mind, and then promptly threw her head back and laughed.
“You’re a freaking riot, Lilly. I don’t know anyone stronger than you.” She gave me a squeeze, and still laughing, said, “You can do this. And when you are weak, Hudson will be there. That’s the beauty in love—in both giving and receiving.”
“Are you two done yet? The weight of this train is making my arms sore.”
Jenna glared at Mary playfully. “Pipe down, little sister.”
Mary rolled her eyes, but she also did it with a smile while Jenna faced me again. “You okay now?”
I wasn’t sure. But I would be. I told her that and then said, “And I’m sorry. This is your day, it’s not about me.”
“The best thing about family is that there are always problems and more than enough time to celebrate one thing while dealing with another. Marrying Brandon is about all of us. Now go—go get him, because when I came in here, Hudson was pacing like a tiger outside waiting for you and worried.”
“Is that why you came in here?”
“No, silly. I have to pee. And it’s almost time for the bouquet toss, so get ready to catch it.”
“You’re crazy.” I wasn’t going within a dance floor of her bouquet toss.
“No less than anyone else.” She shrugged to gather the rest of her dress and maneuvered into the largest stall, Mary behind her.
“I swear, Jenna. You owe me huge for all your help with this.”
“Yeah, yeah. Like I didn’t do the same for you when you were a baby and I changed your diapers.”
Laughing, I shook my head and gave my hands another quick rinse before drying them on paper towels. I’d hidden long enough.
Jenna’s craziness settled me in ways kindness didn’t.
If that made me crazy, I was okay with it.
I found Hudson right where Jenna said he was, outside, no longer pacing but impatiently resting against the wall, his narrowed glare on the restroom door as I exited.
He pushed off the wall. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I know. I think, I don’t know… is it normal for women to become crying fools at weddings?”
It wasn’t and we both knew it.
“Perhaps another club soda and getting to know my family more would help.”
I doubted it. But like he was letting me ignore what was between us, I’d allow him to think he was right.
Hudson and I stepped off the elevator in our apartment building. After more dancing, mostly fast songs, I ended up laughing so much my cheeks and stomach would still hurt in the morning. Hudson allowed me to pretend there wasn’t a cavern between us I wasn’t sure how to breach.
We’d been mostly silent on the way back to the condo building, talking of the wedding. Pleasantries shared like strangers with a tangible pulse of electricity constantly sparking between us.
He walked me to my door where my thoughts were jumbled. To the woman in the restroom who mentioned him to me, mentioned on their date that he was interested in someone else.
That was before everything… before I’d agreed to anything and I already consumed him to that degree. So why in the hell was I hesitating?
“Thank you, for bringing me home,” I said, unlocking my door and looking up at him.
“Anytime.”
His smile was sad.
He’d made himself so clear.
More tears burned my eyes. God, I hated them. Despised them. This was not the first time we’d had an awkward encounter at my door or ending to a night.
This time, it was my breach to heal. I could do this.
I could take a step toward trusting him again. I could give him a piece of me. What had Ellen said all those weeks ago? One day at a time.
After all Hudson had shown me, after all he’d given me, I could give him one day at a time.
I spun on my heels and lifted my chin. “Hudson—”
And he stole the breath from my lungs and every hesitation in my blood with a sentence.
“I fell in love with a woman in a photograph before I ever met her.”
My jaw dropped and before I could gather my wits to bring him inside, to tell him I understood, he continued.
“I fell in love with a woman through stories of my dying sister. While the end of her life was coming much too soon, I was, for the very first time, looking forward to mine finally starting.”
“Hudson.” I pressed my hand to his cheek, and he closed his eyes.
He groaned at my touch and it was so heady