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“Hey! Hands off my goods,” I scold him as I grab one myself and sit down, my stomach doing flip-flops so fast I’m not sure I will be able to eat it.
“Sooooo, getting cookie deliveries from Hudson…” He and Hudson are best friends, and he looks at me now with a shit-eating grin on his face like he knows everything.
“He is just being nice because of Mom.” I brush off his remark, needing time to process this gift. I mean, they arejust cookies, but they are myfavoritecookies. I told him about them just last night, and he remembered, ordered them, and had them delivered to me at work today. I swallow the gooey goodness, my head now whirling.
“How is your mom doing?” Connor asks, having already finished one cookie and diving in for another. I don’t mind, they are delicious, and I can’t eat all twelve by myself.
“Good. Great, actually. Hudson has plans for some fancy doctor to fly to Whispers to see her, just for another opinion and as a case study for a new program he wants to implement. His former sister-in-law or something?” I watch Connor closely, and his eyebrows rise in surprise.
“What?” I ask skeptically, waiting for the information.
“Well, you do know how hard it is to get fancy doctors to small towns. It isn’t something those doctors do lightly. They hate to travel and are usually so busy at their own clinics, they can’t spare the time. Hudson must be pulling some strings for you. Either that, or he wants his sister-in-law closer to him and Harvey. It makes sense; she was really close with his wife. The two of them looked almost identical, from what I remember,” he says, finishing the second cookie in one bite.
I balk. The cookie is sitting heavy in my stomach. When Hudson mentioned it this morning, I thought it was a whole program, something he was implementing for the town and Mom being ill would be one of many people who benefitted. But what Connor says makes sense. Maybe he does want his sister-in-law closer. Maybe he misses his wife. Maybe he wants to go on adate with me just to get over her? But it has been a few years now, so it’s hard to know.
I take a sip of water, needing the moisture, my throat now dry. It doesn’t matter. He is just Mom’s doctor. There can be no more daydreaming about what it would be like to date a man like Hudson. The stars, our friendly banter, his sexy-as-sin smile. It all needs to stop.
“When are we going to the city?” I ask, suddenly feeling the urge to get to New York on this research trip.
“Chat with your mom, let me know about your schedule, and we can lock it in then. I’ve gotta go. I’ve got a meeting with Sawyer,” Connor says, jumping up and walking out of my office, but not before he grabs another handful of cookies, giving me an annoying smirk in the process.
12
HUDSON
Ipull up to the distillery late in the day, seeing the parking lot almost empty. I’m meeting Tanner to go over some thoughts I have about the hospital and the new program. Something he’s all on board with and he’s keen to look at the financial implications to see where he can help.
I see his truck parked at the end of the lot in his usual spot, alongside Lacy’s small hatchback. I didn’t realize she would still be here so I’m smiling as I jump out of my truck and start walking inside.
“I just need to run next door to grab a few things. Go inside, Lacy is in her office,” Tanner says as he runs down the office stairs toward me.
“No problem,” I tell him, as he jogs to his truck and I race up the stairs, straight inside before he has even left the lot.
The office is quiet, the receptionist already gone for the day, and I make my way down the hall where I know Lacy’s office is.
Seeing her office light on, like a moth to a flame, I stop at her open door. She hasn’t seen me, so I watch her for a moment. Sitting behind the desk, looking over some paperwork, she has glasses on that I didn’t realize she wears, giving her a sexy librarian kind of vibe that I instantly appreciate. She has a pen in one hand that she chews, her hair falling into her face a little, her brow furrowed in deep concentration.
“Working late?” I murmur and hear her gasp as her head shoots up in surprise.
“Hudson?”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” I say, taking a few steps inside as she stands.
“No. It’s fine,” she says with a smile, closing the folder of documents and removing her glasses.
“I have a meeting with Tanner to talk about hospital funding,” I tell her, putting my things down on her side table and pocketing my hands as I walk over to her.
“I was just finishing up for the day,” she says, coming to the front of her desk. As she walks around, I get to admire her work outfit again. She looks just as fresh as she did this morning.
“So, did you eat all the cookies?” I ask, spotting the empty box nearby. She smiles a little, a soft-pink tint coloring her cheeks.
“Had to. They are Connor’s favorites as well, so we had a fight over the box. Plus, Tanner stole a few this afternoon too. Thank you, it was a lovely gift.” She shakes her head with a soft laugh, and I frown.
“Connor needs to get his own cookies,” I grumble, obviously needing to talk to my best friend. The jealousyI feel that he might like Lacy too, still swirls in my stomach.
“Yeah, but he offered me a good work project this afternoon, so I couldn’t say no.” Her smile is small but glowing.
“A new project?” I watch her carefully, trying to gauge her reaction, and I relax as I see her smile widening.