One Tiny Lie – Jennifer Youngblood Page 0,14
a conversation about it.
“My parents too. Dad was practically bouncing off the walls last night when he heard the news. It’ll be nice to announce it at his birthday party.”
“Right after you sing.”
“Yes,” she said.
Something in the tone of her voice caught his attention. He pulled his eyes off the road long enough to glance at her. He was taken off guard by her tight expression. “You don’t want to sing?” Ava loved performing. It was the highlight of her existence.
“Not really.”
Hudson was shocked. “Why not?”
She fidgeted with her hands. “I dunno. I guess I just want the attention to be on Dad and our engagement, not on my performance.”
He chuckled. “Who are you and what have you done with the real Ava? It’s like Martians have replaced your brain.”
“That’s not true,” she countered with a shaky laugh.
“It is.” He tightened his hold on the steering wheel, trying to wrap his mind around the change in her.
She sighed. “Do we have to do this today?” She lifted her hands in the air. “We’re going sailing. Today is supposed to be a day for relaxing and enjoying one another’s company.”
“We will. But first, I need some answers.”
Her expression went rigid, and he could feel her withdrawing.
“What happened to you during the weeks you were gone? Where did you go?” Those questions had been eating away at Hudson.
She placed a hand on his arm, sending a spark through him as warmth from her fingertips seeped into his skin. “I just needed time to sort things out in my head.”
He looked at her. “And have you?”
Her eyes widened. “Have I what?”
“Sorted things out.”
“I’m working on it.” She removed her hand from his arm and folded her arms tightly over her chest.
“Ava, before you disappeared, you were vehemently against marrying me. Now, you’re in favor of it. I need to understand why you changed your mind.”
She grunted. “That’s my question to you. When I got back from Nashville—err, my trip,” she corrected. “You made it clear that you had no intention of going through with the marriage. And, then yesterday, you were all for it. Why did you change your mind?”
He barely heard the question. He was still caught up on something she’d said. “So you went to Nashville. What’s in Nashville?” Hudson wished the conversation was taking place somewhere other than the car. He would’ve liked to study her expressions and mannerisms instead of looking at her occasionally while having to keep his primary focus on the road.
She began picking at her fingernails, her face flaming red. What was the significance of Nashville? Hudson was burning to know. He couldn’t shake the feeling that if he could figure out that part of the puzzle, the rest of the pieces would fall into place.
She huffed out a heavy breath. “I was at a wellness retreat, okay?”
“Okay. Nashville seems like an odd place to go for a retreat.”
“One of my former college roommates organized it.”
He pursed his lips, mulling over her answer. Now, they were getting somewhere. “Why did you change your mind about the marriage?”
A hard chuckle rattled her throat. “You promised me yesterday that you would tell me why you had a change of heart. You go first, and then I’ll go.”
Hudson ran her words through his mind a few times. “Or, we can go with option three.”
“What’s that?” A semi-amused smile crossed her lips.
“We could just skip the explanations all together and move forward.”
Her response came at him so fast that it made his head spin. “Sounds good to me.”
His jaw dropped. “Don’t you think it’s better to just get everything out in the open right here and now?” He pulled his eyes off the road long enough to see her expression. She was nibbling on her lower lip, trying to decide.
He grinned. Chewing on her lower lip was classic Ava. Maybe parts of the old girl were still in there, after all. Although, he’d not seen Ava twist her finger around her hair in quite a while. Too bad, because that unconscious mannerism was a telltale way for Hudson to know when Ava was nervous. And, she didn’t want to sing at her Dad’s birthday party. That was odd … really odd. Ava wasn’t an attention hog by any means, but she certainly wasn’t one to shy away from the spotlight, especially when it was thrust on her.
“Nope,” she said lightly. “I don’t need an explanation for why you changed your mind. I’m just glad you did.” She floated him a