––––––––

Seven Months Later...

“You ready for this, hot shot?” I slide up next to Hudson on the side of the stage.

He’s set to go on in two minutes. We’re at the opening show for his twenty-eight week, sixty-seven show, headlining tour. While to most he may seem cool and collected, I can feel the nervous energy radiating off of him.

Even though he’s played a few multi-artist concerts over the past few months, this is the first time he’s played his own show since the beginning of last summer. I think there’s an added pressure now because people paid to see him and he doesn’t want to disappoint them. Not that he ever would.

“I am.” He turns, pulling me in for a quick kiss. “You’re going to be in the pit?” he asks.

“Yeah, I want to be down there with Emma and Starr,” I say, pointing to the right of the stage where Starr, Mark, Emma, Robert, Hudson’s three sisters, and brother-in-law are all pressed together in the front row, barely visible from where we’re standing.

After finding out that his first stop was going to be in Louisiana, Hudson invited his family and mine to attend. Considering it’s pretty much right between where my parents and his parents live, it made total sense. Besides, my Nana has been dying to come to a show so it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

While they are all gathered in the pit, my parents and Nana, along with Hudson’s parents are all seated in the front row on the right side of the stage, none of them having any desire to be down in the thick of it all. Not that I can blame them. As much as I love being down in the action, there’s something to be said about getting to see the show without people bumping into you or standing directly in front of you so you can’t see half the time.

Well, at least that’s how it used to be. Now I get right up on the stage every single time I choose to go out into the crowd, which normally I don’t. Tonight I’m making an exception.

“One minute,” a man wearing a large headset cues. Hudson lets out a slow breath and slides his guitar over his shoulder.

“You’re going to be amazing, Hudson James.” I take his face into both of my hands. “I’ll be the one up front with stars in her eyes,” I tell him, giving him a quick peck.

“I’ll be the one on the stage looking down at the girl with stars in her eyes thinking how I’m the luckiest asshole to ever walk on this earth.”

“Keep talking like that, Mr. Demasi, and you just might get lucky tonight.” I wink, stepping back.

“Oh I’m counting on it, Miss Claire.” He gives me a full dimple smile.

“Lennon, we gotta go.” Colton comes jogging up the stairs to the stage. “The show is about to start,” he says, snagging his arm through mine when he reaches me.

“I love you,” I say to Hudson, seconds before Colton pulls me back toward the staircase he just came up.

“I love you,” he mouths, winking right before we disappear from view.

Colton leads me past the row of security guards that line the chest high gate in front of the stage where Emma and the others are standing a little off to the right side. Colton and one of the guards help me over the gate before Colton jumps over and joins us.

Colton and Emma who have oddly enough become pretty good friends over the past few months exchange pleasantries. Colton spends a lot of his time in Florida so we’ve all become a bit inseparable. Hell, even him and Robert get along really well.

My sister, who’s sporting a small bump through her fitted Hudson James t-shirt, stands right next to them. Mark is behind her, arms wrapped around her chest to keep her close. He wasn’t all that thrilled about his pregnant wife being in the pit, fearful that someone might hit her stomach, but like most things, Starr got her way. It’s likely he will stand like that all night.

I smile and shake my head, turning my gaze toward the stage just as the lights dim. I’ll never get over the feeling I get every single time I watch Hudson walk out on stage and this time is no different.

He struts out so powerful, so sure of himself, so unbelievably handsome he makes my stomach flop every single time.

“Oh my god,” Emma squeals next to me.

This is the first time she’s seeing Hudson live. It seems almost impossible that Hudson and I have been together well over a year – minus our seven week break  – and this is the first time my best friend is making it to a show. Having Robby put a damper on her concert going.

But she’s an incredible mom. Sometimes I watch her interact with her son and wonder if I will be even half the mother she is. Not that I’m in any rush, but babies have definitely been on my brain a lot more than usual. Especially with Starr expecting a daughter this coming June.

Turning my attention to the stage, I smile when Hudson steps up to the microphone and the opening chords of Tequila Haze blare through the arena.

I sing along to every word, smiling when his gaze finds mine. He winks as he sings the line, “I lost myself in a bottle of tequila and a blue eyed girl,” directly at me before crossing to the other side of the stage.

For the next hour and a half I watch as Hudson completely brings the house down. I swear he only gets better with each show he does which seems pretty impossible considering I think he’s always been perfect.

“It’s been one hell of a year,” Hudson pants into the microphone, talking to the audience the way he always does when he’s wrapping up a show. “So many ups and downs yet you all have stuck by me through every single one of them. And since we’ve shared so much together already, I figured I could share one more thing with y’all if that’s cool.” The audience erupts around us. “Some of you may know Tequila Haze was written about a girl. Big surprise there.” He laughs and the crowd laughs along with him. “What you may not know is that girl is here tonight.”

Emma’s hand closes around mine as he talks.

“She is the inspiration behind so much and tonight I’d like to tell her thank you.” My heart starts hammering inside my chest as I wonder what the hell he’s up to.

He crosses the stage, his gaze finding mine before he continues, “I want to thank her for standing by me. For loving me. For making me the happiest damn man on this planet.” He grins and I feel several sets of eyes following his gaze, all of them landing on me.

Heat floods my face and I feel like I might possibly end up on the floor if he keeps this up for much longer. My knees are literally shaking under my own weight.

“So, I’d like to dedicate this last song to her. It’s not an original, but it’s one I know she’ll understand. Chase said it best and I think I’ll let him do the talking tonight.”

With that the band kicks in and the music blares around us. Before Hudson even starts singing, Starr yells from behind me, “Lenny, he’s playing “Change Your Name” by Chase Bryant.” She squeals in excitement like I’m supposed to know what that is.

But when Hudson opens his mouth and starts singing it all becomes crystal clear. Even though he didn’t write the song, every word flows from his mouth like he did. Like he means every single word he sings – his eyes locked on mine the whole time.

It’s not long before tears are filling my eyes and falling down my cheeks. Suddenly we’re no longer in an arena with thousands of other people. In this moment it’s just Hudson and me and what he’s trying to say.

When he reaches the end of the second chorus, he taps the body guard standing on the opposite side of the gate from me and gives him a nod. Before I know what’s happening, Marc and Robert are huddled behind me, helping me over the gate to the waiting body guard who lifts me onto the stage like I weigh nothing.

He sings the last two lines of the chorus as he leads me to the middle of the stage, handing off his microphone before he drops to one knee. I can’t stop the tears that slide down my cheeks any more than I can control the way my hands are shaking uncontrollably.

The band continues to play, the music only intensifying the magnitude of the moment. Cameras are flashing all around us and the crowd cheers, but I’m so transfixed on the man in front of me I’m not entirely sure my frazzled brain is processing any of it.

Hudson smiles at me as he reaches into his back pocket and returns with the most beautiful oval cut diamond ring I’ve ever seen pressed between his index finger and thumb.

“Let me change your name. Marry me?” he mouths, a full blown smile spreading across his face when I nod my head yes without a moment’s hesitation.

The crowd is a flurry of screams and whistles as Hudson slides the ring on my finger and stands, pulling me into his arms so that my feet leave the ground moments before his mouth crashes down on mine.

He kisses me like there isn’t a soul watching. Like there’s not a person in this world outside the two of us. After what feels like minutes, Hudson lowers me back to my feet. Entwining his fingers with mine, he takes the microphone back from the sound guy, and without skipping a beat, he picks right back up where he was, singing the last verse and chorus of the song directly to me. His eyes never once leaving mine.

He pulls me back into his arms after softly crooning the last line, the audience once again exploding when he kisses me for a second time.

“Ladies and gentleman.” Hudson winks at me moments before he turns us to face the crowd. “Let me introduce you to my future wife.”

The moment is surreal. Something out of a movie that you never in a million years dream would imagine happening to you. People are recording the moment, snapping pictures, sharing in our happiness like it’s their happiness too and I realize in a way it kind of is.

My gaze drops to Emma first, who’s a ball of tears, leaning into Robert. Then to Starr who has a shit eating grin on her face like she knew it was coming and is so happy to have been in the know.

My stomach drops when I remember that my parents, grandma, and his parents are all here. Flipping my gaze to the side, I find all five of them on their feet, cheering and clapping right along with everyone else.

“You planned this,” I say, not sure if Hudson can hear me.

“Took you long enough to figure that out.” He chuckles, turning me back into his chest. “I love you.”

“I love you,” I return, laughter rumbling through me when he lifts me off my feet and cradles me against his chest.

The crowd continues to go wild as Hudson carries me from the stage like a prince carrying his princess off into the sunset.

And when he sets me on my feet backstage and kisses me like I’m the very air he breathes, I don’t have to wonder if we’ll live happily ever after...

I know we will.