Playing with Words (Boggy Creek Valley #2) - Kelly Elliott Page 0,71
liking the person I am when I’m with you.”
“You do?” I asked, raising one brow.
“Yes,” she replied. “I do.”
I kissed the tip of her nose. “Good, because so do I.”
“Greer! Hudson! Dinner is about ready,” her mom called from the kitchen. “Come help with the table, sweetheart.”
“We should, um, go help your mom,” I said before I kissed Greer gently.
“Yeah, we should.”
She let go of me and started to walk out of her bedroom when I grabbed her hand and pulled her back. Dipping her, I kissed her quickly and then stood her back up. With a laugh, she reached up onto her toes and brushed a light kiss across my mouth.
“You make me happy, Hudson Higgins.”
And just like that, I fell in love with her.
Greer
Dinner at my parents’ house had never been so amazing. My father, mother, Kyle, and even Bishop all loved Hudson. He fit into our family like he had been here the entire time. The dinner table was filled with an abundance of conversations, ranging from Hudson’s books, to Kyle thinking of getting into the K9 program, to a quick lesson in growing Christmas trees.
After we all cleaned up dinner, we found ourselves seated around the large table in the formal dining room with four tubes of pick-up sticks.
Kyle clapped his hands and stood in front of us all. “Alright, for those of you who don’t remember: black sticks are worth twenty-five, red are ten, blue are five, green two, and yellow are one point each. You cannot move any of the other sticks, and if you do, you lose your turn.”
“You can use one of your sticks to help, but only one,” I quickly added.
When I glanced over at Hudson, he gave me a wide smile.
“What happens if we accidentally bump a stick?” my mother asked.
Kyle gave her a look. “You lose your turn.”
“Even if we weren’t trying to pick up a stick?” she asked.
With a huff of frustration, Kyle pinned our mother with a hard stare. “Mom, you moved that stick on your turn. When are you going to let it go?”
Mom folded her arms over her chest and huffed. “I bumped it by accident.”
Hudson looked between my mother and Kyle and fought to keep a straight face. When he caught my eye, he lifted his brows in question. I shook my head and mouthed later.
“Let’s get this game going. How much is each color worth?” Bishop asked.
“I already said,” Kyle stated.
“No, you said the points. I thought we were playing for money?”
“Money! You kids bet on this?” my father asked, seeming a bit more interested in the game now.
Mom quickly stood. “Oh dear, let me go up to my room and get my bingo stash.”
“Grab my poker money bag, sweetheart.” Dad stood. “I’ll get the poker chips.”
When I chanced another look at Hudson, his mouth had dropped open in surprise, and it was my turn to try not to laugh.
“You got money on you, Higgins?” Bishop asked.
Hudson glanced around the table, confused. “Um, I have some money on me, yeah.”
“Hundred bucks to get in.”
“A hundred!” I nearly shouted. “Last time it was fifty, Bishop.”
He gave a half shrug. “Inflation, Greer. Inflation.”
I rolled my eyes and got up to grab my purse. It didn’t take me long to realize Hudson was right behind me.
“Wait, are we really betting on a game of pick-up sticks?” He watched me pull twenties out of my wallet.
“Yep.”
When he stood there and just stared at me, I asked, “Did you need to borrow some money?”
“What? No!” he said with a quick shake of his head. “I guess I’m just a little shocked that we’re betting on…pick-up sticks.”
“I guess I should probably warn you now, we bet on everything when it comes to games.”
“Everything?”
I nodded. “You should see what happens when we play Go Fish.”
The look on Hudson’s face nearly had me cracking up.
“So, you in?” I asked.
His eyes darted back toward the dining room before his brows pulled in slightly and he reached into his back pocket for his wallet. As he pulled out the money, he said, “I better stop at the ATM before next Sunday’s dinner.”
I pressed my lips together in a tight line and nodded as we made our way back into the dining room. A strange warmth in my chest had me drawing in a slow breath. If my heart kept reacting this way about Hudson, I could see myself falling madly in love with him in no time.