Until You Loved Me (Silver Springs #3)(31)

Elijah’s footsteps moved slowly toward the common area. Ellie could tell he was hoping to learn her purpose before he left. No doubt he was curious. But she lowered her voice. “It’s a—a private matter.”

“I see.” Aiyana fell silent until they heard the click of the door. After her son was gone, she threaded her fingers together and propped her hands on her blotter. “Are you here because you have a loved one who might be a candidate for enrollment?”

“No. I was hoping you could put me in touch with Hudson King.”

“Hudson,” she repeated in surprise. “Are you a reporter or—”

“Not a reporter,” she broke in. “I—I have something important to discuss with him. That’s all.”

“I see.” Aiyana spoke slowly as if she was trying to decide how to respond. “You do realize there are a lot of people who try to reach Hudson through us.”

“I didn’t know that, but...it makes sense, I guess.”

“That means we have to be very diligent about safeguarding his privacy. It wouldn’t be fair to give his contact information to any stranger who stopped by.”

“I understand. But I’m not looking for an autograph or a—a story. I’m not trying to sell him anything, either. We’ve met before, once. I’m only in town for a couple of days and...and I really need to speak to him while I’m here.” She was being vague, but she wasn’t willing to say more—not to anyone Hudson knew—until she’d broken the news to him personally.

“I see. I believe you. I do,” Aiyana said. “Problem is...we aren’t at liberty to reveal his contact information to anyone, not without his express permission. If you’d like to leave your name and number with me, however, I’ll let him know you stopped by.”

Ellie put her purse on her lap. “He’s in town, then?”

“I’m afraid I can’t reveal that, either. Silver Springs is too small.”

Wow. They were even more protective of Hudson than she’d expected. Was it because Aiyana respected him? Or was she simply afraid to lose his patronage?

Ellie hoped it was the former. That indicated the father of her baby was likely a good person in addition to being talented in sports and physically gorgeous. “I understand.” She reached into her purse and retrieved the note she’d written, just in case. “If you could pass this along, I’d appreciate it.” She stood as she handed the envelope across the desk. “I’m in room 103 at The Mission Inn. Tell him I’ll stay there until the day after tomorrow. If I don’t hear from him, I’ll assume... I’ll assume I’ve fulfilled my obligation.”

“Which means...you’ll leave town?”

“Yes. I’ll have to leave early Saturday to catch my flight, since it’s out of LAX.”

“I’ll make him aware of your time constraints.”

“Thank you.” Ellie offered her a brief smile before leaving the office. She told herself the meeting had gone as smoothly as she could have expected. At least she’d spoken to someone who could pass along a message—and seemed reliable enough to do so. But even after she reached her motel, the butterflies in her stomach made it impossible to eat the sandwich she’d picked up along the way, although she hadn’t had anything since she left Miami other than a few pretzels. She couldn’t sit down, either, couldn’t stop moving. So she paced back and forth at the end of the two double beds in her room, rehearsing what she planned to say if Hudson bothered to contact her.

Maybe he wouldn’t respond, she told herself. Maybe she’d spend two agonizing days waiting for some word from him, and it would never come.

That would be good, right? Then she could go on her way without any guilt.

She tried to convince herself. Part of her, the part that feared how he might react, would be relieved. But the rest of her wanted to see him again. After all, he’d fueled her fantasies for months.

*

When Hudson received Aiyana’s text saying she needed to talk to him, he was leaving the doctor’s office with Aaron. Aaron’s last round of chemo was over. They were running tests to see if it had worked. He knew Aaron was worried about what those tests would reveal; so was he, since they’d had bad news before. But they’d been laughing and joking with each other all afternoon. The kid was the bravest person Hudson had ever known. He was also a real smart-ass, which Hudson happened to enjoy.

Hudson waited until after they’d returned to the ranch and Aaron had gone up to his dorm room before he responded to Aiyana. He was afraid Aaron was what she wanted to talk about. That was what they usually talked about—Aaron or another one of the boys who needed something. But once he texted the school administrator to let her know he was in the parking lot and heading toward her office, she wrote back to say he should wait where he was, that she was coming from the science building and would meet him at his truck.

He leaned against the driver’s door while he waited, waving at the various students who called out his name as they hurried to their after-school activities. He liked that they didn’t make a big deal of his presence on campus. Although most were more than eager to do anything he invited them to do, they respected his personal space better than many adults. He was at the school often enough that they took his appearance in stride, which let him relax, be a normal person for a change.