Small Town Girl (31 page)

Flor prepared our usual breakfast Monday
morning. As we sat poolside, drinking our tea and coffee and relaxing, I
couldn’t help but wonder when Flor was going to come clean. I was sure she was
nervous, but she couldn’t wait all day. Plus I wasn’t about to let her get away
with what she’d done.

“Thanks, Flor,” Hudson said as she sat
his plate of food in front of him. She spun around to head back inside.

“Flor,” I called after her.

She spun back and shot me a worried look.
She raised her eyebrows as if to ask me what I needed, but she knew damn well.

“Isn’t there something you were going to
tell Hudson?” I prompted her. “That thing we talked about the other day?”

Hudson, confused, looked at her and then
me. He knew something was up, but he didn’t know what was going on.

“No, not that I can think of,” she said
with a fake smile. She tried to turn to go back inside.

“Yes,” I said. “There was something you
wanted to tell him. Something he should know.”

Hudson sat his fork down and stopped
chewing his breakfast. He turned to look at each of us, and I couldn’t help but
notice Flor’s fingers trembling. I almost felt bad. Almost.

“What is it, Flor? You know you can tell
me anything,” he said.

She stared at the ground, unable to look
him in the eye, and opened her mouth to speak.

“I-I think something’s burning,” she said
as she ran inside the house, slamming the sliding door behind her.

“What the heck is her problem?” Hudson
turned to face me.

I bit my lip. “Well, I wanted her to be
the one to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“Last week, when I came home, she was on
a phone call,” I said. “She didn’t hear me come in, so I heard some things…”

“Okay, so…?” He didn’t see where this was
going, and I absolutely hated to be the one to drop the bomb on him.

“She was talking to Ava,” I said with a
wince. “Telling her things about us.”

Hudson scratched his chin as he took it
in.

“I confronted her and she admitted she’d
been the one all along,” I said. “She’s been the one telling Ava about our
whereabouts, giving her access to the house, telling her things about us. It’s
been Flor all along.”

Hudson raked his fingers through his sexy
mess of bedhead, took a deep
breathe
, and exhaled
slowly.

“I really wanted her to be the one to
tell you,” I said. “It should’ve come from her.”

He wouldn’t look at me, and I hoped to
God he believed me. Flor had been with him for a long time. I was sure the
betrayal stung like hell.

“Are you going to let her go?” I asked. I
couldn’t imagine keeping her around if we couldn’t trust her with knowing our
business anymore. Obviously Flor’s loyalty had a price and money talked.

“I don’t know,” he heaved. “I need to let
this sink in a bit.”

“You don’t know?” I couldn’t believe he
was considering keeping her on. “We can’t trust her, Hudson.
All
these issues with Ava?
Flor was behind all of them. She was working with
Ava to destroy us.”

“But why would she do that?”

“Why don’t you ask her?” I said. I
crossed my arms.

“I guess it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“What’s done is done. I can’t have people like that in my house.
On my payroll.
The trust is gone.”

He looked like his puppy had just run
away, so I reached across the table and placed my hand over his.

“Everything will be okay,” I said. “I
have a feeling things are only going to get better the moment the mole is
gone.”

I shouldn’t have called her a mole, but
there was no better word for her. She had committed professional suicide by
selling out like that.

“Didn’t you make Flor sign a
non-disclosure agreement?” I wondered.

“Yeah,” he said.

“So are you going to do anything about
that?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s learned her
lesson,” he said. “As long as nothing else comes out, I’ll leave her alone.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

In true Hudson fashion, his heart of gold
shone bright through all the mucky muck. He had the power and authority to
crush her like an ant, but he wasn’t that kind of person.

He looked up at me and flashed a half
smile. “Now, if I’d lost you completely because of all this, I might be singing
a different tune.”

***

I pulled into the circle drive of Mia
Sterling’s house, iced caramel macchiatos for Alec and Mia in hand. I’d really
enjoyed working with him, and meeting new people was so much fun it hardly felt
like a job.

Before I had time to ring the doorbell,
the front door flew open and Mia Sterling stood before me, giant smile
plastered across her face.

“Hey!” she said. The way her face lit up
at the sight of me made my entire day.

“Hi, Mia,” I said as I handed her one of
the drinks. “Alec said you like these, so I got you one.”

“Oh, you’re too sweet. You didn’t have to
do that!” she said as she graciously took it out of my hand. “Thank you!”

She traipsed up the stairs to her
dressing room with me following close behind. Alec had already been there and
was unloading all of her garments. She’d sent us on a personal shopping trip
the day before. Alec went a little overboard, but he assured me Mia wouldn’t
mind. And if anything needed to be returned, well, that was my job now, he
said.

“So, Alec tells me you’re back together
with Hudson,” Mia said. “How’s that going?”

I’d meant to get a hold of her the day
she gave me her number, but everything happened so fast with Hudson and by the
time a day or two had gone by, part of me wondered if it was too late to
contact her. A small part of me assumed she was just being nice, but now I was
beginning to realize just how genuine Mia really was. I wanted to hug her.

“We are officially back together,” I
said. “It turns out we had a little mole in our midst.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mia took a seat on the round,
tufted ottoman that rested in the center of her dressing room, fully engaged
and waiting for me to tell the story.

“His housekeeper, Flor,” I said with an
eye roll. “Ava had been paying her cash all along to tell her things. That’s
how Ava knew where we were all the time, when we were home, when we were gone,
when we were out on a date. That’s how she knew about the ring. Flor had told
her everything.”

Mia’s hand covered her full pout as her
eyes widened and she shook her head in disbelief. “That’s seriously my worst
nightmare.”

Alec was being extra quiet.

“So did he fire her?” Mia asked.

“Yeah, he let her go,” I said. “It was so
hard for him to do it, but it had to be done. That trust is gone now.”

Mia shook her head again. “That’s really
too bad, but at least you have your answers now.”

“Yeah, the chaos should die a bit now
that she’s out of the picture,” I said. “I don’t think she really liked me
anyway.”

“What?” Mia laughed. “That’s impossible.
You’re, like, the sweetest girl ever.”

Perhaps Flor was slightly jealous of my
little Cinderella story. No girl-next-door gets swept away by some gorgeous
actor and treated like a princess. It doesn’t happen. Not like that. But it
happened to me. I’d never fully understand it, but I understood why people
resented me for it.

“Alec, why are you so quiet over there?”
I asked. It wasn’t like him to mind his own business and not inject his two cents
into the conversation.

He shrugged, and I could sense something
was on his mind.

“Yeah, Alec, what’s up?”
 
Mia asked.

“What, were you on Ava’s payroll too?” I
asked. I was
one-hundred
percent joking. Alec turned
to look at me, and in an instant I knew.

“One time,” he said. “Once. That’s it.”

“Alec, what are you talking about?” I
said with a nervous chuckle. He had to be kidding.

“I didn’t get paid or anything,” he said.
“She didn’t buy me out. And I hardly knew you.”

“Alec, what did you tell her?” I took a
step closer to him, my hands on my hips. In that space, he wasn’t my boss. He
was my friend. The first friend I’d made in L.A. and my closest friend.

“Remember that day in the boutique?” he
asked. “When she came in with her friends and got in your face?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“I told her we were going to be there
that day,” he said with an outward cringe. “I swear to you, Brynn, I didn’t
know she was going to do what she did. She told me she just wanted to see you
in person. She wanted to see what you looked like up close. She was just being
nosy. I didn’t think she would set up this confrontation and call the paps and
sell a story to the tabloid.”

“Oh, my lord,” Mia said as she sipped her
iced coffee drink. “You just don’t know Ava that well, do you.”

“She threatened my business,” he said.
“She said she’d slander my name to everyone she knew if I didn’t tell her.
Brynn, I’ve worked so hard to build up my business. Do you know how hard it is
in this town to keep clients? There’s always someone younger and hotter coming
around, threatening to be the next best stylist and when one client flocks to
them so do the rest.”

I completely understood, but it didn’t
make it hurt any less.

“It’s true,” Mia said. “Loyalty is rare
around here.”

She reached over and patted Alec on the
shoulder.

“I love my Alec though,” she said with a
smile. She was trying to cheer him up. “You’ve styled me since I was knee high
to a grasshopper.”

She managed to crack a small smile from
him.

“Whatever,” he huffed. “It’s been, like,
two years.”

“Okay, but they’ve been the best two
years ever,” Mia insisted.

I stood in silence for a bit while I took
it in and those two joked around. Clearly Alec was sorry, and Mia seemed to get
it.

“I’m sorry, Brynn,” he said as he stopped
joking around for a bit. “Truly. It ate me up inside for the longest time.”

“It’s okay,” I said. Underneath it all, I
got it. And if Alec
wasn’t
such a good friend, he
wouldn’t have given me a job or a place to live when I didn’t have anywhere to
go. “Thanks for being honest.”

The irony of the situation was not lost
on me, and suddenly I felt guilty for pushing Hudson to fire Flor. But at least
Alec was honest about what he’d done. Flor refused to even admit it to Hudson.

“Oh, let me try this on,” Mia said as she
held up a black, Herve Leger
band aid
dress. “I’ve
been dying to squeeze my fat ass into one of these.”

Mia lightened the mood, true to her
infectious, happy self, and for that I was grateful.

“What’s this?” I called out as I walked
in the door after a long day of work. Alec had run me ragged that day, and I
was beginning to wish I’d negotiated some kind of mileage reimbursement with
him.

A symphony of delicious dinner smells
wafted my way, and over to the left was a candle lit dinner ready and waiting
on the table.

“Did you do this?” I asked Hudson as he
stirred some sauce on the stove.

He beamed ear to ear and flashed me a
gorgeous smile.

“You didn’t have to do this.” I kicked
off my shoes and sat my bag on the counter. I walked over, stood on my toes,
and kissed his scruffy cheek. “Thank you.”

“Go, sit down,” he said as he nudged
towards the dining table.

As I took my seat, he rushed over with a
glass of white wine and a plate full of roasted chicken, sautéed vegetables,
and bow tie pasta with a cream sauce.

“You made all this?” I asked. My mouth
watered at the sight. He’d even sprinkled a little parsley on the edges of the
plate. Adorable. “I didn’t know you even knew how to cook.”

He took a seat next to me. “Dig in.”

One bite turned into two, and then two
turned into three. It was one of the most delicious meals I’d ever tasted.

“This is so good, Hudson,” I raved.
“Really. Very impressed.”

“I hope you saved room for dessert,” he
said. He was proud of his little spread, but I could tell he was trying to
remain humble. “Tiramisu.”

“Oh, God,” I moaned. “You’re the best.”

“So,” he said between bites. “I have a
little treat for you tomorrow.”

“What’s that?” I was so spoiled.

“We’re going to Hawaii for a few days,”
he said.

The flicker of the candles in his eyes
and the soft lighting against his perfect face still made me weak in the knees,
and I hoped it always would.

“Hawaii? Are you serious?”

“I wanted to take you to Cabo, but then I
realized you don’t have a passport yet,” he said. “We really need to work on
that.”

“I’ve never needed one until I met you,”
I reminded him. “What about work? I need to talk to Alec and see if I can get
the time off.”

“No need,” he said. “I’ve already handled
it.”

“You’re just too good to me.” I couldn’t
wipe the smile off my face if I’d tried.

“I just figured it’s time for us to get
away from all the chaos and bullshit and start fresh. I want to get us back on
track,” he said. “No distractions. Just us.”

“Exactly the way it should be,” I said.
“I love it.”

“I love you,” he said. For the first time
in a long time, he seemed at ease. Relaxed.
At peace.

With Flor out of the picture and Ava
warned not to bother us anymore, we’d eliminated two of the biggest threats to
our relationship. My new job had given me the sense of purpose and financial
independence I’d been craving, and I couldn’t wait to get to know Mia a little
more. Things were finally looking up. All the pieces were fitting together
exactly the way they should’ve been all along.

“I’ll always fight for you,” Hudson said
with his hand cupping my face. He leaned in and kissed my lips. “Just know
that. I’m never letting you go.”

“You won’t have to fight for me anymore,”
I said. “I’m yours. Forever.
No matter what.
I love
you, Hudson Smith.”

“Do you here that?” I asked, as the
buzzer from the gate echoed throughout the house.

“Ugh,” Hudson sighed. “Who could be here
this time of
night.
Is Andre stopping by?”

“No,” I replied. “Not that I know of.”

Hudson pushed his chair out from the
table and walked over to command center in the kitchen to check the gate
camera. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What? What is it?” I asked, worried.

“Ava,” he said through gritted teeth.
Once again she hadn’t learned to stay away.

“You’re joking, right?” I stood up from
the table, our perfect little night ruined. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m calling the police,” he sighed with
an air of regret. “I didn’t want it to come to this, and I certainly don’t need
the bad publicity right now with the movie coming out.”

“No such thing as bad publicity, right?”
I asked as I rubbed his shoulder. “If this is what it takes for her to learn
her lesson…
”

“Maybe,” he said as he pulled his phone
from his pocket. “She’s not right in the head, Brynn. I don’t know if this will
teach her anything. We can only hope.”

“But what other choice do you have? You
told her to stay away and then she just shows up,” I said with one hand on my
hip. “You’re too nice. You have to do this.”

Hudson nodded and proceeded to talk to
the dispatcher on the other end. “Okay, they’re sending someone out.”

Ava buzzed from the gate again.
And again.
And again.

“Should we go out there?” I asked.

“Let’s wait for the police,” Hudson said.
“I don’t trust her to be civil right now. She’s probably drunk.”

Twenty minutes later, an officer arrived
and we headed outside beyond the gate. Ava’s white Aston Martin was parked
haphazardly, partially sticking out of the driveway.

“Hudson!” she cried when she saw him.
“Hudson, I have to talk to you!”

“Ava,” he said with sternness in his
tone. “I told you never to bother us again.”

“It’s important,” she said as she
staggered. She was clearly under the influence of something. “I’m pregnant. I’m
having our baby.”

Hudson laughed, a big boisterous belly
laugh. “Is that why you reek of liquor?”

She stepped closer to him with her hand
on her
belly,
ignoring the fact that no one was taking
her seriously. “Remember that night, when I came to your hotel room? Wait, you
were pretty drunk…you might not remember it.”

Her words were directed towards him, but
she looked at me the entire time. My heart raced, praying her words were not
true.

“Ava,” he said through gritted teeth.
“You’re a liar and you’re a manipulator, and I will not have you butting into
my relationship anymore. This is it. It’s over. You need to move on. You’re not
pregnant. We did not have sex. I love Brynn. I love her more than anything in
this world, and I’ll be damned if you ever try to destroy us again. Do you
understand me?”

The bass in his voice sent shivers down
my spine. I could only hope that Ava was receiving his message loud and clear.

“But…” she said, her bottom lip trembling
as an officer began to put her hands behind her back. “Hudson…don’t do this…”

Hudson stepped away from her and towards
me, gripping my hand into his. He said nothing more to her. He’d already said
all that needed to be said. We stood side by side as we watched the officer put
her in the back of the squad car and drive her away.

“Now, where were we?” Hudson said as he
took me by the hand and led me back inside. And just like that, everything was
right in the world once again.