The Hudson Boys

Chapter two

Five hours.

Five hours of sitting on a flight next to one man who decided to use me as his pillow and another who had to get up practically every twenty minutes so he could use the bathroom.

It was horrible, to say the least.

Exiting the plane as quickly as my legs would move, I walked to the baggage claim and grabbed my turquoise suitcases and Vera Bradley duffel bags off the conveyor belt.

The only details my mother gave me were that Mrs. Hudson would be waiting for me at the airport, but that was it. I didn't know where exactly and had no way of contacting her.

Hoping that my mom gave her my flight information, I made my way to where the cars wait to pick up people who had gotten off their flight and sure enough I see a man wearing a suit holding a sign that says "Jessica Anderson" on it.

The man noticed me walking towards the car and quickly came to my side.

"Good evening, Ms. Anderson?"

Before I can even respond, a blonde woman steps out of the car and pulls me in to a tight hug. "Jessica, it's so nice to see you again! Look at you, you've gotten so big! And so beautiful! You look just like your mother"

"Thank you Mrs. Hudson-"

"Oh Please, call me Claire. Mrs. Hudson makes me feel so old!"

"Excuse me," the man in the suit interjected. "Ms. Anderson's bags are in the car and we are ready to depart whenever you are."

"Thank you, Robert," Claire smiles at Robert and then turns back to me. "Ready to go?"

Robert opens the door for Claire and she gracefully thanks him before getting in. I was about to open my door, but Robert beat me to it. I thanked him and got in.

Shortly after we leave the airport, Claire told me a little bit about herself.  She's a fashion designer for some really big company.  She told me the name, but I had never heard of it.  I definitely would not consider myself to be a fashionable person.

Then she told me about her husband, Steve.  He's a very successful investor/business owner.  Again, not really my area of expertise so I just nodded as she talked.

Claire and Steve met shortly after they had both finished college.  Steve immediately liked her, but Claire wasn't very interested.  But that didn't stop Steve.  He asked her on a date every day for a month before Claire finally said yes.  One year later, Claire was pregnant.

After learning all about Claire and Steve, Claire began to question me about my life and how its been for the past fourteen years.

"So you're a sophomore in college, right? I'm pretty sure that's what your mother told me." She asks.

"Yes I'm a sophomore at Cornell University," I reply.

"That's amazing, Cornell is a fabulous school! My son Vince is a sophomore in college too! I think you guys will get along very well, you did when you were kids."

Hearing Claire mention her sons made me realize that I momentarily forgot she has sons...sons that I was going to be living with for the entire summer.

"Oh yeah how are your sons? Sorry I'm completely blanking on the rest of their names," I sheepishly grin. I've never been the best at making small talk.

"Oh don't worry dear; I would be surprised if you remembered. It's been so long!" I'm starting to realize that I really like Claire. She's so bubbly and easy to talk to. She reminds me a lot of my mom.

"Well there's Will, he's the oldest; 26. He's been in a committed relationship with a lovely girl named Jenny for five years now. I wouldn't be surprised if he 'popped the question' any day now!

Then there's Ben. He's 22 and recently got an internship at a great publishing company. We're very proud of him.

Next comes Parker. He's a junior in college and the captain of the soccer team. You two had the cutest relationship when you were younger. It was so obvious that you liked each other, but you tried to hide it by acting like you couldn't stand each other. Ugh, so precious."

Parker? Why couldn't I remember him? Or any of them for that matter. Sure, I remember the idea of them, but I couldn't remember any details and it was beginning to annoy me.

"My next son is Vince. Vince is the one I was talking about before. He's a sophomore in college and plays volleyball. Like I said, you guys were close when you were younger.

"After Vince comes Mark. Mark is a freshman in college. He rows Crew and focuses on his studies a lot more than his other brothers. He's really enjoys to learn new things and read new books.

"Then come the trouble maker twins, David and Dylan. They're also freshman in college and will pull as many pranks on you as they can."

I start to chuckle at this statement when Claire looks at my with a serious expression on her face. "Seriously, watch your back."

"And last most certainly not least, there's Jason. He's a junior in high school and he's very artistic. Don't tell him I told you though, he's very self-conscious about his artwork, even though he shouldn't be. He has a lot of talent and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother."

"So there you have it. Those are all eight of my boys. Well besides Winston, our dog. He's my favorite; don't tell the others. But I'm so incredibly happy that you're going to be spending the summer with us. Our house could use some more girls. Hurray for girl power!"

I start laughing again but quickly stop when her words register in my brain.

Eight kids.

Eight boys to be specific.

I'm going to living with eight boys.

My mother definitely forgot to mention that.