Hudson Malone, Hud to his friends, was a busy man and had no time for bullshit. “Just get the damn load to Reno and stop giving the dispatcher a hard time. She doesn’t tell you how to drive a truck, so you stop telling her how to do her job, capisce?” he said as he looked over at his dispatcher Mary. He watched her grab a tissue from her desk to wipe her face. She was still upset after the driver gave her a hard time.
“Fine,” the driver responded and hung up.
Hud stood up from his desk and went to check on her. “Mary, if he calls again giving you any trouble, you hang up and tell him to call me.”
“Will do,” Mary said as she looked away from her computer. Her eyes were still red from crying earlier.
“I’m calling it a day. My buddy Luke is supposed to be here shortly. You think you can handle it the rest of the afternoon?” he asked.
Mary’s face lit up at the mention of Luke’s name. She always loved when he stopped by and visited with Hud. “Sure. Any chance he might be dropping by?” she asked.
Hud smiled. He knew that Mary had a huge crush on Luke and he would tease her about it every time he would visit. He also warned her that Luke wasn’t quite boyfriend material.
“Not sure. He wants to take a few days off and relax,” he said. Hud purposely left out the fact that he was bringing a girl with him. He hated hurting her feelings and he didn’t want to give her another reason to cry.
“Okay, well, tell him I said hi,” she said, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice.
“Will do. Remember, if Todd calls you, giving you any more trouble, you send him to me, and make sure you leave when Scott leaves. I don’t want you here by yourself, understand?”
“I will, boss. Have a nice night.”
“Good night, Mary,” Hud said before walking out of the office.
Hud watched the big blue monster pulling up in his drive. He’d made fun of Luke at first about the fully loaded rig, but once he’d seen how nice it was, he wished he would have had something as nice when he long hauled. He also wished he would have had someone to share it with.
Luke was just like him when he was that young, stopping here and there, bedding this girl and that girl, and afraid to commit. It was a great life when you’re young, but as he was getting older, Hud now realized he was lonely.
It would be nice to have a wife and maybe a few rug rats running around. Forty was just around the corner, and here he was in this big house with no one keeping him warm at night.
Hud stood on the porch and watched his buddy climb out of his rig and wave before walking to the other side to help his girl down. He still couldn’t believe he had a girl with him. He would definitely be giving him some grief about it later. As they began walking up, Hud noticed a few things. For one, she was a total knockout, and two, Luke was holding her hand.
“Hey, man, how you doing?” Hud reached out for his buddy’s hand, pulling him in for a guy hug and a slap on the back.
“Hud, this is Aimee Jo Elliot. Aimee Jo, this is Hudson Malone, but everyone just calls him Hud,” Luke said.
“Nice to meet you, Hud. Thank you for letting us stay for a couple of days.” She held out her hand to shake his, but instead, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“Pleasure is all mine, Miss Aimee Jo. Ya’ll come in.”
Hud let Aimee Jo enter first so he could mouth the words “fuckin’ hot” to his buddy. Luke gave him the evil eye.
Aimee Jo had never seen a place so nice, at least not in real life. The ranch-style home had a western feel about it, with its stone fireplace, leather couches, and rich wood tables. Over the mantel were game trophies of a deer and an elk, and on the floor was a bear skin, complete with the head. Luke took her hand and they followed Hud into his massive kitchen.
“Aimee Jo, could I get you something to drink? We have beer, soda, tea, wine, or I can fix you a cocktail,” Hud offered.
“A glass of wine would be lovely, thank you,” she replied as she looked around his beautiful kitchen in amazement.
Hud pulled out a bottle of a nice zinfandel he’d bought on his visit to Napa. He usually saved it for special lady friends, but lately that well had run dry. He opened it and handed her a glass.
“Luke, Samuel Adams?”
“You know it,” Luke confirmed as Hud popped the top off the bottle and handed it to him before opening another bottle for himself.
“To good friends,” Hud toasted as they clinked their beverages together.
Hud and Luke started grilling the steaks, while Aimee Jo helped out by preparing a salad. She knew the two wanted some alone time to talk guy stuff, and she enjoyed doing the domestic stuff, especially in this gorgeous kitchen. She watched the two of them outside. Luke failed to tell her how good-looking his friend was. Of course, she wouldn’t expect a guy to say such things. It shocked her, though, that he was alone in this gorgeous house. Were the women in Indio crazy? Or was he like Luke and afraid of commitments, she wondered.
“She’s seems to be a nice girl and very pretty,” Hud told Luke as he handed him a beer.
“Yeah, she’s pretty awesome,” Luke said as he watched her from the glass doors, enjoying herself in Hud’s kitchen.
“Uh oh,” Hud said, popping open his beer.
“What?” Luke said, looking back over at his friend.
“You’ve fallen for her,” Hud teased.
“Have not,” Luke said, blowing him off.
“I think you have. I saw you walk up with her, holding her hand, smiling every time you see her.”
“So? I’ve done that with other girls.”
“Sure about that?” Hud asked.
“I’m sure. I’m never an asshole to a girl I’m with,” Luke confidently declared.
“Didn’t say you were asshole to them, but you never give them the attention in public that you seem to be giving Aimee Jo.”
“You’re ridiculous.” Luke once again blew off his statement as he watched to make sure Aimee Jo wasn’t listening. He could hear her singing along to the music they were playing outside. It warmed his heart to see she was making herself at home so quickly.
“And you, my friend, are in love,” Hud once again teased him, as Luke looked back over at him.
“Look, we’re just having fun. She’s a great girl and I’ll admit that she may be the best girl I’ve ever hooked up with, but she has her plans, and I don’t plan on changing mine. We both agreed to just go with the flow and say goodbye in a couple of days.”
“Whatever you say,” Hud said, raising his beer.
The three of them sat on Hud’s backyard patio by the pool. The sun was setting and the stickiness of the day was finally easing off. They laughed and talked for hours as they enjoyed a delicious grilled steak dinner. Aimee Jo enjoyed the banter between the two friends, and she got a better glimpse as to why Luke seemed to be so anti-relationships. His friend, who was obviously single, was the ultimate bachelor.
As the evening wound down, so did the conversation. Luke had gone back to the truck to get his guitar so Aimee Jo could sing to them. Both of them sat in awe of the talented songstress as she played a few country oldies. She ended her performance for the night by playing the song she had written.
“You don’t have any words to your song?” Hud asked.
“No, not yet.” Aimee Jo smiled as she laid the guitar down on the chair next to her.
“You are very talented. I’m sure you will do good next week.”
“Thank you. I hope so,” she said before looking over at Luke, who hadn’t said a word for a while now. He was sound asleep.
“Yeah, I think he zonked out about the time you started playing your little tune there.” Hud chuckled before drinking his last swallow of beer for the night.
“He has driven so long these past few days. I have a feeling he was tired even before he picked me up.”
“Long haul will do that to you. It’s great money, but you have to be careful not to let yourself get burned out. He’ll be better after a couple of days rest,” Hud said just before he kicked Luke’s chair to wake him up. He looked over at Aimee Jo to see that she wasn’t too happy about him doing that.
Luke’s eyes opened wide and he tensed, gripping the arms of his lounge and looking over at Hud, ready to kick his ass.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, your girl’s tired. Show her to your room.” Hud stood up and stretched before turning off the gas-powered fire pit.
Luke looked around in a daze before yawning and getting up out of his lounge. He held his hand out for Aimee Jo and helped her up before pulling her next to him.
“I’m calling it a night. Ya’ll sleep tight and I’ll see you in the morning,” Hud said as he left the two alone.
“Man, I guess I’m more tired than I thought,” Luke said before yawning again.
“Come on, let’s call it a night, too,” Aimee Jo said as she grabbed the guitar and they headed inside.
They walked together to their room, where Luke stepped into the bathroom while Aimee Jo got ready for bed. She really didn’t need for him to show her to the room, because she had already checked it out earlier when Luke had brought some of their things inside from the truck. She grabbed up the sexy little red nightgown Luke had bought her.
Having only a few clean clothes left, she’d made quick use of Hud’s washer and dryer while the boys had grilled the steaks. She fell in love with house almost instantly, but was curious why a man like Hud would have this big house all to himself with no one to share it.
She then thought of Lisa, the waitress back in San Antonio. She bet she would love to live here with him. Was this the kind of life Luke wanted to live, she wondered. As if he heard his name, he came out of the bathroom, wearing only his underwear, and practically fell onto the bed.
“Luke, you all right?” Aimee Jo asked, concerned that maybe he had a few beers too many. She stepped over to the bed, where he lay on his stomach with his eyes closed and sound asleep. She smiled but was a little disappointed that all they would be doing tonight was sleeping. She reached over and softly kissed him, holding back the words on the tip of her tongue that she wanted to say at that moment. They had a few days left together, and maybe she would tell him before their time was up.