Page 120 of The Bitterroot Inn (Jamison Valley 5)
I nodded again.
“I’m going to assume that’s a yes and see you tonight. Bye.”
When he hung up, I set down my phone and looked back to my dog.
“Happy now?”
He just kept on chewing. Pickle might not care that I had just opened the door for Hunter to come back, but Coby would be ecstatic.
My little boy was just as confused as I was. He didn’t understand why the sleepovers had stopped or why Hunter wasn’t at our dinner table. I hated that he had been affected by all of this, but to Hunter’s credit, he’d done his best to lessen the impact of our break on Coby.
Hunter had been at Coby’s birthday party the week of the court case. With very few of my family members speaking to him, Hunter had spent most of the party alone. But he’d stuck it out the entire time, for Coby. He’d stood stoically in the corner, watching me, and smiling whenever I’d make eye contact. He’d even made it a point to apologize to my parents and brothers. Finally, I had taken pity on him and wordlessly stood by his side as we watched Coby open gifts.
After that, Hunter had arranged for time alone with Coby a couple times a week. They went fishing in the new boat. They had their own dinner dates at the cafe. Hunter had even taken Coby camping in his backyard one weekend.
I’d done my best to explain this change as “grown-up stuff” but Coby wasn’t buying it. He knew things were strained. I just didn’t know how else to describe the situation in a way he’d understand. How do you explain to a four-year-old boy the importance of trust? Or how difficult it was to forgive? Or how much damage his biological father had done to my heart?
Another question popped into my head and I picked up my phone.
Hunter again answered right away. “Are you calling to take back your invitation to the game? Because if you are, I’m hanging up.”
“No.” I smiled but hesitated before asking my question. “I was, um, wondering if you knew why Everett wouldn’t want to be a dad.”
Everett had been so adamant about not fathering a child—so much so that he’d been willing to kill me. There had to be some motivation behind that. Something I was missing. Because who wouldn’t want Coby?
Hunter blew out a long breath. “I don’t know. I wish I had an answer for you, but I don’t. Maybe because his own father had never been in the picture. Maybe because Nell was such a shitty parent herself. Maybe because he was so selfish. I don’t know why he wouldn’t want kids.”
“Hmm.” I wanted another answer. Something more definitive.
“Maisy, he missed out and he’ll never know how much.”
That was the truth. “Okay. I’d better let you go.”
He stopped me before I could hang up. “Maisy?”
“Yeah?”
“I know.”
“You know what?”
“I know how much I’d miss out if I didn’t have Coby. Or you.”
A lump balled at the back of my throat. Rather than try and clear it away to speak, I just hung up the phone.
Then I thought about Everett, about Nell and Hunter’s childhood, hoping another question would pop into my head so I could call him back.
“Mommy! Mommy, there’s Hunter!” Coby jumped up from his seat in the football stadium and started waving.
When Hunter spotted us from his position at the bottom of the stands, he waved back as he lumbered toward the crowded staircase.
“Did you know he was coming?” Gigi asked from her seat behind me.
I turned and nodded. “I invited him to sit with us.”
She grinned. Gigi had been nothing but supportive of my break from Hunter. She knew I needed some time to get over all of his secrets, but after a month, she thought my time was up.
I turned back around to watch Hunter as he started up the stairs. We were about seven rows up from the railing that separated the stands from the track and field. High enough that it gave me time to do a thorough inspection of Hunter as he climbed.
