One Tiny Lie – Jennifer Youngblood Page 0,12

me up at nine.”

“Just do me one favor.”

“What’s that?” Luna asked warily.

“You’ve put him through so much already. Don’t break his heart.”

“I won’t,” Luna said softly, mostly to herself as she ended the call. Her conscience argued that she had no right to make that promise. If she could win Hudson’s affection, then he would be hurt when he learned the truth. Luna had been brought up in a God-fearing home, admonished by her adopted mother and Grandma Peach to always tell the truth. When Ava first came to Sonoma, she’d convinced herself that pretending to be Ava was one tiny lie that wouldn’t harm anyone.

However, she was now starting to question that reasoning. Beverly and Todd were overjoyed, believing that they had their daughter back. They would be devastated when they learned that Ava had no intention of ever moving back to Sonoma. Her life was with Cash.

But what of Luna’s life? She was willing to give up her earnings to help the vineyard. Didn’t that count for something? Also, she cared deeply for Beverly and Todd. As for Hudson … well, Luna would just have to see how it all played out because she didn’t have the strength to turn away from the possibility of what the two of them could be together. Call it intuition. Call it wishful thinking. Regardless of what happened with Hudson, Luna had to see it through. She owed herself that much.

4

As Hudson turned onto the circular drive in front of Ava’s home, he tried to prep himself for how he would answer her questions about why he’d changed his mind about the engagement. Yesterday, after lunch at the country club, Ava had pulled him aside, asking him to give her an explanation. He’d stalled, assuring her that he would tell her everything when they went sailing. The short answer was that Ava had changed. She was still as beautiful as ever—the most captivating woman he’d ever been around. But there was a depth to Ava now that hadn’t been there before. She seemed more real, more down to earth. Also, she looked at him differently now. Yesterday, when he’d given her the peck on the lips, he felt something. Then, he saw the look in her eyes and knew that she’d felt it too. It was at that moment that something had shifted inside Hudson. That’s why he decided to go along with the engagement.

Today, however, he was having second thoughts. Ava had always been so against marrying him, asserting that while she cared about him, she could never love him the way he deserved to be loved. The only reason Ava had entertained the idea of marrying Hudson was because her parents were so desperate to have financial help for their vineyard. In the past, Ava had been very open about this point, expressing resentment that her parents were looking to her to solve their problems. “You don’t want to be married to someone who married you for the money,” she told Hudson.

Her words had stung, but Hudson was so in love with Ava that he’d convinced himself that he could eventually make her fall in love with him. Then, Ava had the big blowup with her mother about the engagement and disappeared for several weeks. It was during this time that Hudson took a good look at himself. He was disgusted that he’d let things get this far. He couldn’t keep holding onto the hope that Ava would one day love him. He had to lock his heart and move on. He couldn’t base his life on someone who couldn’t or wouldn’t reciprocate his feelings. As hard as it was for Hudson to reach that conclusion, he’d regained his self-respect.

When Ava returned, he told her that the engagement was off. That’s when things started to get weird. While Ava told him she understood where he was coming from, the disappointment in her violet eyes had rattled him. Then, during the times when they’d gotten together for casual lunches, Hudson could tell that Ava was genuinely interested in spending time with him. She actually listened to the things he said, wanting to know more about his work at the winery.

While it was heaven to have Ava look at him with adoring eyes, his worry was that she might suddenly switch back to her old ways. Maybe it was foolish to go down this path with Ava. At the very least, Hudson would need to take measures to protect himself. To that