend summers in the Catskills with my grandparents. I met your mom working as a busboy at a swanky restaurant in one of the resorts.” He could still picture it—the elegant dining room, the mountain views, Laura moving between tables with easy grace. “She was a waitress. I was fifteen, but I…told her I was heading to college in the fall, not my sophomore year of high school. When she learned the truth…” He trailed off, remembering Laura’s fury when she’d confronted him. “She stopped talking to me. Within a few weeks, she was gone. I had no idea she was pregnant.”
Hudson shifted uncomfortably. “She never talked about you. I had to dig up your name in her old stuff. How did you two…you know? How did I happen?”
Seth’s thoughts drifted back. “We’d been flirting back and forth for a few weeks. One night the manager got sick and left Laura with the keys to lock up. By the time we finished cleaning, it was late. I didn’t want to wake up my grandparents to give me a ride, so Laura offered to drive me home. But a massive storm hit. Lightning, thunder, hail, tornado threat—the works. We took shelter in the basement storage area that doubled as the manager’s crash-pad. The power went out.”
Seth glanced at Beck and Heavenly, both of whom were listening intently.
“I, um…found some candles, and we hunkered down to wait out the storm. We were both soaked and…” He met Hudson’s eyes. “One thing led to another. We fooled around a few more times after that, but then Laura found out how old I really was from our manager. Wasn’t long after that she quit without saying goodbye. I never saw her again.”
But even as he said it, Seth reeled. What did Hudson’s existence mean for his future with Beck and Heavenly? How was he going to tell his mother? His brothers?
Christ, he could barely handle the thought of having another baby, and now he had a teenage son who clearly had years of built-up resentment.
“That sounds like Mom. She’s…not much for confrontations.”
As far as Seth remembered, that tracked. “I need to talk to her. Give me your phone.”
Hudson hesitated, then handed it over with a soft curse.
“Stay here.”
“Should I bark like a dog, too?”
“Watch your fucking mouth,” Beck growled as Seth stepped onto the patio.
The kid’s attitude was a problem he’d have to deal with later. Now, he dialed Laura’s number, his heart hammering. She answered on the first ring.
“Hudson? Are you coming home?—”
“Laura? It’s Seth Cooper.”
Silence. He could feel her shock. “Oh, my god.”
“Our son is sitting in my living room. You never told me.”
“What was I supposed to say? You were fifteen. You couldn’t support him. What were you going to do, drop out of high school to be his dad?” Her voice cracked.
She had him there.
“I haven’t been fifteen for a long time.”
She sighed. “You’re right. I tried looking you up nine years ago, thinking you’d be an adult and that you might want to know about Hudson. But you were married with a baby on the way. I didn’t want to blow up your life.”
Seth’s stomach clenched. “They both died that December. Explosion.”
Laura gasped. “Oh, god. Seth, I’m so sorry. If I’d known…”
“It…was a long time ago. You been okay? It can’t have been easy raising Hudson alone.”
“It wasn’t until I got married a few years ago. But my husband, Ted? He and Hudson butt heads, especially since our daughter was born last year.”
