before I could react.
Which was why Brandon found me, mouth open, gaping at Hudson’s back and his jaw fell open almost to the floor. “You’re here,” he said and shook his head as if to clear it, or thought me to be a mirage.
“Of course she is,” Jenna said, slapping him on the shoulder and pushing him out of the way. She grinned at me knowingly and came straight to me, pulling me into a quick but firm hug. “It’s family dinner. Everyone’s welcome.”
Somehow, even with all the hurt I’d felt from them a week ago, I’d never felt more at home. Or welcomed.
Family. So this was what that felt like.
Dinner was a quieter affair than when I’d come before, not that I’d ever done much speaking. Conversations were typically punctuated with belly laughs and lovingly slung insults. Teasing and smiles. Tonight, it was muted, me even more so than usual. They spoke of work and Jenna and Brandon’s quickly approaching wedding, but even then words were pulled as if by force from everyone, no one willing to mention the elephant in the room.
Why I was there.
And had I forgiven them?
Which meant, in part, it was my job to help make things as right as I possibly could.
In between bites of the chicken tetrazzini dish David whipped up, I grabbed Brandon’s attention with my gaze and when he met mine, something he hadn’t done yet, I said, “The office misses you. It’s been quiet without you there, pacing circles around all of us.”
Next to me, Hudson made a surprised sound and in my peripheral, I watched as the corner of those lips turned up.
Brandon, stunned, perhaps that I’d dared to speak, pushed his lips to one side. “I thought it would be better. For you.”
“It was. And thank you for that.” I blinked harshly, willing my own emotions to stay steady. Tonight was not about me. “But it’s okay to return, too, not that you need my permission or anything.”
“Please go back to work,” Jenna pleaded, hands pressed together in prayer. “You are driving me bonkers at home.”
I chuckled.
“You act like it will be a chore to be stuck with me forever. Only seven more days to change your mind,” he said, smirking at her.
“I do want to spend forever with you.” She turned back to her food and picked at her salad. “Just not all day long every day. Your nervous energy drives me up the wall.”
“Funny.” Brandon speared a green bean with his fork. “I thought you liked it up against the wall.”
Jenna choked on her food.
A deep laugh burst from me.
Hudson made a gagging sound.
These guys. I’d missed them.
David cleared his throat. “I think that’s enough of that,” he scolded with a glimmer in his eyes.
David waited until everyone finished their meals and Brandon and Hudson cleaned up while Jenna and I were given a reprieve. The three of us sat at the kitchen table, the familiar and funny banter of everyone returning to more normal levels after David’s earlier scolding.
“I’d like to have everyone at the table for a moment,” David said.
My back went ramrod straight and I swore my heart stopped beating. It was time, and I glanced at the clock, willing to turn the hands back an hour to give me more of it to prepare for this.
At his tone, Hudson stopped wiping down the counter and bunched the towel he was using in his fist.
His gaze darted to me, and whatever he saw he didn’t like. “What’s going on?”
“Sit, son. You too, Brandon.”
Brandon and Hudson shot each other a look before slowly coming toward the kitchen table. Like lambs to the slaughter. That was how slowly they moved. Jenna tilted her head in my direction but I focused on David, on the weight of Hudson sitting close to me. It rolled off him in a distinct wave so powerfully I fought a shiver.
David clasped his hands on the table, met each of our gazes and lingered on mine for only a brief moment before he said, “I have cancer.”
The table erupted in a cacophony of noise, Jenna’s gasps and oh no murmurs. Brandon swearing.
Hudson shoved back from the table so quick the chair toppled and his fists slammed to the table, making the drinking glasses still on it tremble.
“What?” His word was a roar, powerful enough to clear the Sahara plains.
“Son—”
“No.” I faced him, sure the pain of hearing this admission again ravaged my features and met Hudson’s furious glare. “You knew.”
He threw