Page 115 of The Bitterroot Inn (Jamison Valley 5)
I dropped my head from the fading sky. Hunter stood on the bottom step. “Hi.”
He started up the stairs. “What are you doing out here?”
“I just wanted some air.” And some peace. Gigi watched the sunsets almost every night because she said they gave her peace, and since work hadn’t helped me today, I was willing to try just about anything.
“Do you want to go inside to talk?” Hunter asked when he was three steps away from the landing.
I shook my head.
“Okay.” Hunter came up the last few steps, sitting down on the top step too. With my legs stretched out between us, my feet were at his hip and I had the perfect view of his handsome profile.
I took a sip from my glass. “Do you want some wine?”
“No, I need to drive home.”
It was a relief that he had already planned to go home. After Hunter gave me his explanation, I would need space. My bed was officially a Hunter-free zone until further notice.
“Where do you want me to start?”
I took a deep breath and drained the last of my wine. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Remember the day you got Nell’s papers? I had planned on telling you that night.”
That was the night he’d arranged for Coby to spend the night with my parents. I’d been so excited that day, thinking Hunter had something special planned for just the two of us, but the moment I’d gotten Eleanor’s petition, all of that had fallen to the wayside.
“Why not before then?” I asked. “Why not right after we met?”
“I didn’t want to lose you. I was scared you’d tell me to leave. I knew I should have told you, but I didn’t want you to shut me out. From the moment you started babbling to me in the motel lobby that first day, I just wanted to be a part of your life.”
I had wanted him in my life too. So much. “Was it real?”
“It is real. I love you, Maisy. The only thing I kept from you was the past but everything else was real.”
The lump in the back of my throat swelled. I loved him too. Despite the lies and the omissions, I loved him too. “You should have told me right away,” I whispered. “That was too much to keep secret.”
He hung his head. “I know. I was a coward and you don’t owe me anything, but can I explain?”
I took a breath. It was time to get my questions answered. “Start at the beginning.”
He ran a hand over his hair, brushing back some of the strands that had fallen out from his bun. “A few years after my mom died, Dad started dating. He was a doctor too so most of his dates were with women who worked with him at the hospital. That’s where he met Nell. She was working in the cafeteria, Dad met her at lunch one day, and four months later, they got married.”
I reached for my wineglass, frowning when I remembered it was empty.
“They got married fast, mostly because I think Dad was desperate to fill the hole Mom had left when she died. So I inherited a stepmom who was more than happy to quit her shitty job and spend Dad’s money along with a stepbrother who didn’t like having a younger brother.”
“You and Everett didn’t get along?”
“No,” he scoffed. “We hated each other. At first, I thought we could be friends. Dad worked so much, I thought maybe Everett could keep me company, but instead we fought.”
“About what?”
“Everything. He picked on me relentlessly and I fought back. I was young, pissed that Dad had brought them into my life. I wanted to go back to the days of just me and Dad. Mostly, I wanted my mom back. I took a lot of my aggression out on Everett. He did the same to me.”
“And Nell?”
“Nell treated me like a burden. Everett too. I meant what I said in court today. She doesn’t have a motherly bone in her body. As soon as she got Dad’s paychecks, she hired a nanny, not that we needed one. I was ten and Everett was fourteen when they moved in, but a nanny on staff meant she could ignore us.”
“And your dad?”
