My eight hour shift at the Brown Bag Diner was about to end with ten minutes left on the clock. It’d been a long day and an even longer night. It was steak night, which meant the entire town of Rock River came out for dinner.
My hair was greasy from running all over the place, and I smelled like steak and baked potatoes and fryer grease. By the time I’d closed up the register and locked up for the night, I wanted nothing more than to soak in a long, hot bubble bath in the comfort of my apartment.
But Hudson had other plans for me.
“Hi,” I said as I saw him leaning against my car. I immediately felt self-conscious as I smoothed loose strands of hair back behind my ear. Under the pale moonlight of the parking lot, I was thankful he couldn’t see all the makeup that had melted off my face or settled into my pores. “I was hoping I’d see you again.”
His lips curled into a smile as he walked towards me, slipping his hands around my waist and giving me a sweet kiss.
“Come with me,” he said.
“Huh?” I laughed. “What are you talking about?”
I figured he wanted one last roll in the hay before he left town.
“Can I go home and shower first?” I asked. “I feel gross.”
“No, I mean, come with me back to L.A.,” he said.
I scrunched my face as the idea of it. It wasn’t realistic as much as I wished it was.
“I can’t do that,” I said.
“Why not?” he argued. “Of course you can.”
“I don’t have a job there, money, any of that,” I said.
“You don’t need any of that,” he laughed. “I’m going to take care of you.”
My heart skipped a beat. I’d never had a guy who wanted to take care of me before, and especially not one like him.
“I have to see if this can work,” he said. “If I leave Iowa tomorrow, I’m probably never coming back. I can’t imagine not seeing you ever again, Brynn.”
The truth was, I couldn’t imagine never seeing him again either.
“We’re from two different worlds, Hudson,” I said. “I don’t know how we could ever make this work.”
“You and that stubborn attitude of yours,” he said. He laughed, but I could tell he was frustrated. “Let me paint a picture for you.”
“Okay,” I said as I placed my hands on my hips and waited for his wordsmithing to begin.
“I’m getting on that plane tomorrow morning and never coming back,” he said. “How does that make you feel?”
“Sad,” I said. “Disappointed that you couldn’t stay. Disappointed that it’s all over.”
“And what remains of your life once I’m gone?” he asked. “What’s your life going to be like? Are you going to run back to Luke, beg him to forgive you, and spend the rest of your life trying to make it up to him? Hoping he finally admits his true feelings?”
He had a point.
“Or are you going to kick yourself and wish that you’d hopped on that plane with me?” he asked. I glanced up into his eyes, and I knew right then and there that he was committed to trying to make this work.
“I’m not asking you to marry me, Brynn,” he said. “I’m not saying you can never go home. If you hate L.A., if you grow sick of me, I’ll put you on the first plane back home. Swear.”
It did sound rather appealing when he put it that way. What did I have to lose?
“Come with me, Brynn,” he said, my name spilling off his tongue like butter once again. I felt my knees grow weak at the thought of actually having a relationship with Hudson Smith. I wasn’t even sure I was going to get to see him again before he left, and suddenly he was asking me to fly away with him.
“Fine,” I said. “You win. You get me.”
His eyes lit up like the Fourth of July as he squeezed me tight.
“Go home,” he said. “Pack your bags. I’ll pick you up in the morning around eight. Get plenty of rest tonight, tie up your loose ends, do what you need. Tomorrow is going to be amazing.”
He leaned down and kissed my mouth again, lingering for a few seconds, before pulling himself away from me. He turned on the gravel and walked back towards his hotel. The sight of Hudson Smith walking away and knowing that I was going home with him tomorrow felt so surreal.
My heart raced as the reality of what I’d just agreed to set in. It was already after nine. I needed to pack. I needed to tell my mother what was going on. I needed to quit my job.
I fished around on the floorboards of my car for some paper and pulled a pen from my purse. I scribbled a hasty resignation, signed and dated it, and ran back to slip it under the back door of the diner.
Back home, I ditched the bubble bath routine in lieu of a quick, hot shower and dug my suitcase out from the back of my closet. I hadn’t used it in years, not since our senior trip to Minneapolis five years ago.
I ransacked my closet and dresser drawers like a crazy person, pulling out only my best items. I didn’t have a lot of clothes, especially not compared to most girls my age, but I had a good foundation of jeans and t-shirts and sneakers.
I wondered how I was going to fit in out there and if Hudson would soon realize that his little country girl wasn’t such hot stuff in the city next to the all the pretty models and actresses who could dress to the nines.
I forced myself to stop overthinking it as I finished packing my clothes. If I continued to fill myself with self-doubt, I knew I’d never get on that plane in the morning.
Once I was all packed, I called Piper.
“I think you should know that I’m getting on a plan tomorrow,” I said.
“What?!” she yelled.
“I’m going to L.A. with Hudson, and I don’t know when I’ll be back,” I said. “We’re going to see if this thing could work between us. It was his idea.”
Piper was quiet on the other end.
“Piper?” I asked. “Still there.”
“Yep,” she said.
“Don’t be mad at me, please,” I begged. “I’ll be back. We can talk or text every day.”
She was still quiet.
“You think I’m making a mistake, don’t you,” I said.
“Uh-huh,” she replied.
“If I’m making a mistake then I’m making a mistake,” I said. “It’d be a mistake not to go. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life wondering what would’ve happened. And if it doesn’t work out, then I’ll have one hell of a story to tell my grandkids someday.”
“Are you going to tell Luke?” she asked. I wondered what was up with her being so protective of Luke lately.
“No?” I said. “Why would I? I don’t owe him anything. Not after the way he’s been treating me lately.”
“I just didn’t know if you were going to or not,” she said. “That’s all.”
“I’ll get a hold of you once I get settled, okay?” I said. “I have to run over to my mom’s and talk to her. She hasn’t been answering her phone lately. She’s probably passed out drunk. You know how she is.”
“Alright,” Piper said as she hung up.
As I drove to my mom’s little house on the south side of town, I didn’t know what to expect. She worked long days at the factory in the next town over, and at night she’d come home and drink until she passed out. We weren’t that close, but I couldn’t leave town without telling her.
I walked into the back door. Instantly the smell of stale kitty litter filled my nostrils, and I couldn’t help but notice the myriad of beer cans and empty alcohol bottles lining the kitchen counter.
“Mom?” I called out.
No one answered, but I could hear the T.V. blaring from the living room.
“Mom,” I said as I found her passed out on the couch, half covered with a ratty blanket.
Her eyes opened just a tinge before she smacked her lips and sat up.
“Oh, hey,” she said. “What time is it?”
“It’s late,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“What’s going on?” she asked. She was still very much out of it.
“I’m leaving town for a bit,” I said. “I just wanted to say bye and let you know what’s going on. You’ll need to find someone else to help feed your cats and water your flowers for a while. Can you do that?”
She nodded, her eyes still droopy, as she stared ahead at the T.V. screen.
“Mom,” I said, growing frustrated with her lack of comprehension and alertness. “Do you understand what I just said?”
She nodded and smacked her lips. Her hair stuck up all over the place and soon she laid herself back down and closed her eyes. She didn’t even ask where I was going or who I was going with. There was no way she’d remember this the next day.
I rifled through her filthy kitchen until I came across a notepad. I scribbled a quick note telling her where I was going and that I didn’t know when I’d be back. I wrote down my number for her, just in case she lost her phone, and hung the note to her refrigerator with a magnet.
Lingering in the doorway for a bit, I stared at my mother. She was just a shell of her former self. She married her high school sweetheart, my father, who had passed early and left her a widow with a small child. She never remarried because she was too busy working to support the two of us. Her days were filled with hard labor at the factory, and as I got older and more self-sufficient, her nights were filled with alcohol and the occasional tranquilizer or sleeping pill. We’d lost our closeness years ago, but she was still my mother and I still loved her more than anything.
I left her house quietly and zoomed back over to my apartment, all the while wondering if maybe I should tell Luke I was leaving.
I sat in my quiet living room, fingers scrolling through all my contacts in my phone and hovering over his name. It was late, I knew, but I knew he’d answer if I called him. In the back of my mind, I almost wanted to give him one more chance to change this situation. I wanted to see if he’d fight for me. I wanted to see if he’d beg me not to go or admit that he felt something for me. I didn’t expect any of it, but his lack of caring would be the final sign I needed. Leaving Rock River and flying to L.A. with Hudson was the scariest thing I’d ever done in my life. I needed to know I was making the right decision.
My thumb pressed his name on my screen and it began ringing. It was a little past eleven, and I didn’t expect him to answer, especially not after what we’d just been through, but I was taking my chances regardless.
“Hello,” he said in a groggy voice. I’d clearly woken him up. “Brynn. What do you want?”
“Hey,” I said softly. “Sorry to call you so late.”
He sighed loudly into the phone, and I could hear the creaking of his bed as he rolled over.
“I just wanted you to know I was leaving town tomorrow,” I said.
“Leaving town?” he replied. “Like a vacation or something?”
“No,” I said. “I’m going to L.A. for a while.”
He was quiet, and part of me wondered if I was really just rubbing salt onto his wound.
“I wasn’t calling to upset you or anything,” I said.
“Why would I be upset?” he huffed. He was pretending not to care, but I didn’t buy it.
“I just wanted you to hear it from me,” I said. “You know how Rock River is with rumors and stuff.”
“Alright,” he sighed. He said nothing beyond that. He wasn’t going to fight for me. He didn’t care that I was running off with some ridiculously handsome movie star. It was exactly the confirmation I needed from him.
“Goodbye, Luke,” I said.
“Yep,” he said before hanging up.
I threw my phone on the couch and sunk down. I had my answer. He didn’t want to fight for me. Everything was pointing towards Hudson, and I had no excuses to stay in Rock River a minute longer than I had to.