Foolish, to be thinking beyond his time in Acacia Haven. He’d be out of here tomorrow and he’d do better to focus on making their remaining time together fun. To that end, he’d asked her to take him to her favourite place today and she’d agreed, which meant he snuck back to the granny flat after dawn to shower and change.
What he hadn’t expected was to run into a tired-looking Jem, who’d just pulled into the driveway, his headlights illuminating Hudson clearly doing a walk of shame across the yard.
Hudson didn’t embarrass easily these days. He’d copped enough crap at school for living out of a car to develop a suitably thick skin. But being caught by Jem as he exited Karly’s place made him want to sprint to the flat and pretend they’d never seen each other.
Interestingly, the old guy didn’t seem at all fazed as he killed the engine, got out of the car and strolled towards him. ‘Morning, Hudson.’
‘Jem.’ Hudson offered a nod, unsure who wore the more sheepish expression. He’d learned to go on the offensive in business, so he said, ‘Had a good evening?’
The creases bracketing Jem’s mouth deepened as he smiled. ‘Yeah, you could say that.’
Karly said Jem didn’t have a significant other but it looked like he had a girlfriend his granddaughter didn’t know about. It must be hard in a town this size to keep nocturnal activities private and he didn’t blame the old guy for keeping secrets from Karly.
‘What about you?’ Jem jerked his head in the direction of Karly’s place. ‘I hope you’re treating my granddaughter right.’
Hudson’s first reaction was to say ‘Yes, sir’ like some kid out of an eighties movie, but while he respected Jem they were doing business together and it wouldn’t benefit him to appear too subservient.
‘I like Karly and, lucky for me, the feeling’s mutual.’
Jem studied him for a moment before giving a brief nod. ‘As long as you don’t hurt her, it’s all good.’
‘I have no intention of doing that.’
‘Then we understand each other.’ Jem pointed to the back of his house. ‘Want to join me for breakfast?’
Hudson’s stomach rumbled in response and they laughed. ‘Give me ten minutes and you’ve got a deal.’
‘Speaking of deals—’
‘I hate to interrupt, but I don’t want to talk business now, if that’s okay?’
Jem’s eyebrows shot heavenwards and Hudson understood his surprise. He’d gone from trying to push this deal through to stalling it now Jem was on the verge of capitulating. But what could he say—that another day wouldn’t make a huge difference to signing on the dotted line, but it would ruin his chance of spending his last twenty-four hours in town with Karly?
Crazy, because the sane thing to do would be to hear Jem out, head to the office, get him to sign the paperwork and head back to Melbourne. But Hudson’s sanity had been in question ever since he’d joined Karly in the pool the night before.
When Jem continued to eye him with blatant speculation, he said, ‘I’m spending the day with Karly and I don’t want to mess with that.’
If Jem had appeared surprised a moment earlier by Hudson hedging, he appeared positively stunned now. ‘Karly’s taking a day off?’
‘Yeah, she was going to talk to you about it.’ He winced. ‘I’ve pre-empted her, which probably isn’t going to earn me any brownie points.’
Jem chuckled. ‘Young man, if you’ve convinced my workaholic granddaughter to have a rare day off, you’ve chalked up more points than you give yourself credit for.’
As Jem continued to eye him like an alien specimen who might have superpowers, Hudson had to make an escape before he blurted exactly how spectacular Karly was.
‘I’ll have a quick shower and be right over. But no business talk, okay?’
Though what that would leave them to talk about, Hudson had no idea. Unless he gently probed for the lowdown on Karly … yeah, like Jem would do that.
‘See you soon,’ Jem said, with a salute.
He’d turned away and taken a few steps when Jem called out, ‘Hudson?’
Glancing over his shoulder, he said, ‘Yeah?’
‘For what’s it’s worth, I think you and my granddaughter make a good pair.’
Not having a response to that, Hudson raised his hand in a half wave and continued on his way.