“Man, do we have to take it back?”
Hud called Kenna. Thankfully she had a brain and followed them in her own car so that Hud could drive the Camaro home for Sean.
Back at the resort, they all scattered except for Gray, who stuck with Hud. “Tell me again why you returned your gift for rescuing some guy? And not just any gift, but a ’68 Camaro?”
“He thought he was dying,” Hud said.
“A ’68 Camaro,” Gray repeated.
Hud shook his head. “Next subject.”
“Fine. You kissed our cutie-pie muralist.”
Hell. “She kissed me.”
Gray grinned.
“She did.”
“You know what that makes you?” Gray asked.
“What?”
“Slow.” Gray’s smiled faded then. “Do we know her story?”
“You mean other than you guys decided we needed her to paint our wall?”
“You know what I’m asking,” Gray said.
“Yeah,” Hud said. “And she says she’s okay.” Which he really hoped was true.
“And you?” Gray asked. “You okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Gray blew out a breath. “Because ever since we heard that Jacob got himself injured, you’ve been…”
“What?”
Gray sighed again. “Intense.”
Yeah, true story.
“And now with Bailey painting the mural about us, all of us including Jacob,” Gray went on, “you’re going to have to talk about it. You’re going to have to see him on the wall every time you ski down the mountain.”
“And whose fault is that?” Hud asked. “You wanted the damn mural, you’ve got the damn mural. I’ll deal. I always do.”
Gray hesitated. “Hud—”
“Stop. It’s… Whatever,” Hud managed. “Seeing the family tree on the wall with all of us? That’s how it should be. Jacob’s still a part of this family. If we have to have the mural, then he belongs on it.”
“But?” Gray asked. “Because I sense a big, fat but.”
But he had enough trouble dealing with what had happened between him and Jacob. The last thing he needed was for it to be illustrated for the world to see.
Gray took in his expression and shook his head. “You do realize it is just a painting, right? And caricatures at that. It’s not going to say anything personal.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” Gray asked.
“Christ. Yes. Back off.”
“You’re angry.”
No shit. But it wasn’t directed at Gray. Or even Bailey.
He was angry with himself because he could still remember everything about that day. It’d been June and he and Jacob had just graduated high school. They’d gotten into it right there at graduation, tearing off their stupid gowns and yelling stupid stuff at each other, a fact that haunted Hud every night.
Gray glanced over at him. “See, you really don’t seem all right. You’re not okay, are you?”
Hud was starting to get why Bailey hated that question. “I’m fine.”
“I imagine the kiss helped,” Gray said.
“Aidan has a big mouth.”
Gray laughed. “He told Lily, who told Penny, who told me.”
“You all need a life.”
“We’ve got one and you’re part of it,” Gray said. “So… you going after that? After Bailey?”
“Are you insane?”
“Are you?” Gray volleyed back. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t know but I bet that you’re about to tell me.”
“You let Maggie walk.”
Hud had been with Maggie for two years, but that had been five years ago. “She left me for being a workaholic,” he said. “Old news.”
“No, she left you because she wanted you to fight for her. And then there’s Quinn. She was in love with you and you walked away.”
Hud shook his head. “Quinn wasn’t in love with me. We were just messing around and then she decided she didn’t want to anymore.”
“More bullshit,” Gray said. “You fight tooth and nail at work and you’re the strongest person I know, so why are you such a * when it comes to this?”
“To what?”
Gray jabbed a finger into Hud’s chest.
Okay, so maybe in some ways Gray was right. But he was still going to stay far, far back from whatever was happening between him and Bailey. Yeah, yeah, a shrink would have a field day with this. His dad had left him, and to some degree so had his mom, and then there was Jacob. Hud definitely had the whole abandonment issue down pat. Which he hated about himself.
Christ, he was tired. He rubbed the spot between his eyes where he had a headache coming. “I’m over this.”
“Of course you are,” Gray said. “You know, this reminds me of a conversation we had about six months ago about Aidan and Lily.”
Aidan had resisted falling in love with Lily with a muleheaded obstinacy that none of the rest of the family had understood. “Lily was perfect for him,” Hud said.
“Yeah,” Gray agreed. “And she’s it for him, just as Penny is it for me. There’ll never be another woman for either of us and we’re happy for the first time in far too long.” He gave Hud a long, meaningful look.
“What?”
“You’re the one who pushed Aidan to go for it,” Gray said. “So now I’m going to do the same for you.”