She pulled on her lounge pants and an oversized T-shirt and looked at him.
“You don’t stay the night.” It wasn’t a question.
“No,” he said quietly. “I don’t.”
“Well, thanks for making me feel like a slut. Do you want to leave money on the dresser?”
“That’s not what this was, Blair.”
“Then what was it?”
“I’m just not used to spending the night with anyone. That’s all it is.”
“Not even Gina?”
“Not even Gina.” He held her gaze. “I don’t want you thinking this was only about sex. It wasn’t.”
“You’re right. It wasn’t. I was the one who led you up here, so I suppose that’s on me.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Goodnight, Hud. Be careful driving home.” She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
She leaned against it and listened. His boots on the stairs. A pause. Then the front door opening and closing quietly. No slam. Just closed, careful and considerate even now, which somehow made it worse.
She pressed her head back against the door.
“Damn you, Hudson Anderson.” She said it to the empty bathroom. “I should have stuck to my guns.” She closed her eyes. “I can’t do this with a man who has no interest in anything real.”
She gave herself a minute, then went downstairs and locked the front door just as his headlights swept across the ceiling. She switched off the porch light, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and carried it back upstairs.
She climbed into bed, stared at the ceiling and told herself she absolutely was not going to cry.
****
Hud drove home in the dark and tried to figure out exactly where the evening had turned. He knew the answer though. It was on him. It always was when it came to this.
He hadn’t lied to her. He didn’t spend the night with anyone. Never had. It wasn’t something he’d ever wanted, that particular kind of closeness, waking up next to someone in the gray light of morning with nowhere to retreat to. He’d kept that wall standing for a long time and wasn’t even sure anymore where it had come from, only that it was there, and he’d never felt the need to question it before.
Gina had pushed for more and he’d ended things rather than give it. There had been others before her who’d wanted the same and got the same answer. He’d never lost a minute of sleep over any of it.
So why did Blair’s face keep coming back to him? The way she’d looked before she walked into that bathroom. Not angry, not exactly. Something quieter than that and somehow worse.
He turned onto the long drive toward the house and the headlights swept across the dark barn, the fence line, the familiar shapes of home. He loved this place. The solitude of it, the way it asked nothing of him at the end of a long day except to show up.
But sitting in the driveway with the engine ticking down to silence, he thought about Blair climbing into that bed alone, and the solitude didn’t feel quite as comfortable as it usually did.
He sat there a while before finally going inside.
Monday morning, Hud hung his hat on the rack and knocked on Dave’s open door. Dave waved him in without looking up.
“Three rooms in Shelby, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I’m also sending Luke with you.” He set his pen down. “I want you all back by Thursday.”
“Understood. We’ll head out first thing tomorrow.”
“Loop in Creed and Luke before you leave today.”
“Yes, sir.” Hud gave a nod and stepped out, crossing to where Luke McCallister sat scrolling through his screen.
