Page 31 of The Bitterroot Inn (Jamison Valley 5)
What a damn liar. Her gentle and sweet voice was as fake as her nose. “Is there a reason for your call? I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come back to Chicago?”
“I’m sure.” Something else I’d told her last night. “My house will be done soon. Work is going great. I think Prescott is the right place for me to settle down and plant some roots.” I knew that last part would get her all riled up, but I didn’t care. She’d been calling nonstop from the moment I’d left Chicago and my patience had worn thin.
“You can’t mean that.”
“I do. I’ll stay here for as long as it takes for you to drop this ridiculous idea.”
“It’s not ridiculous,” she spat.
Now the real Nell was coming out. Her teeth were bared and her sharp claws out. I bet that as soon as I hung up, she’d have an epic tantrum. I felt bad for the housekeeper on days like today because Nell would rant and rave, taking her anger at me out on anyone in the vicinity.
“I’m going to hang up now. Enjoy your Sunday.”
“Hunter, don’t you dare hang up on—”
I ended the call and not two seconds later it rang again.
“Enough,” I answered. “Stop calling me. I’ve told you how I feel and I won’t change my mind. Back off before I’m forced to do something drastic.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Yes. Stop this, Nell. Last warning.”
“Don’t you threaten me, Hunter. Remember who you’re talking to, dear,” she hissed.
I remembered. My loyalty to Nell was weak, but I remembered why I took her shit. We had too much history to overlook, and as much as I’d like to say good-bye forever, I couldn’t find the guts to just cut her out of my life.
But that didn’t mean I’d stand idly by and let her do something so wrong.
“Back off.” My heart was racing but I managed to keep my voice low. “Back off now or everything I’ve been keeping quiet for years will come out so fast you’ll get whiplash.”
“You won’t,” she dared.
“I will. I’m done pandering to you. Don’t push me on this and don’t call me again. Not unless it’s to tell me you’ve fired your slime-bag attorney. Good-bye.”
I ended the call and waited, expecting it to ring again, but it stayed silent. I tucked it away in my jeans and took a couple of deep breaths, settling my heartbeat before continuing down to the lobby.
I’d either made a mistake by threatening Nell and she’d go off the deep end, or I’d done som
ething I should have done years ago. Only time would tell. But I couldn’t worry about Nell right now. Today, I had to fix a different mistake.
I had to reverse the damage I’d done last night at dinner with Maisy.
How had she managed to only ask me questions I really couldn’t answer? My past wasn’t something I could talk about yet. Certainly not my family. I’d felt her pull away after a couple of my brush-off answers and from there, dinner had gone downhill fast.
Which meant today I needed to do some explaining.
Somehow, I had to figure out how to open up without revealing too much.
Maisy
“Hey,” Hunter said, pushing open the lobby door.
He’d trimmed his beard since last night. The image of his shortened whiskers rubbing against my jaw popped into my mind and I shook my head, trying to get it out. That was not the road I wanted to go down today. I was still disappointed in how things had gone at dinner but I was resigned to acting professionally during our outing today. This was official business for the motel, after all. Thinking about his beard on my skin was a no-no.
“Hey back. Ready to go?” I grabbed my purse from the counter and slung it over a shoulder. Mom was upstairs with Coby and I wanted to leave before she came down and harassed us about our plans for the afternoon. I wouldn’t put it past her to force some sort of dinner date and I didn’t want to drag this out.
