Promise Me (Asher Family #1)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

SADIE

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Hudson asks as soon as we pull onto my dad’s street.

I nod.

“Are you positive? Because I know I made you agree to do this, but if you change your mind, I’ll support you.”

“I’m positive. I might not be ready to move back into my old room, but I can’t avoid this house forever. This is the right next move for me.”

I keep my eyes out the front window, the row of houses that I grew up with passing by. At least the street looks the same.

Hudson doesn’t say anything, so I turn to him.

“This is the right move, right?”

He shrugs. “I can’t answer that for you, but if you feel it is, then yeah. This is all on your terms, Sadie. Don’t let anyone rush you.”

I nod again, because clearly that is the only response I have right now.

“It is.”

Hudson pulls the truck to a stop in front of my dad’s house. The first thing I noticed when I came home from the hospital was the fresh coat of white paint and the new blue front door. Mom would have loved that blue door.

I bet he did that for her. I just wish I knew how he coped with everything. I hope my living with him for the last few years helped. I don’t have to remember everything to know that it helped me. My life was on track somewhere, wasn’t it?

I startle when Hudson appears at my door and opens it.

“Are you staying in the truck?” he asks.

“No, I was just looking at the house.”

He twists to look too.

“Is it different?”

“Yes and no. The paint is fresh, and the door is a different color, but other than that, it’s the same.”

We walk up the driveway, and I spot the handprints in the cement Linc and I made as kids. I see the rock that has our address engraved on one side and our height markings on the other side.

I let out a breath and feel my shoulders relax.

It is my home. I just … I wish I remembered more, and I’m so tired of wishing for that.

I hear my dad's laughter the moment we walk inside, and we both follow it to the back of the house.

Dad and Linc are out on the patio, sitting at the table and drinking beer. There’s a chips and dip spread, and I can smell the burgers cooking on the grill.

“Look at you two having a good time,” I say, making our presence known.

They look up at the same time, and I swear, I’ve never seen my dad smile bigger.

“Sadie,” he says and gets up, swiftly pulling me into a hug.

“Hi, Dad. ”

He pulls back, taking only a step and still holding my hands to look me over.

Then he turns to my brother. “See, Linc, she’s doing great without us breathing down her neck.”

Dad winks at me. “He’s such a dad sometimes.”

I laugh, and so does Hudson. Next thing I know, Dad and Hudson are doing a man hug and slapping each other on the back.

“You’re not tired of her yet?” Dad asks.

Hudson grins as his gaze connects with mine. “Trust me, no one is as shocked as I am. She’s almost to peaceful to be around.”

I roll my eyes.

“Perhaps I’ll have to strike up an argument later to keep you on your toes,” I say and grab a beer out of the little cooler my dad brought outside.

“Perhaps I’ll have to remind you that I almost always have the last word.”

“Perhaps I’ll?—”

“Perhaps I’m going to vomit if you two keep this up.” Linc grabs the beer from my hand before I can take a sip. He points between me and Hudson. “What is this right now? Are you two flirting?”

“Linc,” I scold as Hudson smoothly takes my beer out of my brother’s hand and hands it back to me.

“No,” Hudson answers. “You’re just not used to seeing us get along.”

I smile before I take a sip. “Yeah, what he said.”

Both Hudson and my brother gawk at me. One has amusement with a little of something I can’t quite figure out yet, and one has a look that says I'm about to whoop your butt like I did when we were kids.

I laugh and spin to find my dad in the kitchen .

“Do you need help?” I ask.

He turns from slicing onions and tomatoes. His eyes fall to the beer in my hand.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re going to take this away from me too.”

He chuckles and shakes his head.

“Nope. You’re a grown woman, Sadie—you can make your own choices.”

He says it so calmly that the next question comes out of my mouth before I can’t think twice about it.

“Is that why you haven’t pestered me to move back home?”

He nods slowly. “Partly. On the one hand, I’d love nothing more than to be here with you each day while you recover, but on the other hand, I also know you well enough not to push you. Plus, Hudson’s a good man. I trust that he’s taking just as good of care of you as I or your brother would.”

Yeah, he is. I wish he’d take a little better care of me in other areas, but that’s probably not something to share with my dad.

“He is a good man.” I let my gaze drift to where Hudson and Linc are by the garden. Linc is probably gushing over the tomato plants again. He does this every year, even before Mom passed, so I know I didn’t miss anything in that area.

What I did miss was the way Hudson is standing. Such confidence. The way his entire body owns the space he’s in. Not to mention the jeans he picked out today. They fall straight over his legs, but they hug his butt in just the right places. He reaches back to scratch his neck.

He has big hands, and those fingers would?—

Dad clears his throat, and I nearly jump out of my own skin.

“Dad!” I place a hand over her heart. “What?”

“It’s not polite to stare, Sadie.”

“I wasn’t staring. ”

“Mm-hmm. Just help me take this outside. Dinner is almost ready.”

Soon enough, the four of us are all sitting at the table eating dinner, sharing stories of who snuck out better in high school. Then, of course, after story time, I crush all three of them in a friendly game of poker.

The loser has to do the dishes.

Linc’s favorite.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Dad asks as he hugs me goodbye.

I spot a picture of me and him on the mantel and sigh. I have no idea when that was taken.

“Not tonight.”

He leaves it at that.

“Bye, Linc!” I shout toward the kitchen, where the water is running.

“Goodbye!” he yells back in a grumpy tone.

“See you soon, Mr. Collins.” Hudson shakes my dad's hand.

Once we are out the front door and back in his truck, I relax into his seat. I was fine until I saw that picture. For a brief moment, I was so caught up in the night and the company that I forgot I’d forgotten so much.

“How do you feel?” Hudson asks as we pull onto the road. It’ll be a quick drive, but I’m glad we drove instead of walking.

“Fine.”

“Fine?” he repeats. “Fine, as in this is where you strike up an argument, or fine, as in it wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad?”

I let out a soft laugh.

“The latter.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“You sound like a therapist,” I tease. “Ask it the way it first comes to your mind.”

He shakes his head. “No. ”

“Do it.”

“No.” Now he’s laughing.

“Just ask me the question the way Hudson would ask it.”

“No.”

“Hudson!”

“Fine. On a scale of one to ten, how much do you want to cry right now?”

I open my mouth, ready with a smart-ass remark, but pause. That definitely wasn’t what I was expecting.

I start to crack up, and then shove his arm.

“Wow.”

“You said to just ask it.”

“I know.”

“That’s why I think them through.”

“You can’t now. I know how your brain works.”

He just shakes his head.

I think his question over for a moment.

“A three.”

His brows shoot to his hairline. “A three, huh?”

I nod. “One for the picture I saw when I left, one for how Dad looks at me when they mention something I don't remember, and one for us.”

“Us?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Because it took me hitting my head a little too hard for us to become friends. It makes me sad.”

He pulls into a spot behind the bar, gets out, and opens my door for me.

“Don’t waste any tears on me, Sadie. I’m not worth it, and besides, after another week as my roommate, you’ll be singing a different tune. One that will have you eager to not remember the past—you’ll simply just want to move forward and be happy again.”

We ascend the steps in silence as I think over his words.

Is that what he wants? I saw the way his face lit up at the rink. He misses that life, but there is a reason he hasn’t been back. Is he still struggling to move forward and be happy, as he put it?

There are things I want to remember, yes, and remembering them would be nice, but ultimately, that’s what I want too.

To just move on and be happy.

“Hudson.” I reach for his arm as he opens the door.

He spins quickly, then lets go of the door and takes a step down toward me.

“What is it? Do you remember something?”

Is my expression alarming? I lock my gaze with his, and for a split second, I’m convinced that I see panic in his eyes.

“No,” I say quickly and look away.

He lets out a breath. “What’s going on then?”

“What you just said,” I start. “I’ve been trying so hard to remember my life, yet nothing is coming back.”

Hudson doesn’t say anything as I pause to think how to say it.

“I still do, but if I keep obsessing over it, I might not ever move on. I don’t doubt that I was happy with my life, career, and even the fact that I was living with my father. But I … I can’t keep hoping for something that might not ever happen. I want what you just said, to move forward and be happy again.”

“Good.”

“I was hoping you’d do it with me.”

“Sadie, I …”

A vision of him at the rink the other day consumes me once again. I know he understands what I’m feeling .

“We both deserve the future we want, right? Even if it’s different from our original plans.”

After a moment, he nods. “It’s only been a couple of weeks, Sadie. Your memory still has a chance to come back.”

“It might, but I’m done waiting for it. I want to live again, I want to be happier than ever before, and I think you should do that with me.”

His eyes turn dark, and for a moment, I think I've crossed the line. He shared things with me at the ice rink that I believe he hasn’t shared with his brothers. I want to help him the way he’s helped me. I want to be there for him the way he’s been there for me. I want?—

“Okay,” he says before my mind can get carried away. “Let’s do it.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He smirks and then unlocks the door.

We both wander into the apartment, and as I head for the bedroom, he heads for the couch.

“Does this new move on and be happy approach in life mean you can suck it up and finally share the bed with m?—”

“Nope.”

I watch him peel his shirt off, revealing his sculpted back before he disappears into the bathroom and turns on the shower.

Move forward and be happy with Hudson.

I like the sound of that.