Page 4 of With This Ring

“Fine, fine. We’ll keep playing the boring old-people music, but I’m singing a Kirwan song in my head.” With a flourish she disappeared from the doorway, her footfalls sounding on her way back to the front.

Dakota set down the steamer and yanked her phone from her pocket. Then she placed it on the table beside her. Maybe she’d think about texting Parker back later.Maybe.

***

Hudson stared at his computer screen in his dark office. Horns blasted and traffic hummed from the Manhattan streets below. The sounds had become comforting to him since he’d moved to the city years ago.

A tap sounded on the doorframe, and he looked up just as Darren Jensen, his best friend and business partner, leaned in. “Hey, Hud. Don’t you know what time it is?”

Hudson glanced down at the bottom right-hand corner of his screen. “It’s 8:38.”

“That was rhetorical,” Darren deadpanned. “Why are you still here?”

“For the same reason you are—working.”

“Yeah, but we worked until nine every night last week. Get outta here and get a life.”

Hudson gave him a wry smile. “You’re the one with the life, soyouget outta here. The only thing waiting for me at home is the television, and I’m not even streaming anything right now.”

“Man, that’s your own fault. You could have all the dates you want, but you picked being married to the company instead.”

“And it worked out well for both of us, huh?” Hudson leaned back in his chair, and it groaned in response. Their company, D&H Software Solutions, had finally been sold—and once the deal was complete, Hudson and Darren would have to decide what to do next.

Darren’s phone pinged, and his hazel eyes moved to the screen.

“Lauryn?” Hud asked.

Darren swept his fingers over his stubble, the light-brown hair barely visible in the dim office lighting. Meanwhile, Hudson’s own five o’clock shadow probably could’ve been seen from the street below. “Yeah. I promised her I’d meet her at seven. This is the fourth time she’s texted me.”

“So quit talking about it and leave.”

Darren turned toward the doorway, then turned back and pointed his phone at Hudson. “You should seriously consider Bahrain.”

Hudson grimaced. “I don’t know...”

“It’s a great offer, Hud. We could whip that company into shape, help sell it, and move on again.”

“What about Lauryn?”

Darren smiled. “I’m going to ask her to go with me. You need to say yes.”

Hudson shrugged. “Maybe I will.”

When Darren’s phone started to ring, he held it up. “Gotta run. See you tomorrow.”

Before Hudson could respond, his best friend was gone, talking on the phone as he hurried down the hallway. Hud yawned and rubbed his eyes, then got up and stretched his legs.

He walked to the window and peered down at the headlights illuminating the streets of Manhattan. Taxis and cars moved past,horns blaring every once in a while. He smiled. After so many years of hard work, he finally felt he had accomplished something.

It had been seven years since he’d left his hometown of Flowering Grove, North Carolina, and moved to New York City to chase his dream of running a software company. He’d started out at the bottom of the first company that hired him, then worked his way up to the top. He’d met his business partner, Darren, along the way, and together they had taken a chance and started their own firm. After only four years, they now had a sale and more money than Hudson ever could’ve dreamed of.

He walked back over to his desk and sat down, taking in the neat piles of papers. He was grateful for his financial gains, since they had allowed him to take care of the two people who meant the most to him—his baby sister, Layla, and his aunt Trudy. His aunt had raised him and Layla after their parents died in a car accident, when Hudson was eight and Layla only a year old. Thanks to his success, he’d been able to pay off Trudy’s house, allowing her to retire. He’d also paid for Layla’s college education.

But now he was at a crossroads and had to figure out what to do. Although he’d enjoyed living comfortably, he had no ties to New York. No family and definitely no girlfriend. But he was too busy providing for his aunt and sister to worry about that. His parents would’ve wanted him to take care of them, and they were the only family he needed.

As he hit the button to power down his computer, his cell phone started to ring. He picked up and saw his little sister’s name on the screen.

“Hey, Layla,” he said.