Seventeen

Hudson

We stayed at the house a while longer and I grabbed a few more things I thought I couldn't live without. But I also realized how none of this stuff really mattered to me. As long as I had some clothes and a few other belongings I was happy. "Let's start back. I want to stop at a grocery store in Woodland," I said as I gathered up everything.

"Oh good, I haven't shopped out of town for a while," Jack said. He found joy in everything, even though he hid it behind a snarky, pushy, bossy, and just cantankerous, exterior. We walked out to the garage, and I put my bag in the back. He walked up to me and took my hand before leaning against me and pressing me against the side of the car. "I had a really good time here."

"I did too," I admitted, and leaned in to kiss him before trailing my nose against his cheek. "I almost hate to leave."

"I'd like to come back again," he said, and met my eyes.

"We can come back anytime you want. It's not far." After another kiss we were in the car and waiting for the garage door to go up so we could leave.

"Uh, Hudson, I think someone is looking for you," Jack said as I put it into Reverse.

I checked my backup camera and saw my neighbor standing just off to the side. Fuck. "Hey, Becky, what's going on?" She walked up closer to the driver's side as I slowly backed out. Becky had lived here almost as long as I had, and in that time, she'd shamelessly hit on me even though she knew I was gay. Apparently today was no exception. She was a petite brunette with a sassy haircut that set the stage for a sassy woman. Truth be told, I really liked her, but not the way she wanted me to, which I'd told her, many . . . many times over the years.

"Hey, Hudson, not much. Just relaxing in the pool. I thought I'd see if you wanted to join me. Oh, I didn't realize you had company," she said as she glanced over at Jack and leaned on the window frame.

"We're just leaving. I'll be staying in my hometown a lot the next few weeks, so I won't be around." She again glanced between the two of us and leaned in just enough to make me uncomfortable.

"I don't think I've met you, I'm Becky Davis, Hudson's neighbor," she said to Jack and held out her hand to him. He looked at it before reaching for my hand and squeezing it.

"Nice to meet you, Becky. Hudson, we need to get going," he said, shocking me, and definitely shocking Becky whose eyes widened as she pulled back out of the window.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to hold you up," she said without looking away from Jack. "Are you two dating?"

"We're something," Jack said without looking away from her. I was stuck in the weird place of being shocked that he was more than willing to tell her we were together and wondering in my own mind if we were more than fucking. Everything was new, it had all just happened a couple of hours ago and I wasn't sure how to handle any of it, including Becky. But then I met his eyes, and somehow that made it all okay, and I knew we'd figure it out.

"How long will you be gone?" Becky asked, and this time it was more like a neighbor looking out for me, not hoping for more.

"I'm not sure. I'll be running the family store for a while until we figure out exactly what we want to do with it." I squeezed Jack's hand when I realized he was still holding it, and I liked it.

"Well good luck, I'll make sure everything is taken care of here," Becky said and smiled.

"Thanks, we'll probably be back next weekend to check in." I glanced at Jack who nodded.

"Let me know if you want me to get your mail or anything," Becky said, and if I had to guess this was her last big push to see if I'd have a change of heart but that wasn't happening.

"I will, thanks again." I rolled up the window and we drove away, still holding hands, and still happy with all the decisions I'd made.

"So how long has she been after you?" Jack asked when we were a few blocks down the road. Unable to hold back, I burst out laughing.

"A while. I've told her I'm gay so many times I couldn't begin to count. But I think seeing me with a man may have finally convinced her," I said.

"In all the time you've lived here you haven't brought anyone home?" Jack asked with an edge of surprise to his voice.

"Not during the day. I don't like my neighbors knowing my business, so I try to keep to myself. She's nosy and doesn't like not knowing what's going on with everyone around her. It's been a while since I brought someone home, and there hasn't been anyone who I've brought home regularly since living here. Maybe she thought I was telling her I was gay to get out of dating her, I'm not really sure."

"She sounds like she'd fit right in, in Foggy Basin," Jack said with a grin.

"Don't even joke about that. I work enough to avoid her for the most part, but she's very good at catching me when I least expect it," I said and hated that I even felt the need to do that. She knew the truth but refused to believe it.

"One more reason to move there," Jack said.

"One of many." I thought of the many differences between living in the small town I was from and living here in the city where I'd lived almost my whole adult life. Never had I thought about moving back, but things had changed a lot recently, and the longer I was there, the more I wanted to stay. Not only to run the store, and not only to be closer to Jack, but to live my life the way I wanted to live it, not the way I was expected to.

"So, where did you want to go shopping?" Jack asked as we pulled onto the freeway and headed north.