Page 98 of All the Beautiful Things
Point taken. And it’s okay. I’ll be there at six, okay?
Since you’re already in my place, can you grab me some jeans and a shirt? I don’t want to spend all night in my suit. Anything you can find will work.
I sent him back a thumbs-up emoji and then a kissy face.
Then I set down my phone and got back to work.
An hour later, the tree was done, the few extra decorations I’d purchased were laid out, and the gift I bought him was under the tree.
Next to one of the small, faux pine trees wrapped in burlap and set on the coffee table was my letter, already sealed in an envelope I took from Valor Holdings.
We didn’t have my parents’ address yet, but it’d only been a couple of weeks since Hudson asked Shawn to look into my parents. Once I got that address, I wanted to be able to send the letter.
I figured there’d be more of a chance if it came from the company than from me, and they wouldn’t know where I was unless they read the letter.
My final chance to see if there was any sorrow, any regret for what my parents allowed to happen to me. And if there wasn’t, I was starting a new year with new goals and at the top of that list was moving on from parents who had never shown an ounce of caring for me—not in the way parents should.
Next to that letter was the stack of returned ones I’d dug out from my closet.
I wanted tonight to be a night of letting the past go, and I wanted to do it with Hudson.
And then move on together, with the man at my side who loved me, and the family I’d been welcomed into who knew what being a family really meant.
* * *
“Your dad was tired tonight.”
We’d been quiet on the way home. I was leaving Hudson to his thoughts but to say tomorrow was going to be a Merry Christmas at this point was stretching it. David had made a pot roast, something simple, and yet I could see the act of cooking and taking care of us at dinner like he usually did wore him down much quicker than normal.
We hadn’t intended to stay long anyway after dinner, Hudson just hadn’t wanted him alone, but I don’t think either of us planned to already be headed back to his place at eight o’clock because David could barely keep his eyes open.
The weight he was already obviously losing made me tear up. It’d only been a week and already we could see the effects of chemo quickly deteriorate his body.
Hudson punched the button on the elevator with his knuckle. “He’ll be tired for a while.”
“Are you okay?”
I slid my arm into the crook of his elbow and squeezed, resting my body weight against him.
He kissed the top of my head. I loved it when he did that. Gentle kisses, out of nowhere that he seemed to have to do in order to calm me or calm himself. Each one was a treasure.
“We’re only at the beginning, Lilly. If I start not being okay now, it’s going to make everything feel worse later on.” His fingers pressed against my chin and lifted my head until I met his gaze dead on. “He’ll get worse, I can guarantee it. This is only the tip of the iceberg for all of us. So you need to strengthen yourself inside, think positive, and not give him any reason to feel worse about how this will affect all of us.”
“How do you do it?”
He gave me a sad smile. “It’s not my first rodeo.”
“Right.” The reminder of Melissa was a knife to the chest.
Taking my cue from him, I plastered on a fake smile as the elevator doors opened. “Are you ready for your surprise then?”
He rubs his hands together with an equally fake gleeful smile. “I can’t wait.”
He might be faking it now, but I was pretty certain by the end of the night, neither of us would be faking anything.
We reached his door, and I turned, putting my back to it. The key Brandon gave me was in my pocket, so I held it up between us. “You need to wait out here for just one tiny minute.”
Two thick black brows arched into points on his forehead.
