Applause erupts throughout the room, glasses clink in celebration, and the happy couple lean in for a kiss. But I don’t move. I barely take a single photo, as Hudson’s words override my instinct to capture the moment.
I’m pretty sure he just declared his love for me in front of his entire family. Of course, they were all unaware of who he was talking about, especially since Susan kept glancing over at Katherine in hopeful admiration, but Hudson’s gaze never moved from mine. And when I see Adrian slide a twenty over the table to Vanessa, who proudly stuffs it into her bra, my hypothesis is confirmed.
I want to run over to him, kiss him, or slap him for publicly declaring his love, but I’m reminded I still have a job to do as he hands the microphone over to Katherine. If she is rattled by his speech, she doesn’t show it. Instead, she plasters on a smile and takes her place in the spotlight.
“I’m so happy to be here with all of you, celebrating the love between Meredith and Grant. I know I haven’t known you as long as some of the people here, but my love for you both is boundless,” she says. I move around the room, snapping photos.
The top table is placed on the far-right side of the room, backed up against the wall, meaning I have to stand in the center of the hall to capture not only Katherine but also the guests’ reactions tothe speeches. Most of whom are still weepy from Hudson’s words. Words directed at me.
Every time I think about them, I get dizzy. All those nights I stayed late at the bar, all those texts we shared in early mornings and mid-afternoons, they meant just as much to him as they did to me. To know that what I’ve been feeling is more than a childish crush grounds me.
I move around to get another angle, stopping besides Hudson’s chair. I try to focus on Katherine’s speech. She’s muttering about Pilates and girls’ nights spent at the local wine bar, but her words are lost as I focus on the way Hudson’s finger grazes against my calf, trailing up the exposed skin, while I click the shutter aimlessly. I know I should move, capture more of the guests’ reactions, but I stay put—not willing to part from Hudson yet.
It isn’t until Katherine raises her glass that I focus, snapping photos of the hug Meredith offers her best friend as she wipes away tears. I hate to admit that watching them together makes me wistful. Even if I have Hudson, it doesn’t erase what I’ve lost; it can’t overwrite the grief still heavy in my heart.
I sit with it for a moment as waiters float into the room, carrying trays of salad plates as dinner service begins.
Since Susan arranged this soiree, I know there won’t be a place setting waiting for me, a fact confirmed when Amelia passes by and says, “There’s a vendor meal waiting for you in the parlor.”
Grateful for a few minutes of solitude to collect my thoughts, I scuttle to the corner, set my camera down and sneak out of the room.
I only make it a few feet before Hudson pulls me towards an empty hallway. His mouth is against mine in an instant and it takes all my mental resolve to break away.
“You have to go back in,” I tell him, knowing his absence won’t go unnoticed.
“One more minute,” Hudson breathes, his teeth biting the sensitive skin of my collarbone, then my neck, then my lower lip. There’s nothing but the wall and his sturdy arm keeping me upright. His lips move up my jaw and towards my ear, his voice barely a whisper when he says, “Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to keep my hands off you?”
“You did a pretty good job of it at Finn’s,” I joke.
“That was before I knew that you wanted this too,” he says, his fingers trailing up the slit of my dress, stopping just below my hip. “Before I knew what you felt like.”
I don’t know if it’s the champagne or the declaration, but I’m thoroughly enjoying this new emboldened Hudson.
“It would be so easy, wouldn’t it? If I just moved my hand ... here,” he whispers, and I shudder at the closeness of his skin, the scratch of his stubble against my neck.
He curls a finger underneath the fabric, my nerve endings on high alert as he runs a knuckle upwards. I lean forward, resting my chin against his shoulder, before we hear footsteps coming down the hall.
My heart is racing. I move away from him, readjusting my dress.
“It’s just Derrick,” I say, watching him carry a bottle of bourbon down the hall.
“I can’t stand that you’ve kissed that asshole,” Hudson fumes. “I should have set that fire the second I saw him sit beside you.”
“You set the fire!”
A familiar blush crawls up his neck and into his cheeks.
“Smokey Bear would be so disappointed in you.”
“I think he’d give me a pass this once,” he says, brushing his lips against the tender skin of my neck. We waste another few minutes in the hallway until I hear the clink of glasses coming from the dining hall.
“If we miss any more of the evening we’ll both be in trouble,” I say, moving away to straighten my dress.
“You go in first,” Hudson says, leaning back against the wall, and I make sure to walk as slowly as possible.
Inside, waiters are placing second courses in front of the hungry guests. The scent of prime rib and Mac and cheese makes my stomach rumble.
“Mira, over here,” Vanessa calls, scooting out the chair beside her. “We have an extra seat.”
