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Unbelievable

Penny had taken Carrie to the Kincaid lodge, where she’d fallen asleep on the couch waiting for Hud He’d walked in at five thirty in thehe had to take her ho to Bailey He got hislot, where he discovered Aidan’s truck blocking his

Aidan waved the he was headed to McDonald’s for breakfast and it wasn’t out of the way He didn’t say another word on the ride, but Carrie had woken all the way up and had plenty to say

"It’s not too late to s ith Bailey," she started

Hud had spent the entire night out in the cold on thefor dumbasses, so he’d had lots of time to replay what had happened in his head He didn’t need to discuss He’d screwed up, big time And the worst part was, his life was so crazy he didn’t even have time to fix it "Mom--"

"No, I know you You’re stubborn So determined to be a da away people who care about you You can learn to accept love You accept s’, why can’t you accept anyone else’s?"

Aidan snorted beneath his breath and turned Hud’s way for his response

Hud didn’t have one He put on his sunglasses and stared out the windshield A storray clouds pouring in over theout of a cauldron He hadn’t had a spare second to check the weather so he turned on the radio nohich was predicting the storhed fro to talk any sense into hiaze in the rearviewany sense into him?" he asked

"No He’s pretty hardheaded"

Aidan chuckled

Hud rolled his eyes

"This is important," Carrie said to Aidan "This is his life he’sup We can’t let hiht in the seat, looking uncos "I’m not really authorized to talk on this issue," Aidan finally said "It’s above ree to that?" Carrie asked

"Lily’s smarter than I am," Aidan said He looked at Hud "And I’m pretty sure Bailey’s smarter than your son No insult intended"

"None taken," Carrie said, and sighed as they pulled into her hoot her inside and settled

Hud leaned over her to kiss her good-bye "Missed you, Mo she’d stay lucid, if it would stick this tiood to see you"

Carrie cupped his face and looked his you wished you could take back," she said, voice earnest "When you crashed your bike and sent Jacob flying over the handlebars and straight to the hospital Or when you cheated and took Jacob’s ot both of you suspended fro to be okay"

"How?" she asked "Your dad’s gone, Jacob’s gone, and now Bailey too? How o, baby Please, don’t" She started to cry "The principal and school counselor once told me they orried about you because you didn’t let yourself get attached And it’s all my fault Please don’t let this be all my fault, Hudson"

"It’s not," he said, destroyed He sat on her bed and pulled her into his arms "This isn’t your fault None of it is your fault"

"It is! If I’d loved you better, if I wasn’t bats-in-the-belfry crazy like everyone says, if I’d been less of a coward to let love back into ht example, if I’d been a better mom--"