The Bitterroot Inn

by Devney Perry

  “And that’s when he came here to Prescott?”

  Hunter nodded. “For all his intelligence, he was a dumbass. He had so much fucking brainpower, but instead of using it, he was always plotting for a shortcut.”

  Everett’s last shortcut had cost him his life.

  “Okay,” I said. “So fast forward to now. It’s been years since Everett’s death. Why did Nell come for Coby after all this time? Why did she wait so many years to file the custody petition?”

  Hunter ran a hand over his hair again and when he looked up, I didn’t like the tortured look on his face. “It wasn’t just now.”

  My muscles tensed. “What do you mean?”

  “The first time I saw you was the day you had Coby. I was sitting in the waiting room when Beau brought you to the hospital in Bozeman.”

  “What?” My chin fell. “Why?”

  “Nell sent me to ask you for Coby. She wanted you to give him over to her. She was grieving. She wanted that piece of Everett but didn’t want to be around you so I went in her place. The only reason I agreed to come to the hospital and ask you was because she said you’d sent her a letter and you were considering giving Coby up for adoption.”

  “That’s a lie!” I shouted. “I would never give up my son.”

  “I know that,” he said calmly. “I took one look at you and knew you’d never give him up, so I left.”

  “Why would you even think about letting her take a baby if she was such a horrible mother?”

  He placed a gentle hand on my knee. “I told Nell I was coming to ask you, but really, I was coming to talk you out of it.”

  “Oh.” I slumped against the door.

  “After that, I told Nell to leave you alone and that I wouldn’t support her case if she tried to get custody of Coby. Miraculously, she dropped it for a while and moved to Grand Rapids to get out of Chicago. I finished up my residency and took an attending position at the hospital where Dad had worked. I thought that was the end of it.”

  “But it wasn’t.”

  He shook his head. “No. Nell decided to go after Coby again. I just happened to catch wind of it when I ran into one of her old friends at the hospital. I went to Grand Rapids to confront Nell that night.”

  “And you convinced her to drop it. Otherwise I would have heard from her, right?”

  “Not exactly,” he said. “She wasn’t going to drop it so I moved here the first time. I wanted to be close in case she came to Prescott. And it was my silent threat that if she pushed a custody fight, I’d expose her secret.”

  More secrets? This was exhausting. Would we ever get through them all? “What secret?”

  “That Nell had already blown through my dad’s insurance money and was living on Everett’s drug money.”

  Shocked, I blinked a few times as I replayed his last statement. “She knew about Everett’s drug dealing?”

  “No. Maybe. I’m not sure.”

  “I’m confused. How was she living off his drug money if she didn’t know about it?”

  “Everett only had one checking account when he died and the balance matched up to his hospital salary perfectly.”

  That made sense. He wouldn’t have been able to hide his pill mill if he’d been keeping his money in plain sight. “So where was he putting his drug money?”

  “In an account in Nell’s name.”

  “So he’d hidden his money with his mom.”

  Hunter nodded. “That’s right. Now, I’m not sure if Nell knew it was from drugs or if she just thought he was taking care of her since Dad was gone. Regardless, after he died, she would have been able to do the math and figure out where that money had come from.”

  “How did you find out?” If I were Nell, I would have kept all that information to myself.

  “By accident. You see, when Dad died, I got our house but I didn’t kick out Nell. I figured it had been her home too and Dad would have expected me to help take care of her. So she stayed in the house and I stayed in the pool house. I’d been living there during my residency because I hadn’t felt like buying my own place until I knew where my career was going to land me.”

  “Okay.” I was still following, but just barely. “So you’re living next to Nell after your dad dies. Everett leaves for Montana, then he dies.”

  “Right. And how does Nell deal with her grief? Two days after Everett’s funeral, she takes a three-month vacation to Mexico. She just up and leaves, leaving nothing but a note for me to find days later in the kitchen. Since I’m living there, I’m getting the mail. After a month, it was piled everywhere so I decided I’d better go through it all in case there’s something important. I find these bank statements and get curious. Then I find one last envelope of cash and get really curious since it has a Montana postmark.”

  “Everett’s last donation to his mom’s secret account?”

  “He must have mailed it the day he died. I started putting two and two together and realized where all that money had been coming from.”

  I tipped my head back to the now-dark sky and studied the stars while I let everything sink in. “Why didn’t you turn in that money? Then Nell would have been broke.”

  “Because of you.”

  My head snapped straight. “Me?”

  He nodded. “All I ever had to protect you and Coby was my knowledge about that money. You’re right, if I’d turned that money over to the authorities, they would have cleaned Nell out. But that money is the one thing she wants more than anything else. Without it as leverage, I had nothing to keep her from harassing you. I’d have played all my cards.”

  “I guess they weren’t very good cards to begin with. She still came after Coby.”

  “Yep,” Hunter muttered. “I thought she’d stay away with me living here again, but I guess not.”

  “Why this time?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe the money’s gone? Maybe she doesn’t care anymore? I’m not sure.”

  “Are you going to turn her in now?”

  He shook his head. “If she tries to take Coby again, I will. But I’m hoping she’ll just disappear once and for all.”

  “Why didn’t you tell the judge about any of the money stuff?”

  “Stuart said it wouldn’t matter. He figured the judge would still have ruled for some visitation in her favor. He agreed I should keep this quiet unless it was vitally necessary. Just in case I need to use it later.”

  I inspected my empty wineglass as I thought everything through. “No matter what you did, Nell had always planned to get back at me, huh? This was her way of punishing me for killing Everett. Which means you moved out here for nothing.”

  “No.” Hunter’s hand still on my knee gripped tighter. “Not nothing. I might not have realized it at the time, but I moved here for you. I was a different man when I sat waiting in that maternity ward all those years ago. I was focused on my career and didn’t want anything more than to step into my father’s shoes. But that all changed when I saw you. It took me a while, but I realized that I wanted different things for my life. I came here thinking I was looking out for you, when really, I was looking for you.”

  “Then why didn’t you come find me the first time you lived here? And why did you move away only to come back?”

  His thumb drew a circle on my bare skin. “I was still tied to Chicago. I only took a sabbatical from my job and the hospital here only hired me on a temporary basis. I didn’t come and find you because I knew I’d be leaving again. Mostly, I didn’t want to bring all this shit to your life.”

  “Why was it different this time around? What changed?”

  “I hadn’t planned on seeing you. I had planned to come back temporarily until Nell backed off, just like the last time. But the day I got to Prescott, I saw you downtown. From that moment forward, I couldn’t stay away. Then you kicked me in the balls and I knew I was in love with you.”

  I smiled at his joke. If I hadn’t felt that strong pull between us, I might have doubted his reasons, but as
it was, I knew exactly how he’d felt.

  “I need you, Maisy.” He scooted closer. “Please believe that. I know I fucked this all up, but please know, I did it all for you. And I’d do it again.”

  “This is fucked up, Hunter,” I whispered. “You’re Everett’s stepbrother. You’re Coby’s uncle. I just . . . I can’t do all this crazy. I can’t do all the secrets.”

  He took my hands. “I told you once, I’d only leave if you made me. I mean that still. I’m not going anywhere, but this is your call. I’ll fight, don’t get me wrong. I’m not giving you up easily, but if you really can’t get past it, I’ll go.”

  “I love you, Hunter,” I admitted. “But I don’t trust you.”

  “I’ll win it back. I’ll prove I am the only man you’ll ever need and I’ll never, ever keep anything from you again.”

  I didn’t doubt his determination. I did doubt my ability to trust him again. “I need time.”

  “Take as much as you want. I’ll be here when you’re ready.”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  He stood from the step, bending down to kiss my temple. “Good night.”

  I looked up at the stars as his footsteps echoed down the staircase and crunched on the gravel when he hit the last step.

  “I love you, Maisy. Tell me you believe that.”

  I didn’t break my gaze away from the sky. “I believe that, Hunter. I just don’t know if I can believe anything else.”

  “Why is your last name Faraday and not Carlson?”

  Hunter chuckled into the phone. “Hello to you too.”

  I stayed quiet, waiting for him to answer.

  Over a month had passed since Hunter’s staircase confessional, and in that time, he’d given me space. And answers. Whenever a question popped into my head, I’d call and ask. Yesterday, I’d called twice with questions about his extended family. Today, I wanted to know about his last name.

  “Faraday was my mom’s maiden name,” he said. “I changed my name from Carlson to Faraday before I started medical school because I didn’t want to be riding Dad’s coattails at his alma mater.”

  “So you were a Faraday but Everett was a Carlson even though he wasn’t your dad’s biological son?”

  “That’s right. Nell forced Everett to change his last name when she married Dad. She wanted everyone in the house to share the same last name. Everett hated it until he got to college but then I guess he decided it wasn’t so bad. He’d toss Dad’s name around like candy at a parade. I don’t know if it made a difference for Everett or not, but I didn’t want any special favors from professors or the administration. So I became Hunter Faraday.”

  I liked Hunter’s pride and that he had wanted to succeed on his own accomplishments. I doubted his teachers would have played favorites but it was admirable that he’d cared enough to succeed on his own merit.

  “Where did you go to college?” I asked.

  “Northwestern. Med school there too.”

  An image popped into my mind of a younger Hunter walking around campus. I bet the girls had been all over the aspiring doctor with the sexy hair. My smile dropped at the mental image of another woman’s hands tugging on his strands. Hunter and I hadn’t had the past-lover conversation because that was one area where I was one hundred percent not curious.

  “Anything else?” he asked.

  I was out of questions for now. “Um, no. Bye.”

  “Okay,” he sighed. “Bye.”

  I hung up my phone and set it on the lobby counter. He sounded sad and lonely. Should I call him back? Maybe invite him for dinner? What had he even been eating lately? Was he cooking for himself or just making peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches?

  Though I disliked the thought of him surviving on takeout and PB&Js, I didn’t lift my phone off the counter.

  As much as I missed Hunter, I wasn’t ready to take him back.

  I was still too angry and disappointed.

  Every time I thought about him coming to my maternity ward and not warning me about Nell’s obsession, I saw red. When I pictured Hunter living in Prescott for a year, working at the hospital with my friends without introducing himself, my hands balled into fists. When I thought back to all the nights he’d made love to me and curled me into his arms for sleep, the bitter taste of betrayal filled my mouth.

  I couldn’t let Hunter back into my heart until those feelings were gone, which was the reason for my Q&A phone calls instead of talking to him in person.

  I loved Hunter. I missed Hunter. But he had hurt me, and now, I was keeping him at arm’s length.

  Once again, The Bitterroot Inn had become my savior from the emotional turbulence in my life. I’d spent the last month back in my pre-Hunter routine, busting my butt to finish out tourist season.

  Looking over at my reservation book, I flipped through to the weekend’s pages. For the first time in months, there were a couple of empty rooms. Summer was on its way out and fall was moving in. Vacationers were back to work, kids were back in school, and I was enjoying the early September lull in motel activity.

  Hunting season would start soon and reservations would peak again, but until then, I had a couple of weeks to enjoy a marginally slower pace. I could meet Milo for our weekly gossip coffee. I could have long phone calls with Gigi in the evenings. I could take lunch breaks with Hunter.

  Except, I wasn’t seeing Hunter.

  Would my resentment go away faster if we spent more time together? Would I ever find the trust I was missing? Maybe. I sighed and leaned against the counter, propping my chin in my hand. My conviction to keep some distance was waning.

  “What do you think, Pickle?”

  My growing puppy looked up from the rawhide he was chewing at my feet. His big brown eyes blinked once before he went back to his treat.

  “You’re no help.”

  Without thinking it through, I picked up my phone.

  Hunter answered on the first ring. “Hi.”

  “I’m going to the football game tonight. It’s the first one of the season and always pretty fun. If you’re going to the game, you’re welcome to sit with us. I know Coby would really like that.”

  “What about you? Would you like that?”

  I nodded.

  “I can’t see you, Blondie. Are you nodding?”

  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.