AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Let yourself enjoy the moment. You deserve it,” he says. “Speaking of enjoying the moment … you and Allie?”
My heart expands three sizes at the thought of her. “Oh yeah, me and Allie. In fact, she should be here soon. We went for dinner in the hotel’s Japanese restaurant and she got mobbed by fans when we were leaving. She’s holding an impromptu Q&A in the lobby right now.”
“That’s awesome.”
“It really is. I couldn’t be happier for her. She’s finally getting her due. She’s so talented and hard-working, and I’m just so damn proud of her,” I say, meaning every word. “Anyway, I should let you go so I can call our parents. I’m sure they have a few things to say to me.”
“If one of those things isn’t sorry, hang the fuck up.”
“Will do, bro. Catch you soon.”
“See yah.”
I hang up, then take a deep breath and dial their number. My dad picks up. “Hudson, I was wondering if you’d call.”
“Hey, Dad, you know you can always call me, right?”
“We weren’t sure if you’d want to talk to us.”
In the background, I hear my mom’s voice. “Is that Hudson?”
“Yes. I’ll put him on speaker. Hang on.”
I walk over to the minibar and grab a bottle of water while he switches over. My mom says, “Hello, Hudson.”
“How are you doing?” I ask, even though part of me doesn’t want to hear the answer.
“A little worn out,” she says, her voice cracking. “This has been a very big day for Dad and me.”
“For me too,” I tell her.
“Of course, of course it is. Silly of me. I just … wish we would’ve known you were doing this so we could have prepared for it.”
Walking over to the window, I stare out at the evening skyline. “I was worried you’d manage to talk me out of it, and it was something I had to do.”
“Why?” my father asks. “Why now?”
Not wanting to talk about Allie, I say, “I think a better question would be why not thirty-three years ago when you found out.”
“It was a different time back then,” Mom says. “And with your father’s job, we were worried it would reflect poorly on him.”
“Believe me, I know. I know it by heart.”
“We never meant to make you feel ashamed,” Dad tells me, his voice a little wobbly too. “But I know that’s exactly what we wound up doing, isn’t it?”
I sigh, not wanting to hurt them, but also knowing that I need to say this. “You did. You really did. My whole life, I have never fully let anyone know me because I was scared that if they found out, they’d think less of me.”
“But we thought you were over it. You’re such a huge star. You’ve got everything,” my mom says. “How could you possibly feel bad about yourself?”
“Because I grew up believing I was seriously flawed. Beyond repair. That I was unacceptable to my own parents. That’s not just something that goes away because you make a lot of money.”
She sniffs, then says, “No, I suppose it’s not.”
“Hudson, I’m … your mom and I are so sorry we did that to you,” my dad says, his voice barely above a whisper, which is sort of shocking for me to hear.
“It’s true,” Mom adds. “If we could go back, we’d do so many things differently. So many things. We just thought we were doing the best thing for you and for the family. We were worried that if people knew, they wouldn’t give you the same opportunities. We didn’t want this to hold you back, so we thought if we worked with you enough, we could…”
“Fix me?”
